So a cloudy day cleared just at dusk to provide a beautiful clear sky. However, I did not get Dobby out to the front yard until 11pm, and by then the Moon was behind the trees and Saturn was down behind the neighbour's roof. The sky above was relatively empty as well, with all the familiar constellations (Scorpio, Sagitarius, Centaurus, Crux) down behind our roofline and the tree.
So left with nothing much else to look at, and missing the dark sky I've now tasted, I aimlessly wandered the 30mm and 25mm eps around the sky before deciding to try a close up look at the brightest star above me at that moment.
Turns out that star is Achernar, the brightest star in the constellation of Eridanus ("The river") which is a winding line of stars that I will need some practice and some darker skies before I can be confident that I can pick it out. Achernar is 'the star at the end of the river'.
Achernar is the tenth brightest star in the southern sky, a bright blue giant, which wiki reports to be a binary - although I could not find a companion as I played with my new eyepieces trying to up the magnification.
Didn't stay out too long, but making progress on learning the constellations.
