In Situ

This was the start of the second night with the scope. Having seen Saturn on my first night, and the moon on the other side of the earth, I was all set to find what astronomers call a 'deep sky object'- a cluster of close packed stars. I struggled for well over 2 hours to try to get it but had to give up finally when my toes had started to go numb. 

I learnt more about using the scope than the night sky that night. I realised that I need something to keep me warm (a brew or a heat pack), to get used to the inverted moving image through the eyepiece, that I should wear an eye patch to stop the other closed eye aching and that deep sky objects don't just jump out!