Insomnia? M-time

So it is about 4:30 AM and I can't sleep. This is about a week now that I've been waking around 4AM. Very annoying. So why not continue the evening's stargazing? Fire up Stellarium, ooo, Cygnus is up. I know that that has an easy M in it. M29 right near Sadr.

Outside with the Canon 15x50IS binoculars. At first I thought I missed it. The star pattern was dead on but I couldn't see it. Oh, there it is. Very dim and small! I only got it with averted vision. I guess since it is an open cluster I expected it to be larger, that is, of course, nonsense. I wasn't at all able to resolve any stars.

While looking at it a very dim satellite went through the field of view. I tracked it off to my right until it disappeared behind the house. Dimmest I've ever seen.

So now I open up TUMOL, what else is in Cygnus (which is placed rather well for my chair). M39. Uh oh, at least in Stellarium it seems to be in the middle of nowhere. That's not entirely true. Take a line from Sadr through Deneb but bend it down a bit. That gets you right there but there still is a jump. Fortunately, there is a chain from Deneb that gets you halfway. Follow the chain then look around. Got it! Much, much, larger than M29. I counted 13 stars.

Ok, what else. Cepheus is up but there doesn't seem to be any Ms in it. I guess I'll try and go back to sleep.

...

No luck there, so lets see what is to the South. I can do that from indoors, hanging out a window. One star, what is it? Stellarium tells me. Jupiter! Thin clouds, can't even see Antares. Oh boy. But, the clouds are low and Stellarium tells me that M26 is up above Jupiter. I see one dim fuzzy, check the charts. Ah M11 or the Wild Duck Cluster. This is quite apparent. I can see the star pattern above it. An L pointing up and to the right. Can't resolve any stars but it is bright for Manchester. Back to M26, nope.

Nope point in sleeping now, the alarm goes off soon anyhow.