I got out for two long observing sessions this new moon. In both cases, I met up with a few local amateurs at the Maunakea "Power Station" site across the street from the VIS (Visitor Information Station). This is a location I've used often in past years, but had stopped using in favor of sites on Mauna Loa due to increasing crowds. Visitors to Maunakea stop at the VIS which is the end of the paved road. Those who are not able to go to the summit of Maunakea for sunset are often directed by VIS staff to a trail up the pu'u across the road for a view toward sunset. This observing site is a clearing along that path.
I can confidently say that tourists have returned to the island. The trail past this site was a constant stream of people before and after sunset. Even late in to the night, we had a parade of people coming down the trail with flashlights. This is a nuisance for preserving dark adaption, but fortunately, it is concentrated around twilight. I haven't done a public star party in a long time (thanks to the pandemic) and the telescopes definitely attract attention. I gave passers by who asked a view of the Moon in twilight and a few folks hung around after dark for looks through the five or so telescopes which were there. It was the first truly public star party I've done in a long time and as the pandemic (hopefully) winds down, it is something I'd like to return to doing more often.
My goal for these nights, as usual, was to explore DSOs in a chosen region of the sky. For June, it was the constellations of Libra and Serpens. Between the two nights, I caught every object in my list: all DSOs (other than open clusters) brighter than magnitude 12. None of those objects, mostly small galaxies and globular clusters, stood out as new or particularly memorable. The highlights of the list we're well known objects like M5 or M16.
Exploring the Eagle Nebula (M16) revealed a dark area in the center which was the famous pillars of creation. I couldn't separate out the individual pillars, but the overall shape was wedge like corresponding to the differing heights of the pillars.
June, of course, is a time of year when the Summer Milky Way starts rising in the evening and I was able to spend a lot of time exploring old favorites in this area. Examining the Veil Nebula at low power (57x) was a treat as always. This is one object where a filter does help, the OIII improved the contrast enough to add some real detail (the UHC filter was less effective).
The Bug Nebula (NGC 6302) is a lovely planetary nebula which eschews the traditional round shape in favor of an elongated pattern with open streamers on either end giving it the look of a squashed bug leading to the name
I also looked at Barnard's Galaxy (NGC 6822), which I hadn't really appreciated before. This is a dwarf galaxy and a member of the local group. It is easy to miss this and dismiss it as a patch of the Milky Way, but it is far in the background. The appearance in the eyepiece is large and diffuse, but on closer examination, it has a patchy structure, so we are resolving a bit of detail in the galaxy.
The Little Gem Nebula (NGC 6818) is close to Barnard's Galaxy, so I hopped over there immediately after. The two make quite a contrast. The galaxy is large and diffuse, while the planetary nebula is very small, compact, and bright blue. I had to run up the power to 240x to get a good look at the planetary -- at which point a small dark center was visible.
Of course, to finish off the evenings, Saturn and Jupiter were rising. Saturn was lovely, especially on June 12 when the seeing was a bit better. I went as high as 300x on Saturn, but spent most of the time at slightly lower power. The colors on the planet were apparent as well as the Cassini Division and the shadow of the planet on the rings and that of the rings on the planet.
I noticed that Saturn was in Capricorn, not far from The Saturn Nebula, a planetary nebula with elongations somewhat reminiscent of the planet's shape. The "rings" on the nebula were small, but the blue color of the nebula itself was quite apparent.
The last highlight I hit on June 12 was the R Coronae Australis region. I wrote about this region last year and it remains one of my favorite regions of the sky for the combination of features and textures visible there: the specked stars of the globular cluster (NGC 6723), the faint wisps of reflection nebulae (NGC 6726, 6727, and 6729), and the dusty dark voids of the dark cloud.