What a difference young eyes make.... and other things...

[Stu]

This is not an observing report so doesn't fit in that section, it's just a collection of thoughts.

Down in Devon camping, we had a lovely clear night last night. As I posted in the equipment section, I have a borrowed C9.25 and my Tak on an Ercole mount with me. I thought I would end up having a mammoth and very rewarding DSO session last night, given that I had some aperture with me but it didn't work out like that. I just couldn't seem to get good view of anything, couldn't really see the Veil even with an OIII, M13 looked fairly average, not as good as from home in the C9.25. No idea what was wrong, I had some dew problems earlier but sorted those out. Anyway, sometimes these things are just not meant to be, so I focused on the planets instead.

We picked up Jupiter earlier in the evening. I say we, but I mean my daughter Livvy. She is eleven, and her eyes are clearly so much more sensitive than mine, it was quite....well it was quite eye opening ?. I think it was probably around 8.45 that she got it first, even then it took me a while to find it and it wasn't easy.

Once in the scope we were treated to some lovely views through the evening and into the nautical twilight. GRS was centre stage later on, plenty of lovely features to be seen. Once I had the rig properly lined up and the 925 working well I switched to that. It's not too often that the Tak gets put into the shade but it was on Jupiter. More image scale, more detail, more colour, just a really lovely view through the C925. The seeing was very steady, best I've had for quite a while and the view rivalled some of the best views I've had in various scopes. Had the seeing been worse the Tak would have given the better view, but not last night.

Saturn and Mars were a different story, largely because of their lower altitude. Mars was plain and simple better in the Tak. It was not as bright, but was sharper and had better contrast. Nice dark features visible, with bright patches top at 1 o'clock ish and bottom at 8 o'clock ish around midnight. I assume this was the polar cap and some cloud/frosting?

Saturn was a bit of a draw really. Lovely and sharp in the Tak. Cassini visible most of the way round when the seeing allowed. In the 925 I was able to get more image scale and a brighter view, detail was similar although a couple more moons showed up, need to check which they were. The colour and banding on the planet was lovely in both scopes, possibly better in the Tak as it was less bright with more contrast. A real 3D look to it.

I had the pleasure of showing a few people their first view of the planets. A little 7 year old boy (on his birthday) who was desperate to see Jupiter and was delighted. A very nice lady and her mother who clearly had a passion for the stars but did not have a scope were both bowled over by the view of Jupiter, possibly even a little emotional. Lovely to be able to share these things.

Later on, Livvy's eyes showed their superior dark adaptation again. We were sitting together in my moon chair, gazing up at the same piece of sky. Over a period of around an hour or so, I saw one meteor, she must have seen forty odd! She just kept seeing faint flashes which I just couldn't pick up, her older brother was also seeing them so I know they were real. Oh to have young eyes again!

That's all, nice to be able to share the sky and the planets with other people, a DSO fail but a fun evening nonetheless.

Stu

[mapstar]

Nice write up Stu

[Pig]

What a lovely story Stu, I miss my children being young and being able to go exploring with them. You are spot on about their eyesight too. When I used to take my son out on the bike he could see the colours on aeroplane tails and wings, if it wasn't for the contrails I wouldn't have been able to see the planes at all, I used to agree with him all the same

[David Smith]

Nice Stu.

[Physopto]

Very many years ago when first married and waiting at bus stops, my wife would say that is the number"X" or whatever. The bus would be about 1/2 to 3/4 of  mile away! I was doubtful at first and waited to see when they got closer, but she was always right. 40 + years on and I tell her as her eyesight has changed so much, not about buss numbers but nearly everything. We both need glasses. I have stopped doing visual astronomy mostly now because of the "age thing" and do imaging instead.  Oh boy, do I miss my youth!

[laudropb]

Oh to be young again. Very nice write up Stu.

[Astro Imp]

Sounds like a fun evening, thanks for sharing.

[mikeDnight]

A lovely experience  that your daughter will remember for life. And who knows if an astro seed has taken root in the hearts of those who got to look through your scopes. 

The best view of the Veil that I ever had was through a Sky 90, which showed both segments of the nebula at the same time, and with room to spare. The only trouble was that on such a small aperture the Olll filter blocked out all but the brightest stars in the field. My FS128 also showed the circus nebula in between the two Veil components. Did you try for it in the Tak as well as the 9.25"? 

Mike

[Stu]

18 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

A lovely experience  that your daughter will remember for life. And who knows if an astro seed has taken root in the hearts of those who got to look through your scopes. 

The best view of the Veil that I ever had was through a Sky 90, which showed both segments of the nebula at the same time, and with room to spare. The only trouble was that on such a small aperture the Olll filter blocked out all but the brightest stars in the field. My FS128 also showed the circus nebula in between the two Veil components. Did you try for it in the Tak as well as the 9.25"? 

Mike

I didn't last night Mike, but have seen the whole complex on a number of occasions in a few different scopes. The Tak with a reducer and a 31mm Nag works very well, but my favourite was with my old Televue Genesis down in Dorset. Wonderful. The OIII works wonders with it.

I can only assume the transparency was poor last night, or my dark adaptation was rubbish. I expected to be able to see parts of it quite clearly in the C9.25 but I couldn't see anything either with the Lumicon UHC or OIII. Strange.

[GavStar]

Great account Stu - lovely to read. I hope my 3 year old and 9 month old daughters have an interest in stars like your Livvy. Did you use your zwo ADC on Saturn and Mars?

Gavin

[Stu]

Thanks Gavin. My two year old recognises the moon already which is very sweet and keeps wanting to look through the scope ?. I've actually bought a tiny 65mm TAL reflector off Dave which I hope the children can play around with.

To answer your question, yes I did try the ADC out on Mars. The jury is out for me currently. I didn't feel that I was able to get it to a position where it removed all the CA, although it certainly improved things. I think I will try it on the tracking mount and spend more time with it before making a judgement. If I can get it to work in a way that doesn't become a burden then I will persist. I felt like it was just another thing to adjust last night, along with tweaking focus and keeping the target centred so it got a little distracting from the whole point which is observing.

[chiltonstar]

A nice write up! 

One evening last year, we were loading my son in law and grandson into their car in front of our house when the ISS came over. For me, a Venus-like bright dot. For both of them (5 years and 40 'ish), two bright dots - ISS and its supply module. Young eyes certainly work better......

Chris