Stanley does the business

[iPeace]

Cloudy here all evening, chucking it down as I type; might as well write up last night's session. It was another one of those borderline occasions, when you're not sure it's going to be worth it, but that's why they invented grab-and-go. So go I would, but there was the next luxury dilemma: which kit? It's all attuned to my inherent laziness, no power or alignment considerations, and even the newts tend to behave and not need collimation beyond a summary check. Cooling, yes, there is that, but it's currently not cold at all and sorts itself quickly. As of late, I'm in the habit of using a newt at home, and the Borg 71FL on the road. Bjorn is weightless and very tempting to deploy for a possibly short and fruitless session, but I decided I needed to get the TV-85 out. Hardly a major enterprise, as you may be thinking, and I would agree, but requiring just that bit more effort to drag out and set up the Berlebach UNI.

I'm always rewarded for it. Stanley is such a solid performer and a joy to use. We went for Jupiter first, nicest view of it I've had in a while; Europa was closing in for transit so one eye on the clock to be back in time. Izar was in a favourable part of the sky, probably for the first time I've ever tried to observe it, and after many marginal views this time was a full-on success; two bright, very sharp pinpoints, white and blue, with clear separation. I had the new DeLites, 4mm and 3mm, and Stanley knows exactly what to do with them. This is clearly the way to observe Izar; it's so easy it's like playing a computer game in 'God Mode'. I took some time enjoying this. (Haven't played a computer game in many more years than I care to remember...)

Mu Librae was more difficult, and I'm still not fully convinced of it yet. It will take some more doing. Delta Cygni was better, not an obvious thing, but good enough to call. And the Double Double was just a nice relaxing stop.

Back at Jupiter, Europa was close to touching; I watched its shape seemingly dissolve into the planet. There was a shadow transit scheduled, but that would be a couple of hours later. Clouds were shuffling around, waving wisps at the observing arena, and gradually closing in. We called it.

[John]

Lovely report Mike, I enjoyed reading that

[johnfosteruk]

Great report.