As this edition of the WDAS Newsletter goes to press (digitally speaking) Mark's on holiday, enjoying the sunshine on some windy mountain, I expect.  And he's sent me a photo of a star party from last Saturday (23-Jun-2018) with no little by way of accompanying article. "Views of the moon, Jupiter, Venus and finally Saturn", it said.  "Kept all busy, but Mercury could not be picked out of some streaky haze low in the west".  So lucky you... you get to read a short and geeky padded article from me.

Mark took a break from writing this month's Planetary Skylights last Saturday evening to run a Star Party on West Cliff.  He was excited to try out Keith's new scope: a treat he'd been anticipating for much of the month.  (Various missives reached me in Tenerife carrying news of fog, fog and more fog in Whitby in the early month... in the end even with idle speculation about whether Keith's telescope may be cursed!).

But here you have it.. a small image of Keith's new, black, 12" Skywatcher Dobsonian 'Truss' telescope with Go-to facilities, which they've helpfully photographed against a black background!

And, shining bright through the gloom you see it here in action in the star party, although - wouldn't you know it - everyone was globularly clustered around a far smaller scope at that moment.