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jeff heck
sage
Reged: 01/16/06
Posts: 371
Loc: stl,mo.
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I finally got to see this very neat combo.I read about it and saw a photo in Sue french's article in S&T.I have tried for the last 3 months but the sky was never transparent enough to make out B86.Saturday night at my dark sight the gods shined on us as the skies were great.These two objects looked close to photographic,simply amazing!My N13T6 framed the two perfectly.This and seeing the North American nebula clearly was the highlight of a perfect evening out.I must get to a Bortle black sight on my vacation at the end of September to see what my scope can do in optimun conditions. 
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"Don't taze me.bro!"
XT10 Orion classic
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stevecoe
Reged: 04/24/04
Posts: 2130
Loc: Arizona, USA
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Jeff;
This is one of my favorites. Always terrific on a night with great transparency. The compact cluster, a bright yellow or orange star and the DARK "Ink spot" in the middle. All surrounded by a dense Milky Way field of view. There is no other place like it in the sky.
Clear skies to us all;
Steve Coe
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150mm 6" f/8 Celestron Refractor on Sirius Mount
80mmED 3" f/7.5 Orion Refractor
Author "Deep Sky Observing" Springer-Verlag
Author "Nebulae and How to Observe Them" Springer
New Canon Xt astrocamera with Hutech modification
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jeff heck
sage
Reged: 01/16/06
Posts: 371
Loc: stl,mo.
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Great description,Steve.It was one of those nights when I put down my list and just looked at stuff always just out of reach.
P.S.I also found the Cresent nebula in Cygnus!
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"Don't taze me.bro!"
XT10 Orion classic
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Silicon Owl
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/25/05
Posts: 943
Loc: Waimea, Hawaii
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One of my all time favorites! I was tracking down dark nebulae all night Saturday, but when someone wanted to see what I was up to I showed them B86 as an example of a dark nebula. Most people have not seen a dark nebula, and while other scopes had clusters and bright nebula I had something different. It was fun to show a dark nebula then talk about the great clouds of dark that you could see clearly in the Milky Way overhead.
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Andrew Cooper
Personal Website and CN Gallery
Handmade 18" Dob / NS11GPS / 6" RFT / 90mm APO / TV-76 ...and a twin 10m
"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." --Sarah Williams
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Achernar
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/25/06
Posts: 3725
Loc: Alabama, USA
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NGC-6520 and B-86 are a great object from dark sites. B-86 seems to look three dimensional to me through my 10-inch instead of a mere inky blot on the background sky. One of my favorite dark nebulae, and it can be seen even if your skies are less than stellar.
Taras
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10-inch F/4.5 Discovery Dob
6-inch F/8 Homebuilt Dob
4 1/4-inch F/4 Homebuilt reflector
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bicparker
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/07/05
Posts: 1438
Loc: Plano, TX
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That is a favorite of mine, also. It is always my "eye-candy" stop at Texas Star Party every year (and I was certainly not disappointed this year!).
Under dark skies, larger apertures can really make this baby sing. Through 30-36" scopes, this is an impressive object. We were having a public night at the 3 Rivers Foundation in Northwest Texas and I put this in the 30" scopes. Folks who hadn't seen it before were surprised and awed.
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Bic Parker
17.5" f/5 dob
10" f/10 SCT
5" f/8 refractor
80mm f/6 refractor
66mm f/6 refractor
Plus a few others out of the rotation
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jeff heck
sage
Reged: 01/16/06
Posts: 371
Loc: stl,mo.
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I'm sure it's brings back the joy of new objects when you move up to a 20" or larger scope.The galaxies must knock some socks off! 
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"Don't taze me.bro!"
XT10 Orion classic
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bicparker
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/07/05
Posts: 1438
Loc: Plano, TX
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Jeff,
The cool thing with a larger aperture and B86, in particular, is that it:
1) more clearly defines the contrast between the dark nebula and the dense field stars around it, not to mention 6520, with its individual stars shining above the foray, and
2) allows the observer to not only see what the dark nebula is blocking, but some hints of the structure of the dark nebula. B86, despite being called "Barnard's Ink Spot" is still a bit transparent (or at least translucent) in some areas (it must have been more of water based ink) and thus has a rich variety in its darkness. When you take this nebula up above 250x, (> 300x is better), you can really start to see some texture.
Btw, with galaxies, a joke we have around the Yard Scope is that you have to remember that 14th magnitude galaxies are bright.
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Bic Parker
17.5" f/5 dob
10" f/10 SCT
5" f/8 refractor
80mm f/6 refractor
66mm f/6 refractor
Plus a few others out of the rotation
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