Debbie I printed out your post and took my SkyAtals 2000 outside and with my Orion ED80 I tried to chase the doubles you mentioned. I had to put in a 4.8mm eyepiece to achieve 125X. The stars looked like satellites crossing my eyepiece. The wind stirred up a lot of dust today and I couldnt identify Monocerotis or Puppis let alone their constituents. I could barely make out Epsilon Canis Majoris but I couldnt split it. I believe I found Theta Aurigae but again I couldnt split it either. This was really fun though. Chasing doubles is very compatible with a bright moon. Even though I was not successful, I am hooked on chasing doubles on moon lit nights; what else can you do?. I have to start with some easier ones and work up. The 4.8mm is really pushing the little 80ED but for bright objects the Nagler works well and gave a beautiful view of Jupiter. I took a look at the moon. Now up on top (North) the Sinus Iridium is fully in the light where as last night only the Northern point was exposed. The crater Sharp is quite distinct above Iridium. As you come down the black Mare along the terminator until you are parallel with Copernicus the crater Aristarchus has just come into view. In a few more days the white rays from Aristarchus will be more apparent. Then continuing down the terminator in the bottom quarter you will see a very large crater called Gassendi. It is 110 km (68 mi) wide and the central peak is very promenant. Gassendi is right on the edge of Mare Humorum. Jim UTAHDEB@aol.com wrote:It's been 2 1/2 months since I had a good night of seeing. I set up the TV-102 refractor on the Losmandy GM-8 mount to view some doubles, planets, and the moon. I was surprised to see the "C" ring on Saturn. I saw a clean split of the Cassini Division plus detail on the globe at 125X. Instead of reaching for the 5mm Radian, I grabbed the 4mm Radian. It was an awesome view at 220X. I've never seen Saturn this good in this telescope. It made we wish I had a 3mm Radian and a 6" refractor. I first checked the seeing with Theta Aurigae. It was an easy split at 125X. I thought Ithis is supposed to be a tough one. Then I went to Epsilon Canis Majoris. I could see the faint secondary star at about the 4 o'clock position. It was a clean split tonight. Then I went on to Kappa Puppis. This is a 3.8 and 4.0 mag, 9.9" almost equal matched pair. It was a pretty sight at 125X. I went north to Eta Puppis, a 5.1 mag, 9.8" equal matched pair. This was also a pretty double. My next target was the Tau Canis Majoris cluster, a pretty open cluster despite the light pollution from the half moon. I just love viewing this cluster. I viewed it on March 19th with the 15" and it is one of my favorite star clusters in the Milky Way. Just to the north of this cluster is the "Winter Albeiro", a pretty 27" wide gold-blue double with a striking color contrast. Nice view at 40X. My next target was the triple star Beta Monocerotis. This is a 4.7, 5.2, and 6.2 mag triple with 7.2" and 2.9" separations. I got a clean split at 125X. All three stars are white. My last double was Gamma Leonis, a striking bright pair of yellow suns. I turned my scope to Jupiter and I could see much detail at 125X with the 7mm Nagler. When I put in the 4mm Radian(220X), Jupiter was larger than life. The Great Red Spot was readily apparent and I could see a smaller storm to the left of the Great Red Spot. After looking at all the bands of Jupiter I thought I'd take a high power look (220X) at the moon. The craters along the terminator were amazing. I felt like I was hovering over the moon in a spacecraft. The mountains on the moon almost looked 3D. I can only imagine how Jim Lovell saw it on his Apollo 8 mission. Clear Skies, Debbie _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business $15K Web Design Giveaway - Enter today