Spreading the word

[CJ77]

So after a fairly abortive start to the year (for one reason or another, I've not had the scope out since January,) I dusted off the 127 Mak last night and did some cloud dodging. What made it different was that my younger brother had come up to stay the night. He's had a trying few months, and definitely needed cheering up. We'd been talking about setting up an observation session, and he jumped at the chance when I set it up. Despite alignment issues all night, I pointed him straight at Jupiter, which he thought was amazing. I tried in vain to get some fuzzies (I'd set up when it wasn't quite dark, and there was quite a lot of high cloud and light pollution). So, having a north-facing garden, I took the scope to the north end and could just see Mars over the top of the house, which I've not seen through the scope myself, so it was one to tick off my list as well. My brother couldn't take his eyes off the red planet, in a way that reminded me of the first time I'd seen Jupiter. I also tried for M13, but couldn't see that, so I went into the rich star field around Cassiopeia, just to show him the depth of view available. He was stunned by the number of stars he could see. I then moved to the Beehive, to give him his first open cluster, which looked as lovely as always before finishing with my personal all-time favourite, the Double in Perseus.

A short session, but a relative newbie showing a first-time viewer a taste of the wonders of the night sky. And I may well have another convert to astronomy.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[knobby]

Its the best way to observe... Sharing the moment with someone almost doubles the excitement, hope things look up for your brother

[RichM63]

Sounds good CJ, and a good way to cheer someone up.

[bingevader]

It's great to get back out after a break even if only for a short session.