NGC 7218 in Aquarius Date ............. December 6, 2020 Instrument ....... 13.1" f/4.5 dobsonian Magnification .... 76x and 123x Location ......... Fredericksburg, VA (light pollution map) Observer ......... Eric David Skies ............ orange zone, clear, cold, slightly hazy from humidity

Despite the sparsely populated area of the sky in which it resides, it was not difficult to navigate to this galaxy.  Once I found the location, it took me a while to identify the object because of the light pollution and the time required to dark-adapt enough that I could finally see it.  I noted it as very faint, smaller than NGC 7184, with a very low surface brightness.  I felt I could make out the orientation of the galaxy, so it was definitely longer in one dimension than the other.  The field comprises one main bright star, then a smattering of fainter stars in a loose grouping that has sort of a Melotte 111 flavor to it.  NGC 7184 can be found off to the east of the eastern-most star of the grouping.