Location: Quercy Dark Sky Reserve, France

Session duration: 2 nights

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

Instruments:

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

Targets:

• Betelgeuse
• NGC 7000 (North America Nebula)
• M57 (Ring Nebula)
• Polaris

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.

Wind could be clearly heard during part of the night, yet nearby trees and grass remained perfectly still throughout the interval.

Lucille remarked that familiar stars seemed to possess abnormal depth, as if the field opened behind them rather than beyond them.

Members present: Ayoub Berrabeh, Adama Traoré, Antoine Delorme

Location: Namib Desert, Namibia

Session duration: 2 nights

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

Instruments:

• 150mm Newtonian telescope
• 7×50 binoculars
• 250mm Dobsonian telescope

Targets:

• The Moon
• M31 (Andromeda Galaxy)
• Saturn
• Rigel

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.

Members present: Maxime Dallois, Lucille Godefert, Sophie Martin