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The long, sunny day became a clear night. I was back out to the obs. by 7pm. Corrected the latest reversal of AWR Declination drive and synced on the Moon. With Uranus and Mars nearby I had C-du-C slew a few Gotos and made handset corrections until it was no longer confused.
Uranus is very small. As is Mars. I kept bumping up the power but neither was large enough to expect much. Mars was oval and Uranus showed limb darkening which emphasized it's ball shape.
Back to the Moon which was looking more rugged than usual. With lots of craters in deep shadow extending out into invisibility on the terminator. There was some thermal movement but the detail held up to 200x and beyond. After exhausting my range of shorter eyepieces I settled on an Orion 2x Shorty Barlow and a 20mm Meade 4000 for 10mm and about 220x. This remained crisp enough to satisfy but I missed the sense of flying above the Moon's surface and ease of seeing detail offered by the binoviewer.
At 8.30pm I was called away to go in for dinner. Orion is almost south now so I want to see what the 7" can do with M42 in The Sword. I have been so busy building domes, mountings and telescopes over the last few years that I seem to have lost the habit of viewing the night sky. Having a higher viewpoint, Goto capability and C-Du-C means I can find stuff. Objects which were always invisible behind the tall hedges and trees are now within my reach.
No more setting up and taking everything back in when it is iced up or saturated with dew. I just switch off, close the shutters and lock up. Moreover I am protected from the almost constant wind.
Dinner is over and I'm going back out for a while. Thin cloud came over which spoilt M42. The Trapezium stood out like jewels but the "wings" lacked contrast against the clouds. Packed up at 9.30pm.
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