Beautiful night

[JulianFR]

What a lovely, moonless night! Would have been perfect for the Dob, but I wasn't able to get out till late... So thank goodness for grab-n-go. So I wad out with the ST 120 and my new AZ4 (and was very pleased with that mount!)

So tonight I got to see M57, M51, M3, M13 and (though it was very low on the horizon) ... And the Milky Way!

[Sandraj]

Wow sounds like you had a really good night, I bet when the sky eventually clears here and the clouds go the moon will be back, thank goodness we have the forum to read and chat with others and see its not gloomy for everyone.

[JulianFR]

Yes, it was super clear for a change. BTW I missed out explaining  what was very low on the horizon in my original post ... I was referring to M4, close to Antares (which is itself quite redly resplendent isn't it). Actually, I couldn't make out any structure in M4 with the ST 120 but it is such a thrill for a beginner like me to track down these DSOs.

[Saganite]

Agree on last night's seeing, though here it was very clear but turbulent until

about 11pm, when it settled down, and I had a good couple of hours,

mainly on Saturn. It was my first chance to try out the 9mm Ortho

in my ED100, and was it worth the wait!!  Razor sharp and beautiful!

Sadly the clouds started building around 1-45 am.