Night Log

Observing notes from a small backyard telescope

Six inches of aperture, a folding chair and a suburb full of streetlights. Written down mostly so I stop repeating the same mistakes.

2026-09-02 · seeing 3/5 · transparency poor

Saturn low and soupy

Rings visible, Cassini division only in flashes when the air settled. Gave up on any surface detail before midnight. The neighbour's new porch light is going to be a problem all autumn, so I moved the setup two metres east where the fence blocks it.

2026-08-19 · seeing 4/5 · transparency good

Albireo, again, because it is worth it

Split easily at low power. Spent most of the session just star hopping through Cygnus rather than chasing a list, which turned out to be the most enjoyable hour I have had at the eyepiece this year.

2026-08-04 · seeing 2/5 · transparency fair

Collimation drift after the move

Stars flared on one side at high power. Recollimated with a Cheshire in daylight and the difference was obvious the same night. Adding a check before every session that follows a car trip.

Updated after sessions that produced something worth keeping.