May 18, 2013: Adding some stars to a party

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I was visiting friends (40th birthday party) in the south of the Netherlands, and as the weather forecast stated a good chance of sunshine, and clear skies in the evening I took some kit along. Right at the end of the afternoon of the 18th, the sun came out, and I set up the H-alpha scope in their back garden. A couple of nice proms were visible, especially two fairly bright prominences on the lower eastern limb. The looked like a pair of shark's teeth. Several smaller prominences showed, plus a collection sunspots visible even in H-alpha. Quite a few people queued to see, but unfortunately we had to cut the solar observing short due to an inconvenient rooftop. I then put the APM 80mm on the mount, and pointed at the moon. That kept people nicely entertained. For most it was their first look at the moon through any kind of scope. The sky was still bright, so contrast was not great, but lots of features stood out nicely.

Later, when the sun was well below the horizon, we had another session, and had another look at the moon. The wow factor had clearly increased, but as Saturn was now visible had to give that a go as well. I had not brought all the kit, so the XW7 provided the maximum magnification of 68.5x, but it still showed the ringed planet nicely. Several "wows" ensued

Finally, I turned to DSOs, and showed them M81 and M82 (quite hard, given the moonlight in a suburb with way too much LP), and M13.

Our hosts and various other guests really enjoyed the brief tour of the sky.

[Schorhr]

Nice report!

Thanks for doing some sidewalk (rooftop?) astronomy! :-)

Hopefully it leads to more recruits ;-)

[KevUU]

Sounds nice Michael

(Why has that just made me think of getting the fire clubs out? Fire plus paraffin plus telescope equals no no NO!)

[ronl]

Enjoyed your report, it took me back to the time I first looked through a scope,

a guy took his scope to a party, as you did, everyone was amazed what they

viewed, more so me, I have been hooked ever since, maybe someone at your

party is now hooked, can't blame them it's a fantastic hobby to be involved with.

Thank's and Clear Sky's

[swamp thing]

What a great idea Michael.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Thanks guys. I knew the host had a very old (Tasco?) 4.5" F=900mm Newtonian on EQ2-ish mount, so the interest was there.