I was woken up around 23:00 by some noise outside my window.

Raccoons again.

I opened the door and threw a couple of rocks to scare them away and when as I glanced upward, starlight. For the first time in weeks my instinctive look up was actually met by something other than overcast skies: Jupiter hanging low in the east.

Even though it is way past my bedtime, I just manage to pull out the scope, place it under the local street lamp and point it at Saturn. This is my first observation of the mighty ringed planet this year. He's as an impressive sight as I remember when I first got into astronomy a year ago.

So glad I finally got the telescope out. Here's to more clear nights!