Finally, I got a chace to do some observing. Long time coming I'd say. I was fully aware of a full moon, but that didnt stop me from draggin my heavy dob outside. I collimated, played a few games of pool while the scope cooled and started just after 10:30pm.
Telescope: 10" GSO dob
Time: 10:45pm - 3:00am
Seeing: 3-5/10 (excellent by melbourne standards)...
Tranparency: 1/10 (full moon washout)
47 Tuc
Started off with an old favorite. Perfect resolution at 56x. It was quite stunning at 156x, perhaps my favourite mag on this object tonight. I then pushed it up to 357x, which showed a hazy core topped with tiny pinpricks, which made quite a lovely sight. Ofcourse, I was aware of the less than optimal seeing, but still looked good., Infact I'd hazard that increasing the mag to 454x provided even more resolution. I then went all out and slipped in the 5mm Vixen and barlow for 500x - but the 454x seemed a tad sharper. That ofcourse was to be expected in the seeing I had.
NGC 362
Small globular. Using 250x, I could see the outermost stars were resolved, and arranged in pretty streamers and circles. The core was bright, brighter than the surrounding haze and appeared like a tiny fuzzy knot. Once again, I went flat out, pushed to 500x and the view was similar to the 250x, just twice the size!
M42 Orion Nebula
Big and awesome at 357x. The central core showed obvious mottling and texture despite overpowering moonlight. The Trapezium E and F components were effortless at 156x, and the 6 stars seemed to be seperated by miles at higher mags. It is now I noticed how mangled the stars were, a consequence of the seeing. Flaring, quivering etc etc - just another night of usual seeing.
At 500x and 714x(!!!) the nebula was HUGE and the core just enveloped the whole FOV. Still had texturing visible but the star images were little more than mush! Anything above 250x at this altitude tonight was really pushing it.
Sirius
The highlight of the evening. My goal - to see the pup. And see it I did! At 500x, the star was a complete mess, a huge, fuzzy, quivering, distorted sesspool of light! Seeing really wasnt great tonight! Ignoring monster diffraction spikes, glare spikes etc, I could just see the pup! The pair are seperated by only 6 arc seconds currently, so that made it harder. Using 714x, the pup was now quite obvious (!) and I could hold it in view consistantly. Later on I came back to sirius just to really confirm that i had indeed seen the pup and yes I could see it again. I also happened to reduce the mag to 156x and I could still spot it, although it flickered in and out of view, whereas at 714x it was consistantly there. Seeing it at only 156x quite surprised me when I consider the circumstances!
To celebrate, i took a break here. Had some Shapes, a cake and a nice hot coffee
Zeta Orionis
This 2.3" double was a clean split at 250x, but the seeing made the stars look like a mess. I could drive a truck though it at 500x.
Tarantula Nebula
Now what surprised me here was how the 500x view showed more resolution and fainter stars than all my lower mags. Maybe it was its near-zenith location but damn tonight has poor seeing! What's going on? A tight group of stars at the core was best resolved at 500x. Going down to 250x, some of those stars were no longer visible. The nebula itself was impressive at 500x, very large and had there been no moonlight I could really see myself drooling!
Mars
Best view was at 156x, no higher. I could see faint dark surface markings but its only now I see how bad the seeing is. Defocusing, the whole object was boiling like no tomorrow. However, its the best view I had so far. I could possibly hint at a polar cap but couldnt be sure thanks to our sensational seeing
Saturn
Hunted it down with the 500x eyepiece in the scope - man it was big! But seeing made a mockery of that, and my most pleasant view was 156x. I didnt try lower mags. Even now it wasnt as sharp as it could be, should've slipped in the 13mm Vixen for 96x, it wouldve been pleasingly sharp. But during rare, instantanous moments the shadow cast by the rings onto the globe was razor sharp and jet black! I could also see 2 cloud belts, one on the north and south side of the rings. The cassini division near the tips of the rings was obvious during bouts of good seeing. I had to reposition my scope to get a good view above the trees. Now anyone who has a large Dob will know that its not fun lifting these things lol
Called it a night there as it was past 3am. Stayed out much longer than i had anticipated and the time just flew by! Certainly didnt feel like 5 hours! See, you CAN have fun under a full moon
And now I'm completely wasted, stoned and irritable...but i did go to bed after 4am
Nice work on Sirius. The moon's waning now and pushing further back into the evening, so there'll be some good times ahead........ woo-hoo! 
but beware, if you want half-decent looking stars, wait for a near perfect night! I'd love to try the moon aswell at this power, but on this occasion even 250x was too much, however I did split the double craterlet. 
