Early in the evening, the skies were perfectly clear, though later a line of broken clouds overran us from the west. Judging by the low level of light pollution, there wasn t much atmospheric scattering that night. Galaxies were fairly easy to spot, but details in them did not stand out particularly well. A hint as to what affects the appearance of nebulae may have been offered on a breezy December night in 1998. The Flame Nebula adjacent to the star Zeta Orionis was just barely visible.
Some amateurs specialize in observing nebulae.
Those of you with Internet access will find a great web site that's devoted to planetary nebulae. It includes details on the best planetaries and how to observe them.