Best laid plans of mice and men?

[Greymouser]

Not had a planned observing session for ages, for one reason or another, so with a good forecast, I though it was about time.

I set up fairly early, as posted in the show us your set up at night thread :

( That didn't link right, hey ho. ) Anyway, I left it and thought 40 winks would be a good idea, intending to go out about 2.30 am, catch the best of the Perseids then a little Jupiter. Of course I over slept, waking up about  4.20 am, but never mind. still chance to look at Jupiter, but a short emergency, meant I didn't get out until after 5 am.  

I went out, saw that even though the sun was up/almost up, but behind houses, I could still see Jupiter. The scope had been sat waiting, so it was a fast move to viewing Jupiter, first with my ES 26mm. View great, banding easily seen. Went to the Morph 12.5, perhaps my favourite eyepiece, Much better. I could see the two main belts, along with hints of more detail, even in the polar regions. Others had said that the planets were perhaps better in close to daylight, now I can see why they say it. ( Stu or John? ) The viewing was very steady and very good. My F13.2 refractor performed very well, snapping to focus easily, presenting a very sharp CA free image.

I did try my 7mm Delite, but I am just not sure about this eyepiece and the view with the Morph 12.5 was better. Not sure, but I thought I may have seen a meteor, even though it was quite bright by now, maybe I was imagining it, but it was in the general direction of Jupiter.

One thing I did see was an awful lot of planes flying over, including one very high, in full sun, quite vivid, which left me wondering what the pilot was thinking right then. Out of curiosity, I looked it up on Flightradar24: It was the Minneapolis - Amsterdam flight, due in Amsterdam at 8am. Flying at 39000 feet and doing 470 Knts. I quite like planes, almost a plane spotter too I guess, but I thought I was doing an observing session on Jupiter!  There were an awful lot of contrails though, so my patience was stretched with them.

The thing is, even though it was only a very short session, it was very enjoyable. Watching the world wake, people, birds, with the Pigeons and Doves first. I even quite liked the growing drone of the traffic! Went in got a coffee and a sandwich and back to ten minutes of relaxation and a little food. All in all a good morning, reminding me why dawn is the best part of the day. Must do it again soon.

( Best bit was, it was lovely and cool! )