Location: Quercy Dark Sky Reserve, France

Session duration: 2 nights

Sky conditions: Very dark sky (Bortle 2–3), light wind

Instruments:

• 200mm Newtonian reflector
• 7×50 binoculars
• 250mm Dobsonian telescope

Targets:

• M42 (Orion Nebula)
• Perseus star field
• Polaris
• M45 (Pleiades)

Observation notes:

Transparency improved after midnight and allowed longer visual work on faint deep-sky targets.

The larger telescope resolved dense clusters cleanly, while the refractor was used for wider fields and comparison views.

Members present: Maxime Dallois, Ayoub Berrabeh, Adama Traoré, Sophie Martin

Location: Sahara – Mali desert plateau

Session duration: 2 nights

Sky conditions: Cold and stable atmosphere, seeing ~8/10

Instruments:

• 250mm Dobsonian telescope
• 80mm refractor
• 7×50 binoculars

Targets:

• M45 (Pleiades)
• Saturn
• Albireo
• NGC 7000 (North America Nebula)

Observation notes:

Transparency improved after midnight and allowed longer visual work on faint deep-sky targets.

The larger telescope resolved dense clusters cleanly, while the refractor was used for wider fields and comparison views.

Members present: Maxime Dallois, Lucille Godefert, Marc Lefèvre