Second light (sometimes it's not about gear)

[kiloran]

We've been fortunate this week to finally have clear skies after weeks after frustration. Monday was pretty good and Wednesday was spectacular. Looks like tomorrow will be even better - perfect timing as we head towards shorter nights.

This has enabled me to really get to grips with my new mount (Sky Discovery Alt-AZ) and last night I was able to get a really good single star align on Sirius which when I started was pretty much the only star visible in the sky. What I loved however was that every time I glanced up from the eyepiece more stars had appeared. I stopped faffing with the mount to just watch this unfold and literally watched Orion slowly appear before my eyes - first Betelgeuse and Rigel, then the belt stars, and then the sword. Quite spectacular and a wonderful moment. Also a useful learning experience for learning about magnitude. I got my son to look at Cassiopeia, close his eyes for ten seconds, and then look again. Yet more stars had appeared. We just stood and watched for about ten minutes as the sky unfolded in front of us. He's rarely silent but he was for that

As to observing we spent time roving around Orion as the sky wasn't really dark enough for galaxies etc by the time his bedtime arrived. Also no planets other than a murky Mars, much to his annoyance. We plan to spend tomorrow looking at Jupiter and the Galilean moons. We did check out the Pleiades but he was fairly underwhelmed. Was more excited by the Trapezium - I could only see four stars but when I asked him how many he said five. Young eyes make me envious! 

[xtreemchaos]

great report mate, the Orion nebula is truly a wonderfull sight, ive been looking at it for over 40 years and it still makes my heart skip a beat, sadly my eyes arnt as keen sight wise so 3 or so years ago I started to dabble in the mistic art of AP, it has made up for my poor eye sight and I wish id started years ago, I still do a lot of vis, tonight ill be on the eye piece looking at my old favs including the o-neb and area. hope you get good seeing for Jupiter.  charl.

[BeerMe]

Nice report kiloran, watching the stars gradually appear is one of my favourite things to do too especially when you start to be able to make out the constellations - it's like slowly putting together the pieces of a jigsaw :-)

If the Pleiades didn't whet your sons appetite, I'll bet the double cluster in Perseus would.  Give that a try tonight whilst waiting for Jupiter to appear.   You might even be able to see some of the galaxies in the Virgo Supercluster which will be rising on the ecliptic just ahead of Jupiter, depending on your equipment :-)