Calm before the storm , very clear .

[cotterless45]

Very odd night .

Wonderful clarity, checked out the Aries galaxies. Then swung up to Draco and the wonderfully bright colourful planetary NGC 6543 ( Cat's Eye nebula).

Caught the bright asteroid (511)Davida in Taurus, well worth a look.

Wonderful NGC 1535 in Eridanus .Then zipped back to a stunningly clear Jupiter, almost crisp with a full transit of the GRS. This kept me busy for a few hours comparing the view through a 6" refractor vs Newt.

Cloud rolled in and I had a drive up to a local dark site to check out of town darkness, very !

Cloud cleared and a stunning time was thoroughly enjoyed up until 1.30 when the first signs of wind blew in,

Old Nick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. I am very partial to planetaries as well, and the Cat's Eye and NGC 1535 are very nice examples.

[Special K]

Must have been nice to compare those scopes!  Was a nice transparent sky to start with in Herts, but seeing was a little off.  Jupiter was boiling in a very cold scope with no dew.  Perhaps the turbulence of the coming winds which were blowing by morning.  However, DSO stuff was quite nice. I tried for California Nebula and the Pacman Nebula but didn't bag either.   All tucked up in bed by 10:30 in preparation for a Dawn Patrol, but the haze and thin cloud had arrived by then. 

[AlexB67]

Last night was fabulous, had two sessions, earlier on sort of around 7 - 9 PM then another from about 1:00 - 3:00 AM. Even from LP backyard the 10 inch showed galaxies for fun like I've never experienced before.  First time I really tried that from my backyard with the 10 inch to go on a galaxy search,  so I was well prepared with my printed charts, but till now often reserving the galaxies for out of town when I had the 5 inch.

I ticked a few last night without expecting that to be the case, probably improving observing/finding skills helping all the time. The plough, while not even that high up made for pretty good seeing, by the end  the north east corner of Leo was just sticking out above my roof.  Immediately NGC2903 popped into view without even trying, a first on that one.  

Must make more inroads with galaxies from now on from my backyard on those better nights after notching up mainly star clusters recently, as it is far more possible than I perhaps had even thought 'till now !!, There is something about those fuzzy patches that makes them very attractive, but it wasn't as If I had to try that hard once found, they just popped into view without averted vision, more than I had hoped for