Preparing for clear skies

It's been very cloudy for about a week so I haven't been able to get out and see the sky much lately.

However, I have made a list of things in the February evening skies to look for once the clouds blow over.

Ceres
Ceres is one of our new dwarf planets. It is a moon sized, spherical asteroid in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. Around 2/25/09 it will come as close to Earth as it will be for several hundred years. It is apparently visible just above the constellation Leo this month.

M36, M37, M38
These are three open star clusters in the constellation Auriga which are not far from each other.

M1
M1 is a super nova remnant. It was so bright in the year 1054 that it could be seen in daylight for several weeks. It is between the constellations Taurus and Auriga, specifically between the stars Zeta Tauri and El Nath.

Sigma Orionis
This is a multiple star system just below the lower, left star in Orion's Belt (Alnitak). Technically it is a 4 star system, but only 3 stars are typically visible. I actually checked this one off my list the other night and could only see 3 stars. It was pretty cool, though.

NGC2392
This is a planetary nebula below and to the right of the star Pollux in the constellation Gemini.

M35 & NGC2158
M35 is an open star cluster to the right of the "feet" of the twins in Gemini. NGC2158 is a tighter cluster near M35 and can apparently be seen in the same field of vew.

M41
A star cluster in Canis Major, below Sirius.

NGC884 / NGC869
These are the "double cluster" in Perseus. They are young stars, only a few million years old and are racing towards earth at about 21k/second. Egads, we're all doomed!

Rigel, Alnitak, Castor
These are all multiple star systems. My telescope really isn't builtfor splitting binaries, but it can't hurt to try.

So that's my short list. I just wanted to make sure I have a plan of things to look for if the skies clear up. It's cold enough outside at night that I may not feel like staying out very long. Gotta make the most of that short time in the cold.