Observation 13: Conjunction

The long-awaited conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn has arrived. To celebrate the occasion, we have invited some close friends over to share the telescope and enjoy some food - maintaining, of course, the social distance requirements imposed by the lovely pandemic which grips us in 2020. The consumption of liberal quantities of celebratory spirits has affected the note-taking tonight, but I will do my best to provide a faithful representation here. 

Jupiter and Saturn are both clearly visible in the 25mm lens. After spotting the planets and focusing the scope, we took turns observing the planets - the guests learned some of the basics, such as using RA to pan the scope as the bodies move and using the focus knobs to adjust the view between our variously decayed eyeballs. 

The lens was swapped to the 10mm high-magnification. Both bodies are clearly visible in some detail, including the moons of Jupiter. The kids - one tween, two teens, and one college freshman - seem to enjoy looking at the planets, as do all of the adults present. As the conjunction dips below the horizon, we continue using the scope, switching to Mars. While Mars is a beautiful planet and we hold no grudge against it, it is considerably less impressive in this telescope than Saturn or Jupiter, and so the crowd moves along. We pan the scope and visualize the moon.

Viewing the moon seems to excite the crowd. Even with my amateur telescope and amateur skills, we are able to get an exceptionally clear view of Luna's surface - scars, pocks, craters, and seas all reveal themselves, and the kids enjoy seeing how bright the Moon is compared to the other planets. After viewing the moon, some of the crowd drifts indoors to escape the chill. Those of us who brave the cool air switch to viewing the Pleiades, now visible high above in the Eastern sky. The seven sisters glow bright and cool tonight, and using the 10mm lens offers a phenomenal view of this star cluster high above us. 

All in all, an excellent viewing session. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any particularly good photos of the conjunction, but I think everyone will remember this event with some fondness.