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Hey Joe!
One of the great joys I had when I first started looking at the sky was finding all of the double stars. Many of the brighter stars in the sky have a little binary star if you know where to look.
For example, Sirius has a little companion called, "The Pup", not the Australian cricket captain, but a white dwarf which is well hidden because of Sirius' tremendous glare. On a very still night, you might like to try to locate the Pup - let us know how you get on.
Other neat doubles in and around Canis Major and Orion include: Adhara, Aludra, Furud, Alnilam, Theta Orionis (the trapezium of stars at the heart of M42), Alnitak and my favourite - Sigma Orionis.
Doubles are good to observe during the period leading up to and just past full moon, as deeper sky objects tends to be "washed out" by the moon's glare. For deep sky objects, the key period is around new moon, when the sky is lot darker, and there is much better contrast on objects.
I look forward to hearing further about your night exploits!
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