Cloudy afternoon, clear night.

I checked at sunset yesterday (4:16 in the afternoon), and we had about 80% cloud cover, and I was tired from a busy day, and the kid is still buzzing from residual Halloween and Birthday excitement (making bedtime a trial), so I didn't set up my telescope.

I had to run out to pick up supper, and of course by then the sky was beautiful and clear.  I popped out on the deck with my 8x30 binoculars at about 8 to peek at Mars, and was able to make out that the Pleiades were rising above the roofline. Mars looks like a very bright, reddish, tiny circle in the binoculars. The Pleiades were hard to pick out to the naked eye, but filled the field of my binoculars very nicely. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't make out many other objects. Saturday nights a number of my neighbors like to entertain, so there are a lot of outside lights on in the evening. I think if I had tried later on in the night, or perhaps near morning, more of the outdoor lights in the neighborhood would have been off.

If I'd had my telescope set up, I would have gone out for at least a little while. 

Tonight we're supposed to have very high winds, so I think astronomy will be off the table. 

I do have a cloudy night project to work on, if I get the time: There's some sort of big goober stuck to the primary of my 8-in dobsonian. If it doesn't dislodge on its own, I'm going to have to remove the rear cell and clean it off. So that's something to look forward to.

Clear skies,

-Tony