I got out on Tuesday to see some stars, first time this year! Being a disabled astronomer is not easy. I haven't been rushed to A&E in an ambulance for months now!

2022 Total: 108 observing sessions.

2023 Total: 1 observing session (so far ... ).




I almost took the Tichy Sixty out (above) as it's so small, but in the end went with the 72ED. It's a lovely little scope and one of my favourites. Barely heavier than the 60mm but better balanced plus I get slightly improved resolution. It normally goes out annually more than any of my other scopes.



It's been a tad customised over the years.



I had thirty sessions out of over a hundred with it last year, narrowly beating the 60mm. The doublet lens isn't quite as good as the 'Tichy' and can sometimes show a little bit of false colour, usually only on Venus and other very bright objects though. I had a dry run indoors to make sure everything worked. It's 2.8 inches (in ye olde measurements) in aperture. 72mm in normal measurements.



Everything worked well and Thunderbirds were go, well apart from the finder calibration. The red dot was working but too faint in daylight to test. In the end it turned out astonishingly accurate. I set-up around 19:30 British Summer Time while it was still light. It was gloriously hot. Not quite 'Soylent Green' hot, but very pleasant. It was a struggle getting everything ready and my recent loss of dexterity and range in my right arm/hand became more obviously apparent as I set-up. All I had to do then was wait until it became darker. The first star (Arcturus) I saw was in twilight. A bit later the 'Summer Triangle' appeared. There's a load of stuff in and around the Triangle, including the Double Double, the Dumbbell/Apple Core Nebula and the most famous double in the sky; Albireo. I saw all of them! I had to wait a bit longer for Saturn to get high enough for me to see with the scope. I saw some nice detail including the orange-coloured moon Titan.



Conditions were cloudless and fairly clear, but not brilliant (slight haze). I spent the next few hours looking at as much as I could, including the three stars of Iota Cass (I call it the 'Mickey Mouse' star for obvious reasons) while I waited for Jupiter to be high enough in the east to see at around midnight. I even had time to make a mug of hot chocolate. Jovian detail was quite good and I could easily see the four main moons. The oddly coloured moon 'Io' was particularly satisfying.



Eventually 'the just a day before last Quarter Moon' (in Taurus) became visible to the scope. I had fallen on the garden path earlier, badly. It really winded me. So I decided to call it a night as I was in considerable pain. Nothing broken though, my paralysed right arm took the brunt of the fall (I fell over like a tree being felled). My head also hit a house brick. I've not felt right since, but I hugely enjoyed going out. I need to work on the dexterity/manipulation/balance issues I now have. It took me some time to physically recover from the session. I still have bruises lol.