Had a great session here last night as the sky remained clear all night long. I did an evening and a pre-dawn comet search with the 16" completing 4 hours of sweeping and 6 hours observing in total. With the 16" i swept up over 20 galaxies as well as the Veil nebula, M27, M71, M11, M10, M12 ,M14, M57, M56, Saturn and many lovely open clusters and binary stars within the milkyway.
With the 10X50 binos i observed the North American Nebula, Veil nebula, M33, M31, M34, M44, M35, CR89, M81, M39, M52, Double cluster, M67 and NGC 952. With the naked eye i seen M81 and counted 16 memebers of the Pleiades which i confirmed using the binos. Throughout both sessions i seen 51 meteors and one fireball which lit the sky above me a brillant white.
The Gegenschein was visible with ease in the east only tonight it was a very striking dark green patch with sharp edges and very elongated along its horizontal axis level with the Ecliptic. It was 15*X12* in size. This is my 7th sighting during this monthly dark period!
During the predawn search i saw 11 incredibly bright silent blue explosions in the sky that appeared near the E, W and N horizon. I soon realised that these where not fireballs but distant lightning flashes reflected in the atmosphere from some distance away....these where frightening to watch! Overall this was a great night for observing and i had a great time!
Clear skies!
Martin Mc Kenna
coruscations attending the whole length of the luminosity, giving to the phenomena the aspect of a wrathful messenger, and not that of a tranquil body pursuing a harmless course..comet of 1680
  