We arrived just at sunset, having left Japes at 8pm. The skies were pitch black, though the Milky Way was oriented more or less along the horizon. We'll have to come back mid-summer to see it at a better vantage. But many other things were well placed! We started observations after waiting out twilight with a tour by looking at Saturn and counting quite a few of its moons. A series of galaxies came next (M66, M104) and then we looked at a globular cluster (M3) and a dying star (the planetary nebula M97). The last object of the night was the Whirlpool galaxy (M51).

Back at Japes by 11:30pm.