Starstruck Daughter @ First Light

[Stephen]

After what seemed like an eternity waiting for the weekend to come so I could collect it, my daughter and I finally got outside with my 200P last night. For a brief spell (as it was near her bed time,) we looked up at the moon.

AWESOME was shouted rather vocally for the next 30 minutes or so, much to my neighbours annoyance I'm sure

She was a little gutted Jupiter had gone down behind the houses next door, but we intend to set up a little earlier tonight to try and catch it.

The Dob is very easy to use, and it didn't take her long to grasp moving/nudging the scope to follow it.

I also very quickly saw the difference in quality of the provided eyepieces and the BST Explorers I bought (S/H) - I don't see the stock ones coming out of the box again once my 32mm (Meade SP) turns up.

If the sky clears I'm going to try hooking the webcam up tonight and see what I can grab through it - nothing like the stunning DSOs in the Imaging sections, but I hope to catch some reasonable moon shots.

Oh and the other fun part of the night was my wifes comment on the whole thing (who is adamant the scope is rather large - dunno why she thought it would be smaller *innocent whistling* ....)

Wife : "I can see those hole things on the moon"

Me : "Craters sweetheart?"

Wife : "Yes, that's what I said"

[Mikea]

Brilliant!!

Tell us what she says when you show her Saturn!

[Nexus 6]

Brilliant mate! Hope you have plenty more clear nights and fun with the family! Great to see the Moon in such a different way, it always delivers a spectacular wow factor to both new and experienced asrtonomers!

Alan

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report! Always great when you get kids involved.

[Hig]

same with mine..

got first light with my new 15x70s the other night and my 5yr old wanted a look before bed, so showed her the moon, and she loved it and was hooked..

"can i look at more things?"

so showed her jupiter and few moons and she kept saying i cant see it, when i checked it was there, i cant see it, checked again, still there, so asked her what she can see..

"oh just some little white stars in a line and one big one, but no planet!"

and she been pleading with me all week, but so far since we not had a single clear night..

[Astro_Baby]

Its really great your daughter is impressed - congrats on your first light.

[The Bat]

My daughter (5 at the time) ran round the garden shouting "Craters! I can see CRATERS!"

Terrific! Glad you enjoyed.

Rachel

[brantuk]

That's a smashing first light report - there's nothing like getting a child excited seeing the heavens in a scope - and thank goodness for a comedy wife lol

[rorschach]

love it. there is something very special about exploring the universe with your kids!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

love it. there is something very special about exploring the universe with your kids!

Absolutely. Last year my (then new) 15x70 bins on a tripod were great fun not just for my kids, but for many others on the campsite. It's real fun sharing any scope like that,

[russ]

That's great she was so impressed to shout awesome.

Look forward to hearing about her reaction to seeing Saturn for the first time. My two were amazed.