My thanks to John O'Neill for giving us notice that the moon Io was to reappear from behind Jupiter at precisely 19.48 UT. I was patiently waiting from 19.40 for Io and the exact time Io appeared. It took about 1 full minute to reach its standard maximum brightness. All 4 Galilean moons were on the eastern side of Jupiter -what a lovely sight!
The Great Red Spot was on view also -a pale orange at this time. I was observing the planet at 167X to see both events.
I also observed Zeta Tauri and noticed 2 easy doubles nearby. Struve 740 and Struve 742 both split at 40X -another double -double. Very near the latter was the asteroid Herculina. It was very dim at magnitude 10.2 -a 1st time observation for me.
Lastly, I was amazed at the glorious sight of M42 and M43 (Orion Nebula). While studying the Trapezium which normally I see 4 stars, I could make out the 5th "E" component at magnification 167X. I was blown away. I must try for the F component some time soon.
Aubrey.
  