Three weeks completed
Well, the first three weeks is about up now and I've been incredibly fortunate with the weather. There were only two or three cloudy nights and on two of them the skies cleared later in the evening. I think there was only one complete blanket. And the temperature was pleasant too - no coats, jumper, gloves, etc required. Beginners luck, but it made a big difference.
I've picked up a few (more) odd habits along the way. My wife is now used to the bizarre sight of me nipping back into the house squinting ferociously with one eye open and one closed.....
I thought that if I was going to wreck the hard won night vision by going back into the well lit house, then maybe I could at least preserve one eye by keeping it shut. To my amusement, when I did go back outside, opening the eye again actually worked and it was like turning the night-vision back on.
"
Aaaaargh, Jim lad, me pirate eye patch is just for preserving me stargazing night vision while I pops back to me cabin to feed the parrot...."
I tried something new last night - attaching the camera to the telescope(s) instead of having it on a separate tripod. Not something I'm likely to persist with but it with but it was intriguing to try. The camera ended up with weird orientations, and focusing was as hard as I expected, but I did manage to get a couple of mediocre pictures. Even in daylight I find it very hard to use manual focus using the viewing screen on the back of the camera and at night, with or without glasses on, it's little more than guessing. It might be useful for taking rough pictures to study and compare with charts later, but I can't see myself doing any serious astrophotography.
A couple of nice cheesy moon shots (one with each scope) but nothing I probably couldn't have got with a regular camera and long lens on a tripod. And a colourful but low quality picture of Mimosa (aka Beta Crucis, Becrux, etc) in the Southern Cross, with the Jewel Box nearby.
Thanks again for all the useful tips and encouragement.
Cheers,
Chris