Alas, there was no writing tonight. The sky was so clear that I decided to take the telescope outside and have a look around. The moon washed things out a bit, but it was better than having a cloudy sky.

I spotted a fairly bright star to the south and trained the finderscope on it. When I looked in the eyepiece, I got quite a shock--I was looking at Saturn, with the rings clearly visible! This is the first time I've ever seen it through a telescope, and it was an amazing sight. It was a bit too bright to detect any colour or shading on the planet or in the rings, so I'll have to give some filters a try when I'm out there next.

After that I tried finding some Messier objects, but the tree in our backyard and the glare from the moon made that difficult. I was able to locate the Pleiades easily enough, but that was about it :)

Now for rest, and I'll ponder the antho tale in the morning. The deadline is fast approaching....