Selected thoughts from August sessions

[domstar]

August is such a lovely time of year both during the day and at night. The milky way is amazing and Sagittarius has some wonderful sights all close to each other. Here are some of the things I learnt this month.

I saw the double cluster for the first time. Wow I love those tiny tiny stars (I imagine they're not really tiny). Just like August itself, the pleasure of it was tinged with sadness as it was probably the last of the amazing low-hanging fruit for me. I'll probably never see such a wonderful sight through the telescope for the first time again (you can probably tell how popular I am at parties). It also showed up the limitations of my 2 inch Kellner, which was frankly unusable on this.

The other highlight (thanks to TLAO) was I Cas - a wonderful triple for an inexperienced stargazer such as myself. It's visible naked-eye and it splits into two easily and into three with a little patience. At my early stage of stargazing, I enjoy the searching for and hunting down of objects, but this star has shown me the future (as well as the past). The train-your-eyes can-I-make-it-out challenge stage. I feel it might take me a while.

So what next? A bigger scope? Less spectacular objects? More patience? 

One night I took my 10-year-old son out with me (bring plenty of food and drink). He liked the wild duck and the difference between direct and averted vision. The next morning he said excitedly to his sister 'Guess what we saw last night?'...'A hedgehog and a bat'

Thanks for reading and always take a flask with you.

[Littleguy80]

41 minutes ago, domstar said:

I'll probably never see such a wonderful sight through the telescope for the first time again

I have a feeling there'll be more firsts come along. Maybe you'll get a good look at the giant asteroid eventually kills us all (I'm also popular at parties  )

[Special K]

It can be a great time of year for obs that's  for sure!  I dare say that there is enough up there to keep you amazed with first discoveries for a lifetime. There are always darker skies to observe from, bigger aperture, plus new events like comets.  I'm always impressed by objects I've passed over in the past.   Clear skies

[Astro Imp]

I enjoyed reading your report.

Your son's report to his sister had me chuckling.