Started out by pointing the 'scope at Mizar. With the 25mm eyepiece there was some obvious "flaring" of the brighter stars in the field. I could also see, from time to time, a faint "rainbow" effect in the flare. At this point I had trouble recalling exactly how bright stars used to look in the 'scope. I've always seen some flaring but — never having really made a point of noting exactly how it appeared — I didn't really have anything to compare. Lesson for the future: make notes about the really obvious things such as how stars look before you do some work on your 'scope.

With the 15mm eyepiece the flare (which, at times, looked like a very tight double image of each bright star) had a noticeable difference in appearance either side of best focus. When unfocused either side there was the impression of an oval effect to the unfocused stars. Either side of focus the orientation of the oval would rotate 90°. As I understand it this is evidence of astigmatism in the primary or secondary mirror! I don't think I've ever noticed this before (not that I've ever really gone looking for it before).

I tried a few things to see if the oval effect would differ: I changed eyes (no difference), changed my orientation at the eyepiece (no difference) and rotated the eyepiece in the focuser (no difference).

I then tested with the 10mm and then 6mm eyepieces and, as best as I could tell, the oval effect wasn't noticeable. Most confusing.

The more I thought about it the more I felt that what I was seeing actually wasn't any worse than the 'scope used to be. Also, there's the fact that I don't generally know what a bright star should look like through a smallish Newtonian Reflector.

I wished that I'd had Jupiter or Saturn around still so that I could compare how things looked with a more "substantial" target.

Saw a reasonably bright meteor pass roughly North to South through Lyra.

Saw a very bright Iridium Flare in Ursa Major — just below the "handle" of "The Plough". I got the impression that it was one of the brightest flares I've ever seen. It was a lot brighter than any of the stars in Ursa Major.

After the slight annoyance and frustration early on in the session I decided to try the 'scope out on a DSO and opted for an easy target: M13. Initial impression with the 25mm eyepiece was that it looked magnificent! While it looked like a cometary-like "blob" (as I'd noted in a previous observing session) there was, this time, the occasional faint hint that it was comprised of lots of stars. It wasn't so much that I could see stars, it was more a case of it looking slightly "grainy" from time to time.

Made a sketch via the 25mm eyepiece:

Saw a faint meteor pass through Andromeda. Was very quick (less than a second I'd have said) and, given the direction of travel, it looked like it might have been a "late" Perseid.

Watched a faint satellite go roughly North to South, more or less via the zenith, and pass between Cygnus and Lyra. It seemed to occult a faint (to the naked eye) star somewhere between the two constellations. Unfortunately, at the time, I wasn't in a position to note which one it was.

Went back to M13, this time with the 15mm eyepiece. Appeared slightly brighter. There was now a hint that it's made of actual stars with the grainy appearance mentioned above being much more pronounced. While doing viewing a thin but obscuring line of cloud (might even have been a contrail) moved into the area and made observing rather hard. Somewhat annoying as I was about to start a sketch of what it looked like with the 15mm eyepiece.

M31 is now in a position where I can see it with the 'scope. First looked at it with the 25mm eyepiece. M31 itself was obvious but, at the same time, indistinct. There was an obvious brightness difference between what I assume is the central bulge and between the disk. There was no hint of any sort of structure and the whole thing had the appearance of a sort of light-gray "mist". The fact that I was looking in the direction of a street-light and that there was still a very faint haze in the sky probably wasn't helping matters.

After a short while I noticed that a star in the field was actually rather "fuzzy" when compared to all the other stars. Started to wonder if what I was seeing was M32. My initial impression was that it was further away from M31 than I'd imagined it would appear to be but, that said, that impression is formed from the photographs I've seen of M31 (which obviously show a lot more of the galaxy than I'd be seeing through my 'scope).

Checking with a chart I had to hand the fuzzy object did appear to be in about the right location for M32. To be sure I went and checked with my copy of Sky Atlas 2000 and, looking at that, I convinced myself that I wasn't seeing M32 (based on the pattern of stars near it which seemed to be in SA2000 but not in the correct position for M32). Lesson here: be sure of the width of the field of view of the eyepiece so you can make good estimates of separation of objects.

Switched to the 15mm eyepiece. The "fuzzy star" still had a fuzzy appearance and still looked quite different from all other stars in the field.

Switched back to the 25mm eyepiece and made the following sketch:

At 22:55 UT I finished the session.

As I was starting to pack up I noticed that Mars had popped up over the roofs of the houses to the East of me. I did consider setting up the 'scope again to have a look at it but given that it was still low down and given that it was very close to a street-light I decided to save that for another night when conditions were a little more favourable.

After some time of just sitting and looking and sweeping around with the binocular I went to see if I could see M29 with them (having found but failed to identify it with the 'scope back on 2005-07-16). Found it with no trouble at all. It stood out as a reasonably bright fuzzy object with a hint of "grain" to it. Through the binocular I can see why Messier would have included it in the catalogue.

Watched a satellite pass roughly South to North through Cygnus with the naked eye. It appeared to occult one of either 30 or 31 Cygni. It was hard to tell which, if either, it did occult but it came very close — so close that it looked like it occulted.

Saw a brief flash of light just near Vega in Lyra. The flash was less than a second long and was much brighter than Vega. Annoyingly I didn't note down where it was in relation to Vega.

Expecting it to be an aircraft I kept an eye on it for a couple of seconds to see if it happened again but didn't see anything. Had a sweep of the general area with binocular but couldn't see any evidence of a satellite either. I suspect that it probably was a satellite but failed to find it after the flash although I guess there's the possibility that it was a pinpoint meteor (a meteor that appeared to be heading right at me).

With binocular I think I've found M103 in Cassiopeia. Could see a faint, fuzzy object in what appeared to be the correct location but could generally only see it with averted vision (not surprising given how light the sky was and given the faint haze that seemed to be hanging around). It appeared to be within a shallow triangle of three faint stars.

Further checking with Starry Night confirmed that it was M103.

Also, about half way between δ and ε, I noticed what looks like another fuzzy object just "below" three stars in a line. Noted that I should check on some charts later to see what, if anything, it is.

Checking with Starry Night the three stars in a line were HIP8106, HIP8020 and HIP7939. The fuzzy object would appear to have been a collection of stars in the region of HIP8239. While this is a tight grouping of stars it doesn't appear that it is any sort of cluster.

With binocular I think I've found M52 in Cassiopeia. Noticed what looked like a fuzzy star that was alongside a triangle of stars. One side of the triangle is cut by a curved line of five stars.

To aid in checking later on made the following sketch:

The "fuzzy" in the sketch wasn't as obvious to the eye as the sketch might suggest but it does give a good idea of the location and the suggested size is probably about right.

Checking with Starry Night: confirmed that it was M52.

The sky was getting more misty and lighter so decided to call an end to the session.

First test of the Solarscope. Sky was mostly clear, just a few clouds about. Quite windy.

The Sun was very easy to locate with the 'scope and, after a couple of adjustments, was easy to focus too. I could see at least four groups of sunspots. One group, close to the limb (not sure of the actual location on the face of the Sun — working out the orientation of the Sun through this device is something I'm going to have to sort out), had a very obvious "mottling" effect around it. Right round the limb of the Sun the colour was more of a slight yellow/brown when compared to the bright white of the main part of the disk. The "mottling" looked like white ripples sat in the yellow/brown coloured part of the disk.

I would have attempted a sketch of this effect and the location of the sunspot group associated with this effect but, because it was so windy, it would have been hard as the Solarscope would have blown away without me holding it down. Something I'm going to need to do is figure out a good way of recording observations when using this device.

Packed up at around 14:30 UT.

Subsequent checking showed that I was seeing sunspots 800, 801, 803 and 805.

Saw a satellite in Cygnus. Moved roughly South to North along and more or less parallel with the "body stars" of the Swan. First saw it in binocular while doing a general sweep of the Milky Way and then followed it with naked eye. Was easy to see and reasonably bright. I wouldn't have put it any brighter than any of the "body stars" but I wouldn't have put it much fainter than the faintest of them.

Tried to see M71 in Sagitta with binocular. I think I could see it. In the correct location I got the vague impression of a faint misty patch, quite small, and only noticeable with averted vision. Seems like a good candidate to hunt down with the telescope.

By pure chance, while sweeping the area around Sagitta and Vulpecula, I stumbled upon The Coathanger. I was aware of this asterism from books but hadn't recently taken note of its location was it was a delightful surprise to stumble on it by accident. While it does sound terribly obvious it really does look like a Coathanger.

Having located it once I was very easy to locate it again in the binocular. It really is a nice sight in the binocular.

At 21:45 UT, while looking at it in the binocular, a meteor went right through the middle of the field of view.

Finished off by making a rough sketch. Note that all I did was try and draw the stars of the Coathanger itself, I didn't bother to try and draw any of the other stars in the field.

Had a quick glance at M13. It appeared to be stunningly bright tonight. I wanted to make a sketch of it as it appears in the binocular but, as I was getting the drawing gear together, some cloud moved into the area making it less obvious. Decided to leave the sketch for another night.

Went hunting for and found M39 in Cygnus. Very obvious grouping of stars. Easy to find thanks to four stars, more or less in a line, close by. Best description I can give is that it looks like a loose collection of stars in a roughly triangular shape.

First noticed a "fuzzy patch" in the sky between Cassiopeia and Perseus with the naked eye. Check on charts what's there and realised that it's the double cluster of NGC 869 and NGC 884 in Perseus (also known as Caldwell 14).

Had a look with binocular. Excellent sight. The best description I can think of is that it's two star-rich groups of stars, close together, and made more spectacular by being in a pretty star-rich field anyway. Also noticed a really nice arc of stars heading away (roughly North I think) from the pair.

By now more cloud was forming and rolling in. Decided to pack up. Just as I was packing up I noticed that Mars had risen some way above the houses to the East of me. Very bright and an obvious red tint to it. Nice to see that it's rising earlier and earlier. Just a couple of weeks back I didn't notice it until around 22:55 UT. It's starting to get to the point where there's no excuse for not getting the 'scope out and starting to observe it.