My 18 inch dob is nearly completed. I had an email from David today to say that he hopes to get the construction finished tomorrow, then it will be painted, assembled to make sure it goes together ok and then checked. I am hoping that it can be collected next Wednesday, otherwise it won’t be before the 30th at least until I can do so, which would be frustrating given that there have been unavoidable delays with the completion. However, being able to collect it on Wednesday depends on some work stuff not getting in the way (as it could well do!), vehicle breakdowns and David not running into any unforeseen problems with the final completion – Sod’s Law being what it is, I won’t be at all surprised if something happens!
I’m also hoping that my ankle is well on the mend by then (it’s not doing too badly, the cast is off, I am back at work – although not driving – and I am down to using one crutch rather than both) and this crap weather clears up (it’s been the coldest and grottiest summer for 17 years and September has brought mostly force 8 gales and rain so far).

Galaxy clusters, faint PNe, difficult Palomars and faint nebulae await! By the way, if you have large glass (>16 inches) and are looking for observing ideas beyond the bright NGCs, then you can do no better than to visit my friend Alvin Huey’s Faint Fuzzies site, Steve Gottlieb, Mark Wagner and Jim Shields’ Adventures in Deep Space or another friend’s site, Ray Cash’s Deep Sky Page.