Target: Jupiter (20 min before sunset & into darkness). My eye was stuck to the eyepiece with my mouth stuck for words. The planet resolved to a disc that I could naively describe as a very carefully painted marble, it was suspended prominently against the steadily darkening clear blue sky. The surface detail was mesmerizing, and the apparent number of definable colors. Consciously I noted shades of cream, orange, brown, grey and mild looking purples. I forced myself to count the number of defined dark horizontal 'belts'. 'Belts' because I am new to observing in this detail I may have counted some zones. I made a clear count of 6 dark 'belts'. I also thought that the GRS was not on the observable side of the planet at the time of viewing. I also noted one of the bands in one place had formed an outcrop / overspill of darker gas, it looked to have budded out into the creamy colored neighboring zone (I remain undecided if it were red spot junior). As the sky darkened the view only got better.

Orion nebula: The nebula appeared as a eerily dark green structure. (See other entry on Orion Nebula from Gower as comparison). Once again I could naively describe it to appear as dense folds of dusty cobwebs against the slightly lighter background sky. The trapezium was apparent within a visibly diffuse and more transparent locality. I was impressed with the structural integrity the scope showed of this object and will revisit it again and again.