Orion’s belt, rising
Three bright points in a clean line above the eastern ridge. Seeing was steady. No haze. The middle star carried a faint companion that resolved only when the eye relaxed.
Observations
Short, dated notes from the eyepiece. Coordinates are approximate; the point is the looking, not the catalog.
Jupiter, two moons visible
Disk pale and slightly flattened. Two of the Galilean moons held steady; the others were lost in the glare or the tree line. Wind calm. Temperature dropping fast after midnight.
Perseid residual
One bright meteor, lasting nearly two seconds, left a soft ionization trail that faded while I was still writing the time. The radiant had already set. The sky felt emptied afterward.
Saturn, rings edge-on approach
The rings were a thin bright line. Titan clear to the west. Dew formed early on the corrector plate; had to pause twice to wipe it. Worth the interruption.
Venus at greatest elongation
Brilliant, high in the west before dawn. No surface detail, of course, but the phase was obvious even in a small refractor. Birds began calling while the planet was still visible.