First up were Mercury and Venus. I waited until sunset to avoid any possible conflict with the great yellow orb. Both planets were nearly 100% illuminated and presented as dim disks under first 46x and then 101x. Nothing special with these two; it was mainly the thrill of the kill.
When the sky darkened an hour later, I preceded to take on Saturn, Neptune, and Jupiter. Saturn always impresses! I was able to easily detect Cassini and several surface features, as well as both Titan and Rhea. Neptune presented as a bright bluish dot. Jupiter on the other hand was large and in charge. Timing was right to take in a
About an hour later I was able to capture Uranus and Mars. Uranus presented as a small pale bluish green disk at 101x. No moon visible. Mars, now nearing its December 8 opposition, was still pretty low and not presenting a crisp view. I was able to detect greenish gray surface features, with Syrtis Major the most prominent.
While waiting for the last two planets (Uranus and Mars) to clear the trees, I observed lots of other goodies including a couple double stars (Albireo and Iota Cas), globular and open clusters (M2, M15, C14, M30, M45, M72, M75) and a galaxy or two (M31/32, M110).
By this time the temperature was into the 20's heading for a low of 19 degrees. I was still thawing out from the Leonid observing session, so called it a night.
Dave
