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Wednesday 22.08.18

I opened up the small dome at 00:45 with a view to imaging Neptune.  Geraldine had not been parked correctly after her last use so I had to put her back manually before I could hope for good GOTO.  The dome had also not really been secured correctly.

Initial goto Neptune appeared to be good but I was unable to identify the planet for certain.  I moved to Sadalmelik, a third magnitude star not too far away, and synced the 'scope there.  Returning to Neptune, I was still uncertain I had found it so moved to Lambda Aquarii, which I was pleased to find in Geraldine's data base and less than 4 degrees from Neptune.  I synced again there and returned to Neptune.  A bright object appeared on my camera and I imaged it in the hope it was Neptune.  However I'm not so sure as it didn't look blue, so may have been a nearby star.

The Pleiades were clearly visible in the east so I told Geraldine to go there but she set off in completely the wrong direction.  I had to stop her manually, moved her to M45 manually and re-synced.  A splendid sight through the 80ED with a 25mm eyepiece.

Finally she parked correctly.  I closed up and left at 0245 BST.

Peter