In the mean time

At this point I hadn't even looked at a telescope, it hadn't even occurred to me, and with the Irish summer we were having, who could blame me.

It just so happened that a neighbour of mine owned a telescope. It was a small Meade 70mm refractor on an altazimuth mount. This one in fact;

I had no idea at the time what any of this astronomy jargon meant but I had my hands on a telescope at last. Now all I needed was the right weather, which I waited for for at least a month, not kidding. 

I didn't stop. In the mean time I became a member at my local observatory, the BCO in Cork city, with it's wonderful tours, installations and stargazing evenings, it kept the spark alive. Coincidently I had also attended it's grand opening, so here are some photographs of that day.