As luck would have it I was at home on Saturday and the forecast was looking good on AstroForecast. Set up the 8 inch Newt scope and could not believe how late it was before it really got dark enough to see 'stuff'. This time of the year really shows the difference between the Civil, Nautical and Astronomical twilights.
All went well with colimination and polar alignment. A first for me was having the first alignment star in the 8mm eyepiece and then to ruin that achievement I went and picked an unsuitable second alignment star (User problem here, and the Starbook system is very sensitive to these choices). GOTO's were only acceptable for the rest of the night. (At least they were in the 24 mm Field of View). But that did not stop me finding my targets.
Venus was lovely as it slipped below the western horizon. At my location it was behind a series of trees, so I did not see it in the scope. Mars and Saturn looked impressive. Saturn's rings were vertical in my setup and seemed to throw a shadow on the disk. There also was lovely subtle colourings to be seen in the bands of Saturn.
First time around M101 could not be seen. An hour later when the seeing had improved, M81 and M82 were also fabulous. I was surprised to be able to see Vega at this time of the year and rewarded myself by my first view of M57 this year. With the moon's imminent arrival, I finished up as a days hill walking was on the agenda for Sunday.
Donal
  