After Steven and I had taken my little cousin and her parents to the Sterrenwacht Limburg for the National Stargazing Days, we had promised her a private show in her garden with our ‘scope another night too. My dad, my stepmum and my aunt’s twin sister came round for this as well and luckily, we had a lovely clear night. I just thought I’d share a few pictures of this evening here.
Our first target
Valesca looking in the mirror while Steven is setting up the telescope.
She thought her big head was rather amusing.
Very interested, she remarked that it’s so handy you can spin the thing round.
And she thought the black ‘dress’ was pretty.
Here I’m showing my dad what one can do with a phone camera these days.
Valesca looking through the ‘scope.
And showing her kitty.
The whole family seemed to be amazed by the view and our stories.
We looked at planets, star clusters and a few distant galaxies.
With tea!
And a close-up of Luna I took with Anja’s iPhone 5.
Later that evening, Mars came up and even though we had to move the telescope to the path of the park, right outside the garden, we all wanted to see this one as well! It was a great evening. I do enjoy looking up and even more so when sharing the experience.
Oh and, when we went to the Sterrenwacht again, we pointed the telescope in the dome at M51 (the Whirlpool galaxy) and M13. Both were a first for me. Steven and Joep started explaining to me what M13 is, a ‘bolhoop’ in Dutch. From their description I understood and said: “Oh, you mean a Globular Cluster?! I’ve seen that one in Galaxy Zoo as well”. Thank you, Zoo!
2 Comments
It was a very fun evening and lots of nice replies from the family. We’ll have to do it again on a moonless night for those fainter nebulae!
Deal