Holiday observation report

[Twiggles]

Been a few months since I posted anything here, but thought I'd return with a small report from my holiday location in mid France! Staying at my in-laws located in a small rural village and the skies are superb. Thankfully I thought to pack my scope otherwise I'd probably have been out trying to purchase some binoculars. While not completely dark skies, its dark enough that you can see the milky way threading its way across the sky, something I don't get to see back home and it really grabbed the kids attention.

The first nights observing took place on Friday 9th August, the telescope was set up early evening and as the sun set we were able to spend a little time watching Venus. Although it was a first for all of us looking at it through a telescope, I have to admit to being unimpressed with it. Saturn was also up and setting fast, and so we grabbed another first. Great to look at but Jupiter is still my favourite planet! As the last rays of the sun began to fade, the stars slowly showed themselves and at last we were able to align properly on Polaris. The kids and the in laws kept themselves occupied by arranging the garden chairs in a position to just gaze at the night sk and were rewarded with some satelite passes and a few Persieds. This of course led to some discussion about the origin of the meteors and some assurances that more would be seen as the projected peak got closer and closer. By now the little ones were itching to look at something else through th etelescope, so we simply picked an area of the milky way for them to try and count how many stars were in the fuzzy ribbon weaving its way through the night. Instant cries of "woah" and "ooh" from everyone who took a view! We then decided to look out some fuzzies, and with Cassiopeia pointing the way and a little averted vision it was easy to pick out a fuzzy blob that could only be Andromeda. This would be another first for us, our first galaxy in the telescope! We sighted the scope and took a tentative view through to be rewarded with an eliptical fuzzy blob, and another slghtly off from it (M32). A good nights observing overall and really helped the in laws learn something about the sky and get a little interest going.

We've had a few similar nights out over the week now, great weather blessing us with clear skies every night so far. While the telescope itself hasn't seen a lot of use, we have looked at more of Saturn and of course the moon as it begins to show more of itself. This in itself has been really great since the amount of detail viewable really makes people want to see more of it. Most of the nights though have simply been spent sat in a char and looking through the Mark 1 eyeball, catching satelites, the occasional ISS pass and of course the streaks of falling meteors. So, even if you don't have a telescope I think this proves that with the right location and company, you can still enjoy what the night sky has to offer.

Clear skies to all!

[Astro Imp]

Great report, always nice to see others' reactions when they first look through your scope.

[KevUU]

Wow, that all sounds very satisfying

[Stu]

Nice report Twiggles, you can't beat a dark sky, makes all the difference

Stu