nice sky and not too cold

[Piero]

The sky has been clear all evening over here and the temperature is still comfortable (2C) for normal clothes. The Moon looked interesting (69% Waning Gibbous) at naked eyes but unfortunately it was too low for a dedicated study with the telescope. Therefore, after a brief lunar observing, most of the time was spent on M36 and M38. Both appeared really interesting at mags between 50x and 100x. I could catch about 10-20 faint stars alternating between direct and adverted vision. M38, the Starfish Cluster, was gorgeous with its double tails opening up. M36, the Pinwheel Cluster, was a bit dimmer and more compact than M38, but still very intriguing. Unfortunately the trees at east were covering my favourite of the trio, M37, also called by Stellarium January Salt and Pepper Cluster.  

It is nice to revisit these targets with a bit more aperture. I feel they really pop up with more details in structure. 

[chiltonstar]

Good stuff, Piero! You were lucky with your weather - here it was windy, partly cloudy with huge bands left by con trails, close to freezing and with ice droplets forming on the mount, the scope and me.

Chris

[Stu]

Nice one Piero, good to be out. Was nice and clear here and had another bino session with some good results