Got a very unexpected dose of clear sky last night. About 8:30 the clouds just magically evaporated and the wind went still and cool.
Got the 80mm Achro with the 8 x 50 RA Finder out onto the front driveway and started looking around.
EP's were the 20mm and 15mm GSO SV, 2 x Barlow and an Antares 10mm plossl.
Object IDs checked from Stellarium.
Followed Venus down the west first, very bright, no crescent so I am assuming almost full.
Then spotted Orion in the East just over the treeline. This is towards the CBD, not my best direction but even in the dark twilight I was getting hints of the nebula dust on M42.
Did a fair bit of panning around the south eastern sky as it got darker just refamilarising myself with the region. Southern Plieades then into LMC and up to 47 Tuc and SMC. Not seeing much detail with the 80 but several smaller globs and hints of faint groups showing.
Back through to Sirius, M41 and a wee reddish ( carbon ?) star o1 CMa (HIP33152) in that area caught my eye.
Checked out Jupiter, 3 moons showing and some hints of bands in moments of stable air. Barlowed the 15mm and got a few steady views but no apparent barges or GRS.
Kept going back to M42 now at about 70 degree in the ENE and I am getting good nebula definition and some dark lanes showing. Even resolved the Trapezium, three of them anyway. Time about 22:00
Using eyeballs and checking on Stellarium I was getting Mag 5-6 skies in the eastern direction and 6-7 in the SW. Amazing !!
Swept down the SE skies and at only 20 degrees elevation (!!) I was able to get into Eta Carina and see nebula lanes and dust. Had a wander round the area finding clusters. Still very stable seeing. Virtually no breakup of the image at all or colours shifting. Most unusual.
LMC and SMC just visible naked eye.
Added bonuses were 2 satellites, 3 meteors and 2 aircraft to liven up proceedings.
Some real value also from the 8 x 50 finder. It was giving nice widefield views all by itself and even showing M42 nebula dust hints. I was switching back and forwards between the two using it more as a scope than a finder.
Was enjoying myself and just thinking of dragging the 10" out on the DOB Base when the young fella teenager turned up with a mate or two and the lights came back on.
Then I discovered it was about 11 pm and way past my bedtime but what a glorious night. Just shows you the value of having a quick setup grab & go sitting in the lounge (It's quite decorative as well
)
I really should have gotten the 10" out
but some high wispy clouds started to move in and I had work in the morning.
Cheers
Brent
bigger is definitely needed when my current chip is 640x480. And by 'proper' I really just mean LRGB imaging with a modern large scale sensor, and with guiding! I can't wait 
