M45 The Pleiades and out reach

[jerrysykes]

I was already set up and started taking this image when my daughter and son in law called and asked if they could bring over a couple of folks from their church group to look thru a scope.
Well, about 12 nice folks showed up. Mostly Dads, Moms and children.

While my set up was just clicking away, Ray (the son in law) went into the garage and brought out my CGEM and 120 refractor. He then proceeded to set the scope up, get the 2/4 star alignment done and started showing the folks different objects in the sky. All the while explaining how the go-to and tracking worked. It was fun watching him do his thing. We have taken a lot of pictures together so I guess he has learned quite a bit.

Then I made a mistake. One of the guests came over to me and asked if I had a picture of M31 which happened to be the object Ray was showing them. Soooo I pulled up the picture of M31 on the laptop I was imaging with. After he was done looking and remarking about the huge difference between looking thru an eyepiece and seeing the image, I clicked on the x and instead of closing the picture file I shut down the capture program. Realizing what I'd done I started the program back up and all looked well. All I had to do was restart the cooling fan...right?

About an hour later as everyone was leaving I happened to look at the computer screen and realized I hadn't clicked on the save image box, damn.
It was getting late and I was freezing so I just shut it down and called it a night. Any way.

23x240 sec lights with darks, flats and bias frames
80mm refractor with .85 fr/ff, Atik 383OSC on my autoguided AVX

[Juno16]

Man, Jerry, sounds like you have trained Ray well!

You managed to pull in a nice image despite distractions.

Sounds like a fun evening.

Thanks,
Jim

[Don Quixote]

Well, well, well.
Don't that just knock your socks off!
This is a very nice M45, Jerry, in spite of it all.

Thank you for sharing this episode.
More clear skies, and uninterrupted imaging to you Sir !

[Thefatkitty]

That's a great image Jerry, in spite of it all! And that was real nice letting a group of people enjoy some viewing time. Sounds like you have a nice family as well!

Good for you and all the best,

[MariusD69]

Looks great! Well done!

[Hankmeister3]

Hey, Jerry, it was all for a good cause! Sorry you lost some data but I've horsed up any number of single-frame exposures to other visitors interest in the night sky. Obviously you had a good attitude about things but think of the incalculable interest you generated in others, especially looking at your laptop images. Now how cool is that! How many people get to see a working amateur astornomer's inventory of images? If I were one of those visitors, I'd be blown away!

And that's incredible the number of people who showed up for your night sky safari for a personal look-see when it's so much easier for them to go online, do an image search of "celestial objects" or "Hubble images" and be content with what one sees there.

There have been times when Don Quixote (Mark) and I have been at our Middle Fork Forest Preserve Penfield site - which is now nationally recognized as an Illinois "dark site" as of June of this year - and people show up to do a little star gazing themselves. They see what we are doing and come over to converse. Mark is a real good-natured (and highly-informed) champ in immediately interrupting his own visual agenda and letting people eyeball various deep-sky objects - as dim as they may visually be - and I will try to image the same object with my Canon camera(s) so they can get an idea from my LCD viewer what a camera sees with a 30 second to one minute exposure!

I've had several people tell me on the spot they want to use their own cameras or even cellphones for possible landscape/night sky photography in the future or confirm their own excitement in actually eyeballing so many celestial objects with a GoTo mounted telescope after a short session with Mark.

Mark is an incredible and knowledgeable ambassador for our celestial hobby and he never fails to answer a question put to him about astronomy and the night sky! And clearly you did the same which must have been very rewarding for you.

There does appear to be a great interest, with a certain segment of our society, in the night sky. Some people of all ages come out to the Penfield site just to watch for meteors. And with so many eyeballs on the heavenly vault, invariably three, five, ten people are collectively going to see at least five to eight meteors, maybe more. When that happens it gets them all excited at one another's successes in spotting such transitory visitors to our planet.

When the visitors leave I think to myself, "Welcome to our addiction, fellow citizens!" One night we had four students from India show up for several hours and Mark rolled out the red carpet. They were excited as can be and one of them was familiar with the night sky. Watching Mark in action while I was imaging (I showed them what I was doing) was really pretty rewarding. Heh!

[jerrysykes]

Thanks Henry. Like Mark and yourself, I really enjoy introducing folks to the night sky and answering their questions.

But I have to say the most satisfaction I felt that evening was standing back and watching my son in law set up the second scope finding targets, explaining to the group what he was doing and answering their questions.

When Ray showed the group a few pictures we had taken one of the guys said that no one could take that kind of picture from their front yard. Well, he watched me taking the posted picture and Ray emailed him a copy of it yesterday.
I guess he believes it now.

[Don Quixote]

Thanks Henry. Like Mark and yourself, I really enjoy introducing folks to the night sky and answering their questions.

But I have to say the most satisfaction I felt that evening was standing back and watching my son in law set up the second scope finding targets, explaining to the group what he was doing and answering their questions.

When Ray showed the group a few pictures we had taken one of the guys said that no one could take that kind of picture from their front yard. Well, he watched me taking the posted picture and Ray emailed him a copy of it yesterday.
I guess he believes it now.

Yes, Jerry, I get this part loud and clear.
I don't think there is much in life that is more rewarding, more satisfying, than this kind kindred experience we have with our sons and sons-in-law.

Thank you again for sharing the spirit of this sentiment.

[patrickdives]

Jerry, first of all, nice image of M45! It sounds like you've spent a lot of time with your son in law and educating him on the set up of the equipment. It is nice having family members who are interested in the hobby. I am fortunate to have a wife and 10 year old and 11 year old stepsons who enjoy the telescope. With sharing your scopes, you may be the catalyst in a new stargazer.

[Hankmeister3]

Thanks Henry. Like Mark and yourself, I really enjoy introducing folks to the night sky and answering their questions.

But I have to say the most satisfaction I felt that evening was standing back and watching my son in law set up the second scope finding targets, explaining to the group what he was doing and answering their questions.

When Ray showed the group a few pictures we had taken one of the guys said that no one could take that kind of picture from their front yard. Well, he watched me taking the posted picture and Ray emailed him a copy of it yesterday.
I guess he believes it now.

I think that's so cool that you've instilled in your son-in-law an excitement for backyard/frontyard astronomy and that he's so proficient in the craft. I wish I could say the same about my three sons! They like looking at the astro-photos from time to time that I email them but none of the three have ever exhibited anywhere near the interest that your son-in-law has in the hobby. You must get a really deep sense of satisfaction in what your own handiwork and passion for astronomy has created in a close family member to where he's become a pro-astronomy self-starter!

[BABOafrica]

When visitors arrive, it all changes... I know that one... Nice grab all the same.

BABO