EAAS observing October 17th

This was at Killylane reservoir, near Larne in Co. Antrim, and it was a strange night.
It started off quite promising, but then high cloud came in from south, kicking transparency into touch.
This went on for a while, but with areas of the sky untouched by cloud, and it wasn't that cold. About midnight the temperature nose-dived, and the sky became really good in between the areas of high cloud.
The cloud kept vanishing completely then reforming minutes later over the sky before vanishing again.
However, we got a few views earlier, but unfortunately by the time the skies were really good we were well dewed up.
I helped James Beattie collimate his new 8" Lightbridge (it was well out) and got a chance to assess it.
Lovely pin-sharp star images, good brightness on objects as well. It's a good scope that'll serve him well in time to come.
I used my Televue 15mm Plossl eyepiece on it and views were comparable with my own...I used the Ring nebula (M57) and Polaris, looking for the mag 9.0 companion, which was beautifully separated and very clear at x80 (18 arc second separation).
James also impressed me by instantly finding M57, (and with a finder that was way out and no Allen key to adjust it), as well as obviously having a good knowledge of finding his way around the sky.
Setzer (Dave Miles) showed up, but as the sky was iffy, we didn't get his new ETX105 out.
So, Stevie and I bored his ass off showing him constellations, interesting stars and telling tales of cosmic cataclysm!
The crack was quite good, and we packed up about 1am or so, with Mars bright and Orion peeking above the trees, shield quite clear,
During that time we got a look at M13 (poor) M31 was good...dust lanes very visible, M81 and M82 in Ursa Major, M36, M37 and M38 in Auriga, various doubles like Gamma Andromedae, Albireo, and others Stevie can remember.
In addition Dave and I saw a beautiful meteor that swept in from Auriga, ending way off in Aries. Magnitude was about +0.5 or so, not too bright, but with a lovely smoke trail that persisted only for a second or two.
A mixed night, but good fun all the same, and it's always good to have new members obviously enjoying themselves.

Great report Eamonn, good to hear that Killylane still delivers the goods as an observing location. It brings back memories of a year or two ago when a dozen or more of us, all knowledgable people in many different ways, used to go up there and the craic was excellent!

Those were the days!

Sounds like a good night Eamonn,
Its great to get under the stars every now and then, you've been having some better luck with the weather then us down in limerick.

Not really, Dave. Weather's been awful up here as well!
We're lucky in that we've a good band of dedicated people ready to go out whenever there's any chance of a clear night, even at the drop of a hat in the middle of the week!
We've been getting a fair number of new members lately, and every opportunity has to be taken to help them familiarise themselves with their new scopes and with starting to find their way around the sky.
For me, the fun of actually being out there showing people the sights on a clear night is hard to beat.

Nice report Eamonn!
Great that there is such energy amongst you all to go observing at the drop of a hat.

It's a good thing ye stuck it out...
Theres nothing worse than packing up and then the sky clears
(haven't we all done that!?)