102 ,light night.

[cotterless45]

After watching the Venus Jupiter view, which was just stunning, turned to Saturn. Just the 102 with an old 7.5 Ultima and a x2 Barlow . This gave stunning clear views at about x250. I went a bit higher with a selection of old school eps. It was just so three D glorious. Some definately shading to the rings and a very clear Cassini with plenty of surface detail. Being quite above the horizon near south certainly gave good views.

Cygnus was dominating the sky and before the giant lowest Moon swung into action, I got some super doubles. These at x133.

Including Psi Cygni , bright yellow with the blue companion at 2.9". Then

Σ2609 at 1.9", just a delicate white and blue binary. A bit wider at 2.0" for

Σ2741 with similar colour.

Just a peak at epsilon Lyrae for those lovely clear gaps. Then over to Cassiopeia for eta and sigma.

Swinging around I caught M31 coming up and a very bleached out bright double cluster.

I had a lovely medium sized hedgehog under the tripod , who just sat there for some time, probably wondering what the giant was up to.

Looking forward to darker

Clear skies,

Nick.

[chiltonstar]

I had my 102mm long-focus frac out looking at Saturn as well last night, same observations (x240)! A glorious view.

Chris

[laudropb]

Nice report. Had a look at Saturn too, but although it was clear the seeing was very hazy

[baggywrinkle]

Will be out having a play tonight if it stays clear..love this astronomy in shorts, reminds me of being Downunder.

[cotterless45]

The recent thunderstorms certainly have cleared the skies, just hoping for some clear nights. Certainly notice the few minutes of extra twilight each night.

Nick.

[xtreemchaos]

great report mate.thanks for sharing ..charl..

[Piero]

Great stuff! Very nice report and well written. Saturn was lovely yesterday where I live too. Thanks for sharing.

Piero

[damnut]

nice one nick, the 102 is a great instrument.