The twelve days of Christmas was what came to mind on Saturday night (19th - 20th) as, encouraged by the clear, crisp but cold weather I suited up to try out the new MRF I talked about last time...

3 pairs of socks, 2 wooly ha-ats, and a hot flask of teaeee.... (OK maybe not X-Factor material)...

along with gloves, 2 undershirts, a shirt, a fleece and a windproof jacket :-) - all of which were needed in the -8 deg C refigerator that passed for my garden...

The Michelin man cometh!..... and out I wen't though I wasnt planning to be 'gone some time'!

With a little trepidation I powered up the ETX and the Finder - hoping the batteries in the scope would still have enough juice in them given the temperature (the LCD on the AutoStar handset doesn't like scrolling at 8 below!) and levelled the tube -

Expectantly I selected me old chum Mizar as my first alignment target and punched the GOTO - a few seconds of whirring and squeaking and the slewing stopped. As per normal the thing was pointing a tad off. So I spied through the finder and slewed that little red dot onto the star - a quick peek in the Eyepiece - eek! :eek: ROFL - I had forgotten to insert the eyepiece! :D Don't laugh yet - it gets better....

Eyepiece dutifully inserted and then expectation rising a peek - um not at all clear (now the transparency to the NE wasnt fabulous last night) - but - yup you've guessed it - I had left the objective cap on :icon_clown: - talk about getting carried away with excitement LOL.

So that was easily fixed at least and to my pleasant surpise there pretty much as hoped (and expected) was the delightful Mizar happy with that I confirmed the target and selected Rigel for No 2. More whirring and the red dot was... somewhat off but I have become used to that at this stage - but a few presses of the direction keys on the Autostar and the dot plumb on top of Rigel and all was well - Alignment complete without fuss!

So far so good and I could get used to this.

After a few moments of gazing at Rigel and its friends I decided it was time to play with the GOTO so a quick alignment check on Betelgeuse (it was off by a little on the Red Dot but not too much) and we were off.

First up a very nice clear shot of M42 - the best yet I would think with the stars crisp and the milky white clearly discernible withouth any need to resort to aversion.

Next up a view of the environs of the Rosette Nebula - the central cluster of stars being clear as crystal and close to the centre of the FOV

A quick spy at Sirius before swinging north - I tracked to M81 - but didn't see a thing - now the transparency wasn't great in that direction and there was a fair bit of LP backwash from the snow - so I have no knowing if it was the conditions or my scope doesn't have the legs for it - though I rather think it should.

Undeterred I realised that M31 ought to be viewable from my back yard position so I commanded GOTO there - and very satisfying it was too - slightly off centre but much clearer and more recognisable than last time - no shaky binos to spoil the view.

Next to a veiw of the environs of Cassiopea - this time just using the finder to star hop around and a glimpse of M103 followed by a GOTO the Double Cluste (NGC 869) which was very nice and sharp although this high overhead stuff was becoming quite literally a pain in the neck! - not least as I had the tripod down a bit low.

Time for a cup of that tea... As I was pacing around the side of the house slurping the warmth I noticed Mars was nice and high and looking good - time to move the scope methinks...

Just a few moments to take a peek at Deneb, Castor and Pollux before decamping to the front garden.

I didn't bother with aligning the GOTO after the move, deciding instead to use the finder and hop around.

Last night gave me my best view of Mars to date with a crisp, if small, disc and clear colour - even with the 9.7 I was able to resolve a reasonable focus though there was still chromatic aberration.

Then a few minutes cruising the belt of Orion and a peer around Alnitak and the horsehead area (not that I saw that of course); As usual, I wasn't dissapointed with the sisters of M45 though - which were in sparkling form - crystal clear and not sparkling at all lol - I spent a while on these before the cloud began to drift in from the North - I raced it over to Taurus just managing to keep ahead of its advance for a short poke around Aldebaran before retreating back to Orion for a final scout around there.

I had time for a last look at Mars before settling for a longer view of Sirius as I finished off another cup of hot tea as it transited the FOV.

With the cloud advancing from the N&W now beginning to obscure Orion and the Eastern fringes menacing Mars, the objective dewing up and ice forming on the forks I decided to call it a night around 00:40 or so.

All in all not a bad couple of hours looking about and I am royally chuffed with the new finder - well worth the time and effort to get it stuck to the scope - I know it is going to save me a bunch of frustration - it really is like night and day having it versus trying to sight without.

Fortunately my Michelin man outfit did the business too, with only the fingers of my hand feeling the cold where I had briefly taken off my glove to focus on Mars at the higher mag of the 9.7 EP.