[orestis]

Hi everyone,

Wow finally some sort of clear sky.There was still a lot of high cloud and the moon looked quite hazy at moments, otherwise clear patches were good and after such a long time not observing the stars, a little bit of clear sky is better than nothing.

With lots of high cloud about i decided to have a look at the moon,being very bright and able to pierce the high clouds.Though there was high cloud it was still quite clear,As always it was quite enjoyable looking at all the features on the moon but one feature caught my eye a huge crater to the south,it was Clavius.It was amazing with loads amounts of craters and craterlets and I just couldn't resist making a sketch(attached) after seeing Alex's(mental4astro) sketches which inspired me so much (Thanks Alex).

After completing the sketch of Clavius i decided to have a look at-

M42- One of my favorite nebulae ever being my first nebula to ever sketch and view.I could clearly see the wings, m43 and clear dark lanes below the trapezium.Overall it had a blue-green colour to it. I wanted to make a sketch so bad but thought i best save it for a darker night without the moon around.

For my birthday I got early present,a book called "Atlas of the southern night sky" and it had some interesting double stars in it and seeing it was a quite a bright night I decided to view a few.

Lamda Orionis-This was a fairly bright pair of blue-white stars with uneven brightnesses,With one being a little bit brighter.

Gamma Arietis-A beautiful pair of white bright stars.

Theta Eridani-Another beautiful pair of blue-white stars,one slightly brighter than the other.This pair had the same separation as Gamma Arietis.

Upsilon Carinae-2 stars of yellow appearance one double the brightness of the other.It was a nice view with beautiful contrast of luminance.

After viewing these double stars i then had a quick glance at the pleides after decided to pack up the scope and sit down and watch the geminids.
After sitting there for about an hour and seeing no meteors i decided to call it quits at 11-30 pm.I guess a combination of clouds and the moon didn't allow me to see any geminids.It was still quite nice just taking the beautiful night sky with nothing but my eyes.

Cheers Orestis
PS- I also took a photo of the moon(attached)