Observation #9

 1900

Temperature: 56f

Skies: clear. Minimal light pollution. Excellent viewing overall. Heat lamp is on in the chicken coop, and neighborhood Christmas lights are popping up all around. 

Polar oriented scope. Turned Southwest to view Saturn - clear view of rings. Jupiter is within a few turns of the RA knob - can see three moons clearly.

Fast-moving object crosses field of view, would be roughly southwest-bound. Probably a meteor- seemed too fast to be a satellite and is not lit like an aircraft.

Astronomy cat is seeking warmth and enlightenment. Turned on some Pink Floyd (Astronomy Domine) for ambience. Rotated scope to Mars and calibrated RA. 

Moved from Mars to the Pleiades - an excellent view of these stars tonight. 

Visualized Atik - big, blue, and bright. Can see some sort of star cluster nearby. Very beautiful. Also spotted Beta Aurige and Rigel before going inside for the night. A good, rewarding session.