Again, I almost didn't have an entry this year! I replaced the peep site this year and I have had the scope out many more times than is evident by this log. I keep meaning to convert this to a blog format that is easier to maintain.

After allowing the scope to chill down, I was pleased to find that despite not looking at a star chart in a while, I still remembered the constellations well enough to find Andromeda pretty easily. The sky was much clearer before it cooled down. I also looked for (but did not detect) the Dumbell Nebulae while looking at Albeiro in Cygnus.

There doesn't appear to be any planets, so I'll just look at the Orion nebula. It wasn't too good because of the extra moisture in the air. It was a moonless night, though, and you could detect Andromeda and the Double Cluster and the Milky Way. But, the sky failed my test for a really great sky: Can you see all of the stars of Ursa Minor?

While I was out there, I swept up through Cygnus and spotted an open cluster, a Messier object I cannot remember the number for (M39), and then turned toward Auriga to look at the three open clusters there: M36, M37 and M38.

P.S. It has been unseasonably warm this winter so far. P.P.S I see why I didn't find the M27:Dumbbell Nebula, it was down and to the right of where I was looking.