Amateur
astronomy doesn't really have a "season" as such - each season of the year brings us new and fun things to observe and each season has its appeal. The shorter days of fall, however, makes astronomy a bit more practical for many of us working folk. The ability to get out and observe and still get to bed at a decent hour is one thing I especially like about fall and winter observing. Summer is great, but it's tough to get motivated when you can't even start to observe until after 10:00 PM. Ouch.
Last night was the nearly perfect observing night. The sky was clear, transparency great and the temperature very fall-like. The Double Cluster looked almost impressive from my lousy observing site, here in the suburbs. My
Nikon 10x70 Astroluxe binocular even picked up a few clusters in Cassiopeia that I don't ordinarily see with
astronomy binoculars from my patio. That's one of the things that I like about great optics - you get the best view possible under nay given set of conditions. I finished the evening with a few
binocular double stars and then headed to bed. Sweet dreams.