Naked eye observing?!

[mark81]

After a little session last night with the scope and the skies getting crisper and clearer by the minute - a balmy breeze making it feel more like a spring evening, I sat back and began looking around the sky with my eyes...👀.strange I know.  I realised it must have been about 25 years since I went out into the garden and looked at the night sky without even a pair of binoculars - back then all I was armed with was a coat and a copy of Astronomy Now.  So often we plan our sessions or at least have a starting point and spend the evening looking down into an eyepiece. 

But with the skies looking so clear I had a go.....  Double Cluster was a fuzzy figure '8'...... Andromeda was quite bright with a little averted vision, I traced my finger over parts of the sky picking out the constellations - only really recognising many of them from a star atlas, I found 'The Coathanger' and was even able to resolve a couple of its stars.  I then sunk right down in the seat and took in the cloudy glow of the MilkyWay overhead with a couple of nice Meteors wizzing past. (not to mention the amazing amounts of satellites that drift here there and everywhere)   Ok, it doesn't have the same appeal as seeing things up close and in great detail but I must say it was a little more enjoyable than I thought it would have been...