Location: Pyrenees – Gavarnie valley, France

Session duration: 2 nights

Sky conditions: Moderate turbulence, seeing ~6/10

Instruments:

• 300mm Dobsonian reflector
• 100mm apochromatic refractor
• 250mm Dobsonian telescope

Targets:

• Albireo
• Rigel
• Venus
• M42 (Orion 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.

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: Lucille Godefert, Maxime Dallois, Adama Traoré, Julien Bertaud

Location: Auvergne volcanic plateau, France

Session duration: 2 nights

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

Instruments:

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

Targets:

• M33 (Triangulum Galaxy)
• Mars
• 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.

Members present: Lucille Godefert, Maxime Dallois, Adama Traoré, Lina Chevalier