Unusual for me, did some observing tonight

[Catanonia]

Was all setup around 10pm for imaging of M101 within the observatory and was very hopeful due to the mess office report for a good night.

Well you guessed it, the forecast was completely wrong and it was none stop cloud here in Cheshire. After taking loads of darks and cursing the clouds I decided I couldn't live on chat alone and had to pack up for bed.

I also noticed it was very bright and that it was a full moon. Well normally the moon is hidden behind a massive hedge to my south and beyond my observatory FOV. Well I wasn't going to take out mount and scopes from the observatory, but I did have my camera tripod and Sony A700 with a 1000mm lense

Out she came and I managed to get some lovely 1000mm direct shots of the moon and I also managed to get my 1st ever look at Jupiter who was shining away.

I couldn't believe that I could see 4 of Jupiter moons directly through the view finder on the 1000mm lense attached to the DSLR.

I got a few shots, but not that good as was a spur of the moment effort.

So there you go, had a bit of an observing session when the clouds wouldn't play as I spent more time looking with a couple of snaps