ot the new Orion 120ST scope the other day. Decided after a glum start of the day at work that I’d had enough. Came home and worked out assembling the scope with JB. The instructions were a little crazy (hey, if you are going to name something, show a picture, puleeze!). But otherwise, it wasn’t too hard. We had it together soon enough.

My sister pointed out that there was an event tonight, a moment when the moon, Venus and Mars would all be lined up in a tight cluster. Set up the tripod while it was still light, then mounted the tube as it grew dark (and cold). Just after sundown the show started. We got the spottter tube lined up and then we hopped between the crescent moon and the two planets, scoping them out and trying the different eyepieces. It was really cool and I was grooving on the moon.

Managed to shift to another part of the yard where we caught Jupiter in ascension – could see three moons nice and pretty. Checked out Orion’s belt and scanned about the milky way for a bit. The thing is, it was getting cold and we hadn’t eaten, but it was quite a show.

Next up, the Dark Skies Festival and then, maybe Bob Martin’s place out in the country for some real star watching…!

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