Clear Skies

We've had about four clear nights since winter began, and yesterday was perfect!  Warm and clear all day, and in the evening, we had a couple day old New Moon on the western horizon, so I dragged Big Bertha 2.0 out of the garage.  The Moon was too low to get a decent picture, but it was still pretty amazing to look at, and Venus was in the gibbous phase--one of the proofs that Galileo's telescope showed that both Earth and Venus circle the Sun.  Tonight the Moon will be a little more illuminated, and a little higher in the sky.  I'm beginning to feel like an amateur astronomer again.