I found the moon!

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Years ago, when Big One was little, I bought a second-hand telescope as a family Christmas present. I thought it would be something interesting we could all do together. Well we tried to use it, but we just couldn’t see anything. Visiting friends tried too, but they couldn’t either. There were no instructions with it. I found that there is a local astronomical society that welcomes all comers, but I was too embarrassed to go along and admit that I had this thing and had absolutely no clue how to use it! So it went in the loft and has been there for at least twelve years. Finally I decided I needed to do something. Either get it to work, or get rid of it. I searched online and found quite a few forums and videos with tips for using a telescope, but they were all too advanced for us. They assumed a basic level of knowledge that we just didn’t have. To start with, we were not even completely confident that we were looking through the right end!! Finally I found a forum where someone as clueless as me had asked the question about what to do given that they couldn’t see anything at all. And several helpful people had supplied complete beginners’ instructions, for example ‘Look down the end, can you see a mirror’ and ‘Check you have removed the lens cap’, that sort of thing. So I started from the very basics and tried my luck. At first (a couple of weeks ago, when there was a full moon) I couldn’t see anything, but I could at least see some light which I couldn’t see when I put the end cap on, so I was encouraged to think I was at least looking into the right place. Of course since then we’ve had lots of rainy, cloudy nights and some quite chilly ones too. But today, after dinner, I thought I would have another look. It was quite cloudy but the moon (half full now) was hazily visible and importantly, it wasn’t that cold so I could spend more time outside tinkering. After quite a spell of seeing nothing more than a vague lightness, I eventually managed to line up the brightest area and then, finally, get the moon in focus and, hey presto! There it was, just like this picture, craters clearly visible. Quickly (because the Earth turns surprisingly fast and I knew the moon would soon disappear out of the field of view and I would have to find it again) I called the family and they all came to look and were gratifyingly impressed. Little One was particularly excited about it, admiring all the features and exclaiming ‘That’s so cool!’ So now at last I’m glad I bought it and I hope I can share interesting things with family and friends. I’ll be looking out for interesting things to get a closer look at! All rights reserved. © Text copyright Fleur 2024. Image from Pixabay.