Was out again last night taking a look at R Leo. I also observed R Serpentis, another mira type
variable that is heading towards maximum brighness over the next few weeks.
R Ser was very easy to find in the finder scope, I estimated its brightness at around mag.7.5.
Very interesting to compare the eyepiece view against R Leo. R Serpentis appeared more
pale orange to me last night. It's worth checking out R Ser as it's so easy to find at the moment
in binoculars. Below is last nights photo's with R Serpentis (left) and the more colourful R leo.