I have been very fortunate after my first clear sky to have a number of cloudless nights. Each one seems to have brought better viewing conditions than the last. Although this might be due to me ‘learning to see’.

I was sceptical about the concept of learning to see. I’ve been practising seeing for, ahem, 21 years (and another 21 and a further 4) so I thought I was getting pretty good at it. Okay, I use glasses but the basic concept of ‘face the thing I want to see, open both eyes and look’ is simple enough and well within my capabilities. But reading through a couple of books, I soon discovered that the eye can learn to see detail over time.

Another concept new to me was the effect of the earth’s atmosphere. As a photographer, I’m aware of heat haze and the effects of thin mist but on an apparently crystal clear night I was quite amazed at how much turbulence could be detected at higher magnifications. Mars seemed to be behind a small trickle of water. Saturn’s rings moved in a most un-Saturnine way.

One tip I had picked up from SGL was to let the telescope cool down before observing. It never occurred to me that there would be thermal currents within the telescope, although once I read about it, it seemed obvious.

I have a lot to learn but I think I’ll enjoy learning it.