I was unable to travel to a dark sit and take advantage of the clear weather, so I took Goldie (RV-6 6" f/8 newtonian) out to my light polluted backyard to see what I could see. I mainly used a 35mm Ultrascopic and a Meade 26mm plossl. For the doubles I used a 12 Nagler and a 6.7 Meade Ultra-wide.
I started out with a few doubles as my eyes dark adapted. Started with Castor, then went for some more difficult ones in Orion. Rigel was tough because the glare almost obscured it's fainter component. It took a bit of time before I was sure I could see it. I did not know how tough this would be. Zeta Orionis was a similar double, but it too fell to Goldie. Lambda Orionis was easy and a pretty contrasting pair.
I shifted over to Ursa Major and was treated to a lovely view of M's 81/82. An oval glow and a bright slash in the same field of view. A 6" newt is nothing to sneeze at!
Of course M42/43 was a target and was quite detailed with an UltraBlock filter. The reflection nebula M78 was tough! Just a haze really. If I hadn't seen it before and known where to look, I might has missed it. The rest of the night was devoted to open clusters.
The big three in Auriga M36,37 and 38 were their usual lovely selves. M35 was big and bright. I looked for NGC 2158, but couldn't detect it. I found a few more opens in Canis Major - M's 50 and 41 and Canis Minor - M48, Cancer - M44 was quite nice and a dimmer M67.
Although I wished I'd been able to travel to a darker site and enjoy the company of my friends, Goldie and I enjoyed a good night out.