Driving home tonight, I noticed a few stars out my muddy windshield. It's the first totally cloudless winter night in the Pacific Northwest in months (hope Bowser's catching this).

I got out of my truck when I got home and saw several familiar friends although what I mistook for Vega (duh) was in fact my old yellowy non-scintillating friend,Saturn.

I could see all seven sisters, Mizar and Alcor and a hint of M42 and what I'm guessing to be the Beehive just below Gemini. (I lost my damn star chart and don't remember, I should have bought StarrySky after the trial)

It was obvious what lay just below the open cluster- what Raoul calls "Ju-Ju" (I think). Just out of curiosity I grabbed the miniscule 7X20 bird watching binoculars and easily resolved what ever the two visible moons were, on either side, to shaky point companion jewels
of the main attraction. (I know there are two dark bands there somewhere;-)

Anyway, I hope some of you got to witness these winter show-offs for yourselves tonight.

Rob (needs a telescope like some guys need to get laid.)