It was a real pleasure to meet Sean and we had a nice relaxed observing session. There were a couple of lads taking astrophotos, so we introduced ourselves and had a nice chat. Hopefully we will see them again. The sky was perfectly clear and there was only a hint of a breeze, but it got very cold.
We started with Mars, but could only see the orange disk with no more than a hint of darker features. I'm still getting used to the new refractor and did a slow tour of some Messiers. M2 & M15 are nice bright globulars, M76, the Little Dumbbell, was very faint in my little scope, and M34, the spiral cluster, was nice. Staying in Perseus, I checked STF331 which is a fine double of bright white stars easily resolved at 57X (5.2, 6.2, 12"). The seeing was not great and I did not look at any other doubles. The double cluster was magnificent as always and the Pleiades, although too big even for my wide field scope, was still very impressive.
A very modest haul, but it was lovely just to be out under that beautiful sky. By 11:15 we were frozen, so we packed up early. I'm looking forward to more sessions under the Autumn and Winter skies.
Mike
Skywatcher 120 mm ED on a CG5 mount.
Orion UK 300mm Dobsonian
  