Family Wow moments

[kerrylewis]

My son and daughter-in-law have been with us this weekend so given the clear night last night I showed them a few sights with the Dob.

Started with Jupiter the the 4" refractor because it was already below the roof from the Dob position. My daughter-in - law had never seen any planets before so she was amazed by the view with the moons and belts and (being a physics teacher) it's oblate (right word?) shape.

Then on to Mars with the Dob. Always less of a crowd pleaser because you have to work at it a bit but they did eventually see some dark markings and the polar cap.

And then for the star attraction - Saturn. At first her reaction was 'I can see a disc and two black blobs' - not the right script! But her eyes (with contacts) are quite different to mine so a tweak of the focus and Wow - that's amazing!' 'The rings are so perfect!' Is there anything to beat someone's first view of Saturn?

How to top that? M13! 'Oh wow - that is so beautiful!' Even my son, who's seen it before , was amazed by the view through the Dob even though the skies were not fully dark.

Ended up with a view of some Leo galaxies for the distance factor which also never fails to amaze.

I stayed out a bit longer to see the comet PANSTAARS K1 and a better look at Saturn which has climbed higher by then.

But one of the best parts of this hobby must be giving people their first view of some of the wonders that we can see and experiencing their reactions. And good for a physicist to see some of the beautiful things that gravity is responsible for.

[swamp thing]

Sounds like fun mate.

Reckon we all remember our first glimpses of the objects you've shown there. Special discoveries indeed.

[SteveB72]

My wife saw Saturn for the first time this weekend, and using the 400p too. She was amazed!!

My daughter (age 7) made sketches of Saturn along with the positions of Titan, Tethys, Dione and Rhea. She included the surface banding and Cassini division.

We moved on to some planetary nebulars with Cats Eye, Ring and Blinking Plan, they were amazed at the effect of the Blinking plan.

Then some doubles in Lyra.

It is one of the best parts of this hobby seeing peoples Wow moments.