Tour of the solar system

[johnfosteruk]

Or should I say mini tour of the Solar System, with happy wife and little girlie, and community outreach to boot!

We have the 9yo niece staying for the weekend and she wanted to do some astro with her dear old Unc. Once the clouds broke shortly after 10pm I had quite acceptable seeing for the 2nd time this week, I feel blessed (not in the religious sense, I probably don't have to say)

So we started with low power views of the moon, moving on to 224x and studying the southern highlands, delighted to see Rimae Gassendi, many craterlets in Clavius, Gruithuisen and much much more. 

Then it was onto Jupiter during a period of spiteful cloud blocking the moon. The Jovian moons putting on a lovely show and nice detail in the belts, then it was back to the moon at 224x to take in more views.

Before bed I had to show off what is without doubt the most magical gem in the solar system for me - Saturn. It was only a quick view at 112x, the focus was off and it was just over rooftops so no Cassini Division and a bit wobbly but Jess was delighted and The Present Mrs Foster came out for a look and there were a few wows.

Add to that the few neighbours and passers by who had a peak and a chat because we were at the front and I'm feeling quite the accomplished astronomer this evening. Off to bed now and hopefully I'll be able to give Jess some views of AR2565 in the morning, just as it's started to really put on a show. Thank you very much solar system, those cloudy nights and wobbly views are always worth it in the end.

 

Clear Skies