I set up my 6-inch f/5 and 80mm f/15 refractors last night, on a dual alt-az mount. Seeing was predicted to be poor, but the sky transparent, so I thought some casual low power session was in order. I was open to see what the sky would offer me, and did not probe it specifically.
Scanning about with the 6-inch, I found the faint scatter of stars that make M67. Then while pointed at Ursa Major, a flight of silent Canada geese passed through, taking my heart with them.
Satellites galore, including a swift small faint one being pursued by a just-as-fast large bright one.
The 80mm giving perfect, clean views of Alcor & Mizar, Cor Caroli, and Algieba.
Looking at the ruined moon, low in the sky, pink haze rippling from it. Constant static around the edges. Tiny silhouetted bats making their jerky flights across. When a jet passes close, a frantic buzz, then a slow, long, sharp straight diffracting line sweeps across it, briefly splitting the sphere along the limbs, then merging at the other side, the moon whole again.
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