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August 9, 2012: Father and son(s) session in France.

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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During my last session in Cahors (or just outside) the kids had been promised to join in, and Frank (my eldest) proudly set up the old Omegon 15x70 on the camera tripod, whereas Robert (the younger) set up a chair to use the salvaged 7x50 bins, close to where I set up the C8. I promised them a Messier hunt, and the first, and easiest one was M31. I pointed out the "middle" star in Andromeda, and asked them to move upwards from there, and say if they could find anything odd. Both of them found the "strange cloud" easily. I then asked if they could see the cloud with the naked eye, and after some attempts they could. I explaine dthis was the furthest they could see with the naked eye, at over 2 million light year away. Robert at that point seemed content to look at meteors with his mum, but Frank wanted to find more Messiers, as I pottered about with the scope. I suggested that he scan the region around Sco and Sgr, and just generally follow the milky way, and call me whenever he spotted anything odd. I would then help him identify it on the charts. I also then showed him the same object in the C8.

Given the quirks of the photo tripod, he had some difficulty, but with a little help from his dad, he bagged M4, M8, M20, M21, M22, M23, M24, M25, M18, M17, M16, M11, M26 , M6, M7, and M13. With a Messier count of 17 on his first real DSO hunt, he had to be dragged to bed by his mum at 11:30 PM, one very contented young man.

I myself got some new stuff under my belt as well.

I first went to M6, to pick up a few clusters I missed with the bins the night before. NGC 6383 was first, a quite loose cluster around a mag 6 double. Next up was open cluster NGC 6416, to the east of M6 and quite faint. I had a look at M7, which did not fit into the FOV of the 31T5 in the C8. The reason for visiting was NGC 6453, a faint glob embedded in the outskirts of M7. I finished of searching this region of the sky with NGC 6441, which is an easy, compact globular right next to G Sco.

Moving north, I captured NGC 6401, a faint glob due east of 51 Oph, and NGC 6235, another faint globular near 24 Oph. I moved back to M8, and just admired all the detail, moved to M22, both for the usual WOW effect, and for the star hop to nu2 Sgr, which has NGC 6717 right next to it. This is a nice little globular, compact, and with good surface brightness.

I then turned to M16 and M17, which I had only seen with bins this vacation. I was stunned with the level of detail visible. I have never had a better view of them. I picked up M33 easily, and spiral structure was quite evident. I revisited M31 with the scope, and now it was higher in the sky, M110 and M32 stood out brilliantly. More stunning were the dust lanes. I have never seen so much structure in them.

As a final effort, I got NGC 7606, a quite distinct galaxy in Aquarius. A little math told me I would have to wait 2-3 hours to see the Silver Coin Galaxy, and then would have to contend with moonlight. I was also hoping to get at least two more Caldwells (NGC 55, and NGC 300), but this would be hard with moonlight. I decided that enough was enough, and headed off to bed, easily as happy as the kids.

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rory

rory

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A house in Souhern rural France has now been added to my Christmas list after reading your last couple of reports.

Can't wait to get back out there as it has been a while since I have had the chance to do any Astronomy.

Clear skies!

DITTO

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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Love these reports.

I have a six year old boy and he exprssed an interest, but seems to be fleeting.

Your lads have bagged more than me and I've been looking for 6 months.. haha.

Excellent report.

Martin

Thanks. My eldest may have bagged more, but he did have some help. Great that your six year old shows an interest. It may be fleeting now, but as long as you do not push them, the interest may grow in time.

Clear skies,

Michael

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Scott

Scott

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lovely to read a family getting involved in this great hobby, sadly my 2 kids (14 and 16) have zero interest (apart from a 10 second look at saturn a few weeks ago).I've been spending a fair bit of time in this area (sco/sag) while i'm stuck in oz and it really is an amazing patch of sky. think i will miss these darker skies when my visa finally gets sorted and i can return to the old dart. :embarrassed::grin:

Scott

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