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Saturn’s rings were open to their maximum extent upon the southern face. Significant new spot activity began in the South Tropical Zone and the South Equatorial Belt Zone. The STropZ activity took the form of small white spots at Saturnicentric latitude −35°, with a mean drift rate of +0.5°/day with respect to System III. White spots in the SEBZ showed a drift rate of −8.0°/day versus System III, while there was continuing evidence for a relatively slow drift in the S. Equatorial Current. A historical survey of STropZ activity is included in an Appendix, which includes previously unpublished BAA data for the 1971−’72 apparition.

An overview is presented of how to perform visual interferometry of double stars using an interference mask placed over the aperture of an undriven telescope. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate that interesting and worthwhile observations can be obtained from a basic setup using a small telescope, thereby hopefully encouraging others to pursue this interesting field of astronomy.

In July 2015 Ricardo Hueso Alonso and colleagues discovered a bright spot on Neptune at latitude −41° with the 2.2 metre telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory. This paper reports observations and monitoring of this feature by amateur observers in the Netherlands and shows that with current amateur telescopes and digital cameras, bright features on distant Neptune can be detected and analysed.