Jim, I very much enjoy reading your "journal entries"; thanks for sharing! Rich --- Jim Gibson <xajax99@yahoo.com> wrote:
Saturday evening I picked up my 4-year-lold grandson and took him to Chuck E. Cheese. When we came out it was dark and I spotted Jupiter overhead. I asked my grandson, Do you want to go to grandpas house and look at the stars? He said, Yeah. When we got home I set up my 5 Meade and left the tripod legs un-extended; just right for a 4-year-old and a 2-step ladder with a balance bar. Then I laid out a futon on the lawn and we laid side-by-side on the futon with his head on my arm. As I pointed out the Big Dipper it took me back some 55 years or so to either 1947 or 1948. My dad had built an extension on our house. The extension had a flag roof and in the summer my dad would put a couple of cots on the roof and we would sleep outside. We could get to the roof through an open window. This is before we moved to Hawaii. We lived in a little village called Capitola, California near Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz was the Coney Island of the Pacific and had a wonderful Boardwalk (it still does). One of the main attractions at the Boardwalk was a huge roller coaster called The Big Dipper! One night as my dad and I were looking at the stars while we were snuggled in our sleeping bags on these cots, my dad pointed up and said, Look! Theres the Big Dipper! I dont know a lot about astronomy but I know there is a roller coaster up there somewhere. After my grandson and I look at the Big Dipper for a while we looked overhead and I pointed out Leo. He doesnt know what a question mark is yet so I just pointed out the shape of the head and the body. It was just a week ago that Bruce Grim showed me M65, M66 and M95, M96 in the same area we were looking at. They are tuff objects to view. I am amazed that Charles Messier could even see them; a testimony to dark skys. My grandson and I swung around 180 degrees. Looking west now we could see Orion. Once shown, he could see the pattern very well. After a while I would point back at the pattern and ask, Whats that? Grandson would reply, OBrian Hmm, there must be an Irishman up there too. After our little getting to know the sky session we went to the telescope and toured the jewels of the night. Jupiters four moons were all in conjunction and pointing right at us. While we were in the vicinity we put in the 25mm and moved slightly east and took in M44. Grandson likes to see lots of stars in one eyeful. Saturn is always thrilling no matter how many times you look at it. And finely we were trying to pull out that 4th little star in trapezium. In a 5 and at 25mm (about 5x) it takes a lot of squinting. I mentioned something to my grandson about baby stars being born there. He said, what is always on every 4-year-old's mind, What are they going to be when they grow up? After laughing a minute, I said, A good sun, just like you.
Jim Gibson
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