This globular cluster is really breathtaking. More than a dozen of stars can be separated also with direct vision. By using averted vision, this number jumps to several dozens. It is not really getting denser towards the centre, although what we see is actually the core already: the real diametre of the cluster is actually 21', yet the half of its gross weight stays inside a circle of 1.1'.

With a little exaggeration, there are more galaxies in the hair of Berenice than stars: wherever you look, the FoV is abound with tiny, faint spots. For me an especially remarkable place is the area bound by NGC 4158, 4216 and 4208. The brightness data of catalogues should be handled with care: almost all of the galaxies are brighter than suggested by the given numbers. The nearly edge-on galaxy of 4216 is the nicest with its brightness of 10m. With a FoV of around 1 degree, 6 beautiful shiny galaxies are glittering together, of which the three brightest must be visible also with smaller scopes.

A truly gigantic galaxy even with direct vision, many sources indicate a surface brightness of 9.6 magnitudes, however it looks fainter than suggested because of the large surface area. I estimate a core brightness of about 11.3m and the surrounding areas of nearly 13.5m, therefore this may be an achieveable target for smaller aperture telescopes too. The farthest regions pop in and out with direct vision making it look like two laser beams leaving the core. With averted vision these regions show up clearly, and make the apparent size of the galaxy from large to huge! I estimate a dimension of 16' x 2'. This object reminds me of NGC 5907 (Splinter galaxy), however that has no such a sphere-like core.

The well known M64 or Black Eye Galaxy (sometimes mentioned as Black Eye Nebula) is a fine specimen of large and bright Messier galaxies (although Charles Messier didn't know what galaxies were). It has a tiny star-like central core with a noticeable bulge around it, and a thin dark patch of dust lane to the NE of the core. This feature is not easily visible. On the major axis of the ellipse I can detect signs of spiral arms on both sides of the core.

SQM reading: 21.44 m/arcsec², 6°C, light wind.

The conditions are not ideal for observing galaxies this night as theres a strong humidity in the upper atmosphere, the Moon is just disappearing over the horizon, making some of the clouds and contrails shine. This small, bright galaxy however appears to be a very easy target. Has an almond shaped central area nearly developed into a star-like core. The Southern part of the galaxy seems to be noticeably larger than the Northern side, almost round compared to that.

SQM reading: 21.02 m/arcsec², 7°C.