So, that is an old-school Meade 16" F5 reflector. Not in the image is a 7" Astrophysics refractor, and hiding behind the big guy is a 12" Celestron SCT that needs a new motor and does not slew correctly. The photography guys use the Astrophysics scope, but we did do some visual with it this weekend. All in a building with a roll-off roof, warm room, power etc.

Fri and Sat were above average. We had clear, clean skies with less than 40% humidity. It was neat. Once the moon went down I went for some faint stuff that had been eluding me for a while. Myself and a few others stayed overnight at the observatory. M64 looked amazing, and we saw all the detail in M91 that I have ever seen. There is a tiny, tiny faint galaxy just off M13 that I've never seen below 2000 feet in elevation, but I saw it twice this weekend from the Ohio Valley of all places.

Speaking of Hercules, I finally got a visual on this little bastard. Even in the 16" pictured, it was tough.

Was not able to be 100% on Pluto, but I was in that star field, so it was there somewhere. The issue with Pluto right now is that it is very close to a bright star that washes out everything faint around it; throw a 16" mirror at a magnitude 5 star and you lose your dark adaptation.

I'm slowly working on the Herschel 400, I am now sitting on 224/400. I'll have to hope for more decent weather on weekends and push to get this done and get my pin next year.