Erla’s father had bequeathed her a 102 mm/1000 mm Refractor by Bresser, complete with tripod, mount and so on. After the individual components had finally reached us at our place of residence, last year, we had taken stock and found to our consternation that the mounting brackets were missing. The bits fastening the tube to the mount, that is. Erla and I were both sure that we had seen them, only they were hiding from us.

Yesterday, they re-appeared, and since the skies are halfway clear and Jupiter still is in Opposition, we sort out the individual bits and pieces and put the whole thing together. That takes a while and needs a little improvisation (the bolts fixing the focuser to the tube are missing and we need to scrounge some from a box of assorted bits and pieces to find replacements), and until the whole thing finally is set up in the front yard, the clouds have taken the planet hostage and prevent our first practical use of this ‘scope, and our personal First Light for this tube.

Today, however, despite rainy weather, the predictions are firm that from approx. 10 pm until 4 am the skies are clear. No good seeing, lots of air turbulence, but for a big fat planet like Jupiter it should be good enough. So I collect a few bits and pieces, we carry the ‘scope outside, and without any serious attempt at polar alignment I set the tube on the Fat One. Using the polar finder would have been precluded by the bright street lights, anyway. Jupiter, however, comes out clear and bright in the eyepiece. I go through several magnifications, enjoy the wonderful illustration of Earth’s rotation (the mount is not motorised, so I have to track manually). And I find out that the Great Red Spot is actually visible, for a change. The first five years of my life as a practising astronomer, it had managed to stay in hiding. A green filter significantly raises contrast, and after a while I go megalomaniac and, amidst upcoming fog and sudden heavy automobile traffic, set the ‘scope on the Great Orion Nebula, in part to demonstrate the use of a light-spot viewfinder to my wife.

The demonstration is successful, M42 is vaguely in the picture, and I dig out the UHC filter. The result is impressively clear. OK. That was to be expected, but after such a long period of no practical astronomy, even such a small success is a bit of an Event for this hobby astronomer. In other words: I’m back!