Friday, February 4, 2005 about 8:00pm CT: Andromeda, et al.

It is a warm February night. I would not have thought a warm night like this would have had such a clear sky, but it looks really great so I grab the scope. The Orion nebula is the best I have ever seen it! It looks just like the link (only in black and white). Actually, I think it might be better - the stars in the center were MUCH sharper. The sky turns out to be the best viewing I have had since the December 31st, 1998 posting with the exception that temperature is actually nice (around 50F). It was a moonless night so far although I expect the slim crescent moon to rise in a few hours. I was distracted so I just looked at Orion, the Double Cluster and Saturn before stopping. It turned out to be a really good viewing of Saturn as well. Almost no atmospheric wobble and Saturn is still turned for maximum ring exposure. I had planned on looking more later but clouds rolled in. The next night, the sky was full of moisture.