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Last night I saw two wonderful things. The first was a rather powerful meteor. It lasted for about 3 seconds as it raced through the constellation of Cetus. It was a wonderful sight. I love to see meteors and they are probably my favourite thing to see. It was a red / yellow colour. This was possibly the most clear meteor I have ever seen and takes the tally up to two for my time at home for Christmas.
After this excitement I went and did my normal pattern. Last night I spent probably 10 minutes looking at the Hyades and Aldebaran. These are in Taurus and are a wonderful sight with the eye. They are even better through binoculars (see sky chart). Aldebaran itself forms the eye of the bull. I can easily see why. It is a deep red - something you might expect of an enraged bull. Taurus is an easy to make out constellation a good guide is to find the top right star of Orion (Meissa) and the follow the same diagonal from Betelgeuse. If this is followed you shall see Taurus and if you go slightly higher up you will see the Pleiades (also within Taurus; see star chart). Like the Pleiades the Hyades are an open cluster of stars and hundreds can be seen. A wide range of colours will be easily visible - a truly wondrous sight.
The reason I spent so much time in Taurus was that Comet Machholz has now drifted into this constellation. It has also risen in brightness. It is now the time to observe this object. I also think I saw two tails coming away from it with my binoculars but my sight was diminished due to the light pollution of Birmingham City centre. It was good to see it and it is now easily visible. Hopefully I will get some more clear skies to view the tails while it is still quite bright.
Sky Charts:

More:
+ Taurus -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/myspace/constellationguide/taurus.shtml
+ Meteoroids, Meteors and Meteorites - http://www.star.le.ac.uk/edu/comets/meteors.html
+ Comet Machholz - http://www.krioma.net/blog/archives/2004_12_15.php#000462