Saturday, March 31st, 2012

and into the wee hours of the first day of April.

It had been nearly a month since my last serious stargazing session although I had caught many glimpses as the weeks strolled by. Each time, I was either swamped with school-related work, had no time to properly record what was observed or was away from my telescope altogether. There were times that I ached to be outside and other moments when my passion for the stars completely overwhelmed my senses. However, I remained silent and my telescope collected dust from lack of use.

On March 15th, I definitely wanted to scream so all could hear.

I'm sure that many of you would agree that there are moments in life when you experience something you never thought you would and are well aware that the occasion would never present itself again. The evening of March 15th was such a night. My science students had participated in the Regional Science Fair and had placed first and third in their categories. As we left the building, we witnessed the most spectacular auroras ever! Unfortunately, I did not have my camera and all I could do was stare. The moment was fleeting yet awakened a most profound part of me. As the small bus drove away from the small building where the students had displayed their winning projects, all I could do was lower my head and cry. I knew, I knew,.. that I had seen something that few had experienced and that I would never see again. I attempted to find a picture online to share a little of what I had seen (image from borealis2000.com).

On March 31st, I was finally able to perform my much needed collimation. This usually takes 10 to 15 minutes as I align the primary and secondary mirrors. This routine task ended up taking me 45! For reasons that have me completely baffled, the mirrors were completely misaligned, enough for the adjusting laser to miss the secondary mirror completely and appear on the wall behind it! I was careful to keep my eyes away from the light as I attempted to fix the situation to no avail. The mirrors refused to budge so I concluded that the Allen key used was dysfunctional. Frustration set in as I vowed vengeance to all that reflected light until I finally found a new tool hiding in the bottom of our kitchen drawer.

You know the drawer that simply accumulates all unused items of the household? That's right, you have one of those too I'm sure. Imagine trying to find something of value there!

Finally, the mirrors were perfectly aligned and the telescope was acclimated to the cold. It was -14 degrees Celsius with humidity levels at 92 percent. This was clearly not ideal conditions to be outside (in terms of condensation issues) but I was in no position to complain. Venus welcomed me as soon as I stepped into the tampered darkness. Once again, she shone beautifully while the moon basked the rest of the sky in light.

I am extremely proud even if other images on this forum is 100 times better!

30 minutes into my session, both my eyepiece and my viewfinder (TELRAD) suffered from condensation greatly reducing what could be seen. I decided to abandon my quest but left my telescope outside in case the conditions changed.

It did!

As the clock struck 12:30 am of April first, I made my way outside once more. I knew it was there,... I had not seen it for many months BUT I knew it was there.

There it was! Please help me in welcoming our ringed wonder to our night sky once more!

The tilt of the planet displayed the rings beautifully! I decided to attempt using my husband's camera (a Panasonic Lumix - DMC LX5) which is more sophisticated than mine. Eureka! Yes, I think I finally have a picture of Saturn that I can be proud of!

Isabelle