Sunspot regions 926 and 927 are very prominent, with 926 particularly interesting and extensive.
Observed Mercury again just before 7 am in the twilight -- visible only with binoculars. Mornings have been appearing clearer than hazy nighttimes -- a few hours earlier the only naked eye stars visible from this location had been Rigel, Sirius, Betelgeuse and Aldebaran.
A few hours later on the evening of Dec 1, however, a very clear night with a NELM of around 2.7 (very good by local standards). Unfortunately too windy and cold at around -2C to enjoy much, though. With binoculars I was able to look at constellations I had not paid attention to (or even heard of) before -- Columba, Lepus and Eridanus.
Saw Mercury again for the first time since the transit on November 9th (astronomyblogs date stamps use US time, which is 13 hours behind where I am -- I can't seem to fix that). This time it was clearly visible through binoculars in the morning twilight. It's position, in a cluttered urban setting, bodes well for viewing the conjunction of Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter on December 10 which should be at roughly the same azimuth.
An unusually clear night. Uranus could just be picked out with 10x50 binoculars between the waxing first quarter moon and Lambda Aquarii, all in the same FOV. Tried to find the open cluster NGC225 in Cassiopeia, but by the time I got the ETX-90 lined up -- frustrated by a persimmon tree -- it had disappeared below a neighbor's roof.
Before cold got the better of me, I went to M42, the Great Orion Nebula. This was much easier. The Trapezium was clearly visible, and the glow around it.
On a night of grim visiblity again (only Deneb, Vega and the waxing quarter moon visible from my west-facing back yard), it was pleasant to see -- with the help of binoculars -- the moon in close proximity to Deneb Algiedi with Fomalhaut down and to their left. Nashira and Zeta Capricorni also faintly visible through binos.
