Cold Observing

I took my scope out into the freezing air once the turkey's tryptophan wore off. I saw 4 things that I'd never seen before.

• The Orion Nebula was fantastic. I could see 4 stars in the trapezium (the group of stars in the central region). I also spotted M43, a nearby nebula, and M78, also in Orion - both new to me.


• Next came the Pleiades (The seven sisters) and the double cluster - both were spectacular.


• Amazingly, I managed to see not only the Crab Nebula, M1, but also a bit of wispy detail. It's one of the youngest objects in the sky - the supernova that formed it was first visible in 1054.


• Finally, I looked at M31 - the Andromeda Galaxy - and saw M110, a smaller galazy that orbits it.

I'll add more detail soon.