Well, the night had arrived. Time for a first date. The day of the 16th had been beautifully clear, lots of sunshine, and the evening was shaping up rather well. I started to set up and things were still looking promising. I got my alignment done and had a quick bit of visual on Luna. Wow, the view was outstanding through this scope! I couldn't believe how much closer I was able to get just with a 10mm eyepiece. Adding the x2 barlow was phenomenal! Anyway, that was short lived because I had spotted a few wispy clouds drifting about. Got my camera (GPCAM2 290C) in and fired up in SharpCap. I was aiming to do a 'first quarter' moon mosaic. I managed to get midway through one pane of 500 frames, when I spotted banks of cloud. Yep, you guessed it, Luna was engulfed in the blink of an eye. I thought perhaps it'd pass in a while and the skies would clear. Just a 'blip' I thought. I waited 15 minutes and still nothing but cloud. 30 minutes passed and there was no end in sight. Time to call it. The forecast was unexpectedly wrong! So, I packed up and came inside. Night over. Better luck next time I thought.

17th July - A truly beautiful day and a clear night forecast! We'll go for round two I thought. I had a good feeling about this night. It had to be a good one, hadn't it?! I got all set up and sat outside with a gin and lemonade waiting for the sky to darken. It was a very warm night but conditions felt good. I had a good feeling! I was not wrong either about that feeling. I had the best night in a long time and I fell in love with astro all over again. It was amazing! I did lots of lunar and planet visual, and let me tell you, the views through this do not disappoint!! I saw a really bright ISS pass, a meteor went past Vega and the end of the night, I sat looking at the glow of the Milky Way above my garden. There was no dew either. It was a truly magical night and one I'll not forget. I will add images in here as and when I've processed them all 🙂