viewed Luna in the Beehive (St Thomas)

The weather suddenly improved!

Donna had relayed my ask of Steve. He brought over his birding rig, a Celestron 60mm 25x porro-design spotting scope and Manfrotto tripod with window clamp. I set it up on Mom's back deck.

We viewed the half-lit Moon passing through the Beehive cluster (aka Messier 44, M44). As bunnies hopped about. The orb was bright but we enjoyed the earthshine and the two to three dozen stars. When we put the Moon out of the frame, the stars popped. That helped as we looked over the city through light-polluted skies.

Hmm. Some tantalising pairs. I wondered if there were some double stars within...

Very nice.

I was tempted to stay out for a while so to watch Luna creep past stars but it was a little chilly and everyone wanted to go back inside. I agreed.