1st to 2nd April, Southampton

[PeterStudz]

Had a 3.5-ish hours session last night from my back garden in Southampton. Bortle 7, 8x42 binoculars, Skywatcher Skyliner 200p Dob. Seeing decent, transparency average. Suffered a little from thin high cloud, that came and went, especially towards the end. Temperature 1C to -1.5C, wind - light breeze. Not a whole lot of targets, but I like to take my time. 

Started off using the binoculars as the Dob cooled. Also giving my 10 yr daughter a little tour of the constellations. At the same time jogging my own memory of some star names which I still struggled with. It would be easy if they were called names like “Fred”, “Sid”, “Poppy”, “Vicky”. Visited old favourites like the Pleiades and Hyades which to me look their best in binoculars anyway. Also the Beehive which is a little harder to locate. Orion too which is rapidly sinking to the horizon. Interesting how Alice can easily star hop via simple instructions from me. Far, Far easier than using a telescope. Although practically it would be better with a couple of binoculars, swapping one pair back and forth is a bit of a faff.

I practiced a few star hops using the binoculars too, before using the Dob, although on that I was also getting the hang of (third time I’ve used it) the PushTo feature in PS Align Pro. Works really well and I should do a little write up.

M37, M36, M39 started off with these star clusters in Auriga using the Dob and 32mm 2inch PanaView. M37 is my favourite cluster and looks great in the 2inch. Looks like what I imagined a globular cluster to look like before I’d seen a globular. Mind, I have seen these better. Alice seems to like them too. Swapping between a 2 & 1.25 inch is a bit of a faff but I find it convenient to have the 1.25 inch that I’m next likely to use ready locked into the 2-1.25 adapter. 

M44, beehive cluster. Obviously much brighter than the above but I prefer M37 & the Auriga clusters in the Dob as they are surrounded by a good amount of black space. My daughter does prefer the beehive.

Alice then went back inside in the dark to “play”. Told her that se he could go to bed but she wanted to stay up. It wasn’t a school night. 

M81 & M82 next up. Easy to see as two smudges. Again I’ve seen these better, with a little detail, when transparency was better. But these are the only two galaxies that I can see from my back garden. Still, spent some time observing and changing eyepieces. Called Alice put to have a look. She wasn’t that impressed! Then ruined all night vision by having a break - toasting marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate.

M3, M5 and M13. I do like globular clusters. First up M3 which was now at a good height. I could just make out a sprinkling of stars using a 12mm and above. Then M13 which was now at a height that was doable. I hadn’t seen this since last year. A good sprinkling of stars in and around the core using the 12mm. A 5mm eyepiece filled the VOF but can be getting on for a “glitter ball” at this power even in my sky. Got Alice out from our dark house to have a look. Both spent a bit of time on it and watched as the view improved as it slowly gained height. 

Alice was getting cold now despite being well wrapped up but it’s difficult keeping children still, outside in the cold, so she called it a night. I finished off with M5 which by now was possible. Again, hadn’t seen that since last year. Could just make out a few stars in and around the fuzzy ball by it was rather low. Finally packing up just after 1am. Had a bit of a lie in!

Must go and check some darker sites that aren’t too far from me. On a practical note. Kids do find a 2inch eyepiece easier to use. Looking down an eyepiece is a skill that we can take for-granted.

[Dave scutt]

Nice report Peter. 

Wish my sons would take any interest instead of playing on their X box and PlayStation 

[PeterStudz]

1 hour ago, Dave scutt said:

Nice report Peter. 

Wish my sons would take any interest instead of playing on their X box and PlayStation 

Thanks Dave. Should do more but often time is against me. I do enjoy reading other peoples.

The gaming, it’s annoying, it is something we suffer with too. I think all kids do it these days. But with astronomy she definitely has an interest, although impossible to say if it’ll last. It’s the excuse I had for getting into this. Although as a boy my parents bought me a cheap reflector, I sadly got no further. Until now that is. And I’d completely forgotten how much I enjoyed it. My wife on the other hand has no interest what so ever.

Things like the cold, short attention spans and equipment (especially if it’s also new to you) work against kids. One thing I learnt was to try and make it an event, with the telescope just part of it. Eg I thought that summer, due to lack of darkness, would be disappointing for us both. But I was completely wrong. What I didn’t realise was how much she’d be into planets, particularly Jupiter and Saturn. As soon they got high enough for our garden (about mid-June) it was every opportunity. She enjoys camping, so we’d camp out in the garden (no tent), look for shooting stars, sleep, wake up (then it was about 2am), view Jupiter and Saturn until the sun came up. The dawn chorus, foxes jumping our fence, hedgehogs going off to sleep added to the event. It was the first time she’d heard the dawn chorus too. Most of this was in the school holidays so she could lie in. For me I had to work and was often knackered! 

A while back Alice did a tour of her potential new school. Unusually they do a GCSE in astronomy course there too. When one of the science teaches found out that she’d used a telescope to see Jupiter/Saturn he asked her a few questions. Eg…

“Have you seen Jupiter’s moons?”; “Yes and shadow transits”.

“Did you see any bands on Jupiter?; Yes and the Great Red Spot”.

“Have you seen Saturns ring?; “Yes and the Cassini Division”.

I stayed silent. But I could tell from his face it was “what have we got here?” Quite amusing!

[Stu]

Nice report @PeterStudz. The larger objects certainly look better in a wide field of view, whether that is binoculars or a widefield scope. I was looking at similar objects last night in my little 76mm.

My older children never really paid any attention to looking through the scope, but I used to take them camping in Devon or Dorset. We would sit out around a camp fire, toast marsh mallows and drink hot chocolate, then when the fire died down we would look up at the MilkyWay and count meteors and satellites, that was always the best way to get them engaged.

Sounds like Alice has caught the bug, but still getting her out proper camping somewhere dark might be a lovely experience for you both.

[MalcolmM]

Great read thanks for posting @PeterStudz and toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate is very definitely worth killing your night vision for

Malcolm

[JeremyS]

Super read 👍🏻

[Kon]

Nice report and fantastic she is joining you (great targets too)! To her, it is probably daddy time and be around you. I noticed that with my 5 year old daughter and we have had great time. 

Fantastic to read that she remembers all the things she has seen and mention to her teacher. It shows it's worth the time together and who cares if night vision is gone over a hot chocolate, it will be back in 20 or so minutes but time with them at that age flies.

[SuburbanMak]

Lovely report, really enjoyed reading that! 

Edited April 4, 2022 by SuburbanMak

[RobertI]

Great report, sounds like you created some great memories there. 

[PeterW]

You need to get her a pair of bins, so you don’t have to share, you can also use them to go finding things in the daytime. 
maybe she could do GCSE Astronomy “a bit early”?! Great read

 

peter

[PeterStudz]

4 hours ago, Stu said:

Nice report @PeterStudz. The larger objects certainly look better in a wide field of view, whether that is binoculars or a widefield scope. I was looking at similar objects last night in my little 76mm.

My older children never really paid any attention to looking through the scope, but I used to take them camping in Devon or Dorset. We would sit out around a camp fire, toast marsh mallows and drink hot chocolate, then when the fire died down we would look up at the MilkyWay and count meteors and satellites, that was always the best way to get them engaged.

Sounds like Alice has caught the bug, but still getting her out proper camping somewhere dark might be a lovely experience for you both.

I agree with what you say about “best way to get them engaged”. Camping somewhere dark/darker is a must. I thought about doing that last year, but COVID and other things got in the way. Alice does like the outdoors and camping anyway so it wouldn’t be difficult. From a past job I do know Dorset quite well so that’s a possibility. I guess the issue in the UK is going somewhere and finding it’s cloudy, but even then it wouldn’t be a total loss.

The New Forest is close to me and at least that’s a bit darker - around Bortle 4. In fact we checked a possible Darker site about a 25mins drive from me on Saturday night. Might write that one up tomorrow. Camping there would be easy although the campsites can get booked up quickly.

Last August we did go to Southern Crete. The location is Bortle 2. It was all a bit last minute so little planning. We were also there during a full moon period but had a couple of days at the end without the moon. Then the sky was stunning and there every night was clear. At that time of year you are unlucky if you see a cloud. We are going back this year, again in August, for two weeks. But this time I’ve made sure it’s during the new moon. There’s also a tiny island called Gavdos with a direct ferry link near where we are staying. Apparently it’s Bortle 1 and the southern most part of Europe. However, I have a feeling I/we won’t get a pass to go there for a night!

[PeterStudz]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

You need to get her a pair of bins, so you don’t have to share, you can also use them to go finding things in the daytime. 
maybe she could do GCSE Astronomy “a bit early”?! Great read

 

peter

I agree. I have been looking at another pair in the last few days. Alice also likes bird and wildlife spotting so it would be a win all round. 

And thanks for the nice comments!

[wookie1965]

Lovely report really brilliant read.