I went out last night hoping to get a shot of the Comet McNaught or C/2006 P1 that is now about to fly around the sun. It is only visible right after sunset in the west. From where I was I think it was below the horizon, I’m almost sure I could see Altair and it was suppose to be around 15 degrees lower in the horizon and to the south about 15 degrees as well. I do not think I even saw Venus which was only 10 degrees lower but another 10-15 degrees farther south.
I did get some shots of Orion and here is even a pic of the Orion Nebula I think. Mine is on the left and one taken by the Australian Observatory on the right. I just about got frostbite, well not really since it was only about 40 degrees F outside but my hands became numb after the hour and a half I spent outside.
I also tried to get the star cluster M41 in Canis Major shown below. The bright star in the upper left of the left photo is Sirius. The grouping of stars in the lower right of the photo is the M41 (Messier 41) open star cluster. The lower right photo is a closer look at the cluster, which is in the bottom portion of the photograph.