I wasnt planning on doing any observing this weekend. The forecast looked a bit on the poor side, and the clouds were present as I headed off to bed. However, the arrival of my neighbour at 4am prompted me to get up and make a coffee. Whilst I was filling the kettle in the darknes, I noticed the sky was totaly clear. Whilst the ketle was boining, I got dressed and relocated the Dob to the back garden. Armed with a coffee I set about aligning the scope to Polaris. The plan was to look for M51 and M101. I tracked down M51 as a ghostly gossamer barely there at all, and no sign of M101.

M81 and M82, however, were much more pleasurable. at 50x the can both be viewed at the same time. A real treat indeed. Afterwards, I decidedthat the crescent moon and Venus werent going to be visible with the Dob, so I opted for the 20 x 80 binos. Sat there with a coffee and the binos pointed at the moon was a rather sublime experience. Finally headed back to bed about 6.30. A stolen nights viewing!