Reluctant stellar tour guide!

[mikeDnight]

With the Sun setting in a clear blue sky I was hoping the clouds wouldn't suddenly appear out of nowhere, which is what they tend to do around these parts.  My sons had earlier expressed an interest in taking a look at the Comet, so I set the scope up on my driveway, which gives me a clear view of the north west and north east right to the horizon, with very little in the way of light pollution. I caught the Comet at 21.57UT against a twighlight sky, but it wasn't very impressive. As the sky grew darker the Comet put on quite a show which was best seen in the 35mm Eudiascopic at 23X. With the naked eye the Comet was a lovely sight! My sons both enjoyed spending time at the eyepiece, and also spent time just looking at the starry sky, asking lots of questions, most of which I couldn't answer without resorting to some reference book. We observed the ISS and a couple of meteors as we admired the starry sky. Then I gave them a tour of a few brighter DSO's and double stars. 

M31 was a little disappointing with it being low and against a sky that wasn't truly dark. The double cluster thrilled them a little, and beta Cygni was gorgeous in the 5mm Ultrascopic, as was M13, which hung suspended as a beautiful tight ball of diamond dust in the 5mm. Saturn was surreal in the 5mm, looking like a tiny marble with a dark equatorial belt and a dark polar hood. It's A & B ring divided by the sharp black void of the Cassini division, while the ghostly Crepe ring showed itself on the inside of the ansae. Then finally onto Jupiter, which was a giant in comparison to Saturn, and despite it being relatively low in the sky, its equatorial and temperate belts were easily seen, with the southern temperate belt looking split. Garlands and festoons along the southern edge of the north equatorial belt gave a hint at just how spectacular Jupiter might be if it were higher in the sky. All in all it wasn't a bad couple of hours, especially for a reluctant tour guide such as myself, and my son's really enjoyed themselves which made the whole thing worth while. It was actually really nice to see and hear the I genuine appreciation for the things they were seeing.

Edited July 20, 2020 by mikeDnight