Sagittarius DSO's

Having decided to go for a one-week astro vacation on Gran Canaria, I'm presently busy learning the constellations that will be visible from that latitude, but never rise above the horizon at home. The last couple of days I have been studying the maps of Sagittarius, and now I think I'll be able to navigate well enough in the constellation to locate all the Messier objects. The only Sagittarius object I have ever seen from Norway is M17 (although M18 is probably also within range). Although I understand that many of the Messier objects in Sagittarius are very interesting, and show much detail, I would like to know which of the non-Messier objects in the constellation are worth looking for. Therefore I ask you specialists who know the constellation well about some advice. Any objects you regularly return to? Are there any interestingly looking planetaries? Any challenges for medium-sized apertures?

Inge S

Barnard galaxy?

One striking feature of Sagittarius is that all its Messier global clusters look different. Some are not round and some not symmetric, please pay close attention!

Dmitri

About 2 degrees north of the tip of the teapot's spout is my favorite non-M object in Sagittarius. It is actually two objects: a compact dark nebula, B86, and a beautiful circular open cluster right next to it visible in the same 1 degree field of view, NGC 6520. The cluster has a orange star in the center, and what looks like two perfect concentric circles of stars around it. The cluster looks like someone scooped the stars out of the pitch black nebula right next to it!

Hugh Bartlett

My observing logs for non-Messier objects in Sagittarius contain these references:
I noted NGC 6520 (to which which someone else has also referred you) as a small but "fine" open cluster with several prominent stars among a swarm of unresolved members (viewed in an 8-inch SCT at 135x). Archinal & Hynes says it contains 60 stars within a diameter of 5 arcminutes.
NGC 6440 (also viewed at 135x) is a globular that I couldn't resolve (nor could a Webb Society observer using a 16½-inch scope at 222x), but which fascinated me because when I viewed it through a wider-angle eyepiece (83x) I saw it as the middle one in a string of five 10th magnitude objects.