I finally found M13 globular star cluster last night. Look for Vega in the ENE around 10:00 pm. From Vega, go up towards the zenith (straight over head), but not quite, and you'll see the stars that form the square of Hercules. M13 is between the two stars that form the square's side farthest from Vega. I couldn't see it naked eye, but found it with my 7x50 binoculars. I was not impressed, except maybe for the fact that I was seeing something so far away that the light reaching my eyes was already 25,000 years old. Faint hazy-looking little ball. Now that I can find it easily, I'll train a scope on it and see what it looks like then. No picture, as of yet anyway. I tried, but it's so faint that I couldn't see anything in the viewfinder. I had to guess at where to aim the camera and may not have been near it! Lots of stars showed up in the picture, but couldn't see any sign of M13.

My favorite stargazing equipment is my old farmer's eyeballs. I like to just look around and when I see something interesting, I try to capture the scene as close to actuality as possible with my Canon SX100 IS camera. Nothing in the night sky ever looks as cool in the picture as it does with my eyes, so far, even though the camera does capture more stars.

My second most favorite piece of equipment is my old, beat up, el-cheap-o 7x50 binoculars. The night sky is brighter than my 7x35 (even though the 7x35 is lighter and smaller). The 7x50 also gives a brighter view than even the 10x50, plus they are much easier to hold still than the 10x50. The 10x is just a little too much for me to hold steady. The stars all wiggle around quite a bit and I end up not being able to see as much as I can with the lower power.

My third choice for stargazing is my smaller, 80mm scope. I generally only bring it out when I see something that I want to take a closer look than my binoculars will provide. It's a little more to set up and mess with than the binoculars of course, the same as setting up the camera though. It's still a lot less trouble than my 4.5 inch scopes! And certainly a lot easier to point around the sky than the bigger scopes.

My last choice is the bigger scopes. I pretty much never dust them off and get them out these days. Can't even remember the last time. Someday, maybe, possibly, might just buy a bigger, better, EASIER TO USE, scope, but most likely not. If I want to take a real close stunning view of something, that's what my Internet connection is for!