Observation Session – 24 December 2016

Location: Quercy Dark Sky Reserve, France

Session duration: 2 nights

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

Instruments:

  • 250mm Dobsonian telescope
  • 150mm Newtonian telescope
  • 100mm apochromatic refractor

Targets:

  • Jupiter
  • The Moon
  • Albireo
  • Venus

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.

Ayoub Berrabeh noted that the silence of the site felt disproportionate to the open terrain, as if sound were being absorbed above the group.

Members present: Lucille Godefert, Adama Traoré, Antoine Delorme, Sophie Martin

Observation Session – 10 December 2016

Location: Parc naturel du Vercors, France

Session duration: 2 nights

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

Instruments:

  • 300mm Dobsonian reflector
  • 100mm apochromatic refractor
  • 150mm Newtonian telescope

Targets:

  • M13 (Hercules Cluster)
  • M45 (Pleiades)
  • Jupiter
  • Saturn

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, Ayoub Berrabeh, Lucille Godefert, Julien Bertaud