Location: Sahara – Mali desert plateau

Session duration: 2 nights

Sky conditions: Clear sky, low humidity, seeing ~7/10

Instruments:

• 80mm refractor
• 150mm Newtonian telescope
• 7×50 binoculars

Targets:

• Perseus star field
• M33 (Triangulum Galaxy)
• Double Cluster (NGC 869/884)
• NGC 7000 (North America Nebula)

Observation notes:

The observation session felt unusually focused, with repeated returns to the same fields and repeated instrument checks despite stable conditions.

Several members remarked that familiar regions of the sky appeared difficult to describe in ordinary observational terms.

Repeated checks of alignment suggested the instruments were functioning correctly, though the viewed field still felt subtly unstable.

Members present: Ayoub Berrabeh, Maxime Dallois, Adama Traoré, Nicolas Artaud

Location: Quercy Dark Sky Reserve, France

Session duration: 2 nights

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

Instruments:

• 200mm Newtonian reflector
• 100mm apochromatic refractor
• 7×50 binoculars

Targets:

• M57 (Ring Nebula)
• Polaris
• Perseus star field
• M45 (Pleiades)

Observation notes:

The observation session felt unusually focused, with repeated returns to the same fields and repeated instrument checks despite stable conditions.

Several members remarked that familiar regions of the sky appeared difficult to describe in ordinary observational terms.

In the desert air, several members noticed a distinct perfume of flowers seeming to fall from above, despite the absence of vegetation in the surrounding area.

Members present: Maxime Dallois, Adama Traoré, Ayoub Berrabeh, Lucille Godefert, Claire Dumont