Naked Eye

Object: Messier 8 / NGC 6523
Obs. place: Base del Teide, Tenerife, Spain (2280m)
Date: 16./17.4.2004
Bortle class: Class 2 (Typical truly dark site)
NE Lim.mag: ~6.9^m (S)
Background sky: 2
Seeing: 3
Transparency: 2
Aurora activity: None
Weather: +5°C

Minimum aperture: NE
Visuality: 1 (cannot be missed)

Description: Very bright, irregular (elliptical) haze about 1° in size. 3 stars resolved within the nebulosity [7, 9 Sgr and HD 165052] with the faintest being very close to the visual limit.

R80/400mm Konus Refractor

Object: Messier 8 / NGC 6523
Obs. place: Protaras, Cyprus (sea level)
Date: 2./3.6.2003, 2.11
Bortle class: Class 4 (Rural / suburban transition)
NE Lim.mag: ~6.4^m (SW)
Background sky: 2
Seeing: 2
Transparency: 2-3
Aurora activity: None
Weather: Warm, no wind, thunderstorm during the day.

Minimum aperture: NE
Visuality: 1 (cannot be missed)

Description: One of the greatest fields in the entire night sky. Easily visible to the naked eye. Too large to fit fully into the 50' field. 7. Sag is visible in the NW edge of the field. 9. Sag lies just inside the nebulosity. The brightest part of the nebulosity is just W from the star 9. Sag. Also the general area of the open cluster is also slightly brighter. The hourglass-shape is visible with larger magnifications. The eastern part of the nebulosity is more detailed and larger. Eastern part contains the open cluster NGC 6530 (stars 9th magnitude, not detached, dozen stars). The entire field is nebulous with brightenings visible all over, the most prominent is S side from the star GSC 6842:1239 (7th magnitude). Filled with details. Several stars within the nebulosity. "The lagoon" is probably the most prominent detail in the entire nebulosity.
Messier 8 with 3" Konus @ 40x + UHC / O-III