Observing Log August 31

Another first for my son - his first galaxy!

So much for warm summer evenings. We went out tonight and it was chilly. It has been for a couple weeks now, which surely means that when school starts we will get another heat wave.

I manned the telescope while my husband and kids snuggled on chairs under blankets. They picked out constellations and spotted satellites. My daughter is an excellent satellite hunter. Antares was sparkling right above a half moon, and Jupiter was leading them toward the west. Because we went out just after 8 and before it got very dark, I aimed the telescope at Jupiter first. We saw three moons parading around it. Technically all four were there, but Io and Europa were in a line with each other so that it only looked like three Galilean satellites visible tonight.

My telescope is only a four inch, someday when I have more money I will upgrade. It does have a fancy finderscope though; it requires an expensive little battery to make its laser pointer work. This is a feature I regularly forget to turn off, so the next time I go to use it it doesn't work. However, it was an unusual night because I bought a battery recently which allowed me to aim the telescope, center on a star and PRESTO, there it was through the regular telescope. It sure is slick when it works. While it grew darker I zipped up to the center of the Summer Triangle and centered on Albireo and BAM, there it was. One larger yellow star and one smaller bluer star, the most beautiful double star in the heavens. We saw a satellite pass along the length of Cygnus and then it was time for jammies for the kids. While they got suited up for bed, I decided to try to bag the Andromeda Galaxy before wrapping up.

I used one of the interior lines of the "W" of Cassiopeia and swung two-thirds of the way down toward the Great Square of Pegasus. Then I went to the big eyepiece on the telescope and gave it a shot. No dice. So I started the scan, sweeping here and there until suddenly, I thought there was a small brightening to one side of the view. I gently tapped it over and there it was, the faint, fuzzy ball of light, our closest large spiral galaxy. I ran in the house and hollered for my son to come back down. He came down in his jammies and got on some sandals and a jacket before joining me at the telescope. I wanted to acclimate his eyes a bit first so I pointed out the Great Square of Pegasus and waited to see if he could spot the faint star closest to our milky horizon and the metropolitan light pollution from 30 miles away. When he could see it I let him go at the eyepiece. I was worried he wouldn't be able to see the slight brightening that wasn't a point and wasn't all that impressive, to be honest. But he said he saw it right away. And then I gently moved the telescope up and down so he could be sure he saw it as it moved in the eyepiece. I told him that he just saw light that took 2 million years to reach his eyes. I think he was pretty impressed. He headed back inside to brag to his dad about what he saw. Just as I was getting ready to put the telescope away I saw a bright, solid, unblinking white beacon sail slowly and silently across the sky. I quick called him back to the door. "It's the International Space Station!" I said. We watched it heading northeast and then he retreated to his bed.

When I came up to kiss him goodnight he had gotten out one of his observing books and said, "Hey, I was just reading about the Andromeda Galaxy." Chalk up another first for him.