Been back from New Zealand about a month now. Although the weather has been pretty good during the day, with many clear, sunny days, the nights have been a different story. I've been looking forward to getting re-aquainted my astro equipment but only managed 2 nights out with the C8. The first night out mainly involved figuring out how the scope worked after an 8 month break.

The night sky at the moment where I live seems to suffer from bad transparency. Only the brighter stars visible. In my semi-rural area it's reasonably dark and I don't suffer from too much LP - particularly from the South East through to the South West.

Don't remember the sky being as bad at this time of year in the past. Perhaps I've forgotten with the skies I've been used to in NZ?

On the equipment front I've sold the QHY6 and filter wheel and filters to concentrate on imaging with the ED80 and Atik 16HRC, guided with the QHY5. I had a brief go at Markarian's Chain this time last year and want to have a better stab at it. I'll use the SCT's F6.3 Focal Reducer on the ED80 to give a wider FOV. Must also have a go at Saturn with the C8 and re-chipped Toucam.