Seen it. The conjunction thingy.

[Guest]

Well I took my 80 mm ED to a high point looking to the South West. There it was at 106 x magnification. Amazing to see these two planets in the same field of view at a reasonably high magnification. Not just as two bright unresolved points of light. But details could be seen. Moons, cloud bands on Jupiter and Saturn's rings.

So I can say "I've seen it".

Plenty of opportunity for outreach as a couple of people were interested in seeing the telescope setup at the side of the road. (Safety of course as this was a cul de sac road). They did look through the telescope to see the two planets.

[Tiny Clanger]

Yep, me too !

Tomorrow looks like it will be a washout, so I arranged with a couple of friends to go for a nice rural walk this afternoon, then rendezvous with them again at the layby I'd sussed out on a couple of clear nights as having a good , slightly elevated viewpoint in the right direction.  Took the 127 mak , and set it up more in hope than expectation, as there was plenty of patchy cloud around, so at around 4pm , while we waited for the sun to set I wowed 'em with a view of the crescent Moon ... building up from a 32mm eyepiece to the 8mm so they could appreciate the power of the 'scope .

oon Saturn obligingly peeped out between the clouds before it was properly dark , and the view got better and better (with a few short periods when thin cloud obstructed it) so  both of my friends got to see not only Saturn and Jupiter (both easily framed in the 8mm EP ) , but also the Galilean Moons, Saturn's rings, and a vague and fuzzy impression of the coloured banding on Jupiter. When we had those clouded out moments I steered the 'scope to show them whatever was easily visible in clear patches, so they also got to see Mars, the Pleiades, and Mizar/Alcor through the 'scope. It was really great to watch them enjoy seeing these things through a telescope for the first time.

I did manage to get a few minutes viewing myself too 😀 , and we packed up when Jupiter and Saturn were just a few degrees above the horizon and the telescope view was too fuzzy to be worthwhile. We celebrated the highly unexpectedly successful viewing session with some excellent home made chocolate cake they'd bought along (two types, and I was given some to take home too 😀 )

Heather