We finally are getting some clear nights (although far less than usual). My sister and her grandson were visiting from Southern California, so I dragged the big scope out across the wonderful new asphalt surface, and set it up.
Ring Nebula (M57): with 17.5" of aperture, you get not just a delicate smoke ring around a star, you actually get color: greenish to me, bluish to my sister.
Saturn was pretty awesome -- the rings are quite a more open than the last time I looked at them.
The Moon was as usual overwhelming as it came up over the mountains.
Two downsides:
1. I did not drag the scope out early enough, and the mirror was still adjusting to the outside temperature. You could see the slight changes affecting image over time.
2. I either have forgotten how to use the Sky Commander, or something has gone wrong. I could not get it to switch to show me a list of planets. (Saturn was a bit fainter than usual, and it took a while to identify the non-twinkler between Antares and Mars as Saturn.)
UPDATE: Yes, re-reading the Sky Commander manual reminded what I was doing wrong.
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