The Heavens...

After months of obs inactivity, I finally lugged out my Bresser into the night air, and placed along the Collegio's balcony near my block and pointed it into the clear night sky and heavenwards.

It was full moon tonight so the skies were awashed with the light that was reflected off from it. Still, I managed to put the scope through its paces and caught the following in my sights:

a. Betelgeuse
b. Sirius
c. Orion Nebula
d. Pleiades
e. Moon

I had spent some time outside in the cold with some extra warm clothing, gloves and a headgear. While I was ob'ing with the scope, several other priests passed by, now and then, and I showed them the Moon, Betelgeuse, Sirius and Pleiades. The expression on their faces and the exclamation that came from their mouths were more than enough to make my night. All were simply blown away by the sight of the stars and the Moon which they haven't seen in this close a view before.

I took some time on my own to watch the orange Betelgeuse and bright, bluish Sirius as they moved across the scope's view on high magnification. With Sirius glowing and shining brightly and moving across my view as I gazed through the lense, I can't help but felt that I was like the wise men seeing that 'Christmas' star moving across the sky. Similarly, Betelgeuse's orange star moving across the scope's view was another fascinating sight to behold.

Catching the Nebula wasn't too hard but it required some slight adjustment to watch it. I would not gaze at it directly but just look off-centered to get the faintish white glow of the nebula. Looking directly at it would diminish the glow and the light from the Moon would render the view ineffective. Pleiades was another great sight to catch, with the group of stars positioned together in a configuration that made it look like one is gazing into a jewel box! I did try to find the Andromeda Galaxy along the north-eastern limb of the sky but it was too faint to catch it and the light from the Moon did not make matters any better.

However, for what it was worth, tonight's scope session was a good outing in gazing into the beauty of the heavens that speaks about the wonders of God...