A Pleasant, Moonlit Night

Tonight the sky cleared off around 9:30. Finally, the cold front arrived. The moon was waxing, 89% full. I set up the 6" achromat on the modified DS-10 mount. Jupiter was stunning at 240x: belts, festoons, and spots. I am not a big planetary guy, but Io and Europa were together tonight, very close when I caught them around 9:50. They were slowly moving apart after that. From there, I moved to Cassiopeia, which was just coming up over the trees. From Beta Cass, I moved out to NGC7789, always a fascinating sight. From my backyard, I always see the cluster on the edge of my vision. Especially tonight, with the moon partly full, it was initially hard to spot at 34x, but there it was, eventually, little sparks shimmering in the purple. I ended up with Eta Cass, a lovely, wide double star, and a few other doubles in Cass. Double stars are very nice in the 6". The brighter component sometimes sports a diffraction ring, and the dimmer star often presents a nice color contrast. I always like to see what happens with the magnification turned up!