why apperture is good

[tinvek]

was out this morning just after 8 and my 10 year old son who was staying overnight appeared (early for him) and wanted to have a squint at the moon so out with the 10" dob and after looking at it i had an idea( don't have many so i should have sat down for a bit), checked with stellarium, calibrated the wixey and did a quick mental ccalculation of aprox 25 degrees west oift he oon and there it was, saturn, slightly faint but with the blue background it somehow had a magical quality which in someways was even better than the usual pin sharp views against a black sky. son was well impressed that it was so clear yet invisable to the naked eye.

oh and an added background it gave my ** year old mum a chance to look at it as she's still nervous of being near a scope in the dark since her hip replacement as she also suffers from meniers disease which means her balance is poor without being able to use her eyes