If I were a romantic I'd say he gave me the stars

I wasn't very coy about what I wanted Jaaromy to get me for Christmas. I try to be because I want to be surprised, but I also don't want to be disappointed. So I end up saying all but the exact words.

I wanted a camera that fits into the eyepiece of my telescope so I could take pictures. I had a mount for my regular camera but it was just too hard to get it to do what I wanted. So I was pretty sure that was what Jaaromy was getting me. When it came time for the purchase it would have been pretty hard for him to hide the amount spent since I'm the one who does the finances in our house. It was a noticeably larger amount than I had expected.

So, instead of a camera to fit into my telescope, he got me a whole new telescope that comes with a camera!


I feel like I need to explain what I'm wearing. It's cold in our house and I just grabbed a random long-sleeved shirt to cover my arms. Also, I apologize for the background. It's currently being stored in our back room which is unfinished. It makes it the ideal place to put our exercise equipment and my craft table.

Back to the telescope. It's much smaller than our first telescope but it reflects twice(or something) so the image is about the same size. But the real bonus is that it's a motorized equatorial mount so it follows the Earth's rotation which makes it much easier to keep an object in the field of view. Perfect for taking pictures!

Jaaromy is more excited that I am to try it out, so on our first relatively clear night we did just that. Jupiter is the most exciting thing to look at right now and it's in the low Western sky at night. Which means we, and by that I mean Jaaromy, had to shovel our back porch. It was so cold, plus, I had just showered and my hair was wet. I put a hat on to keep warm but my hair outside the hat froze.

In spite of the cold, we managed to get some pictures. The sky was mostly clear. It looked plenty clear with the naked eye, but there was still a lot of atmospheric disturbance. I think that will just be the case during the Winter, unfortunately.


So there you have it, our first picture of Jupiter. I hope the blurriness is because of the atmosphere. We won't know until we get out again when the skies are clearer. I hope we don't have to wait too long since Jupiter is only getting farther away. You can clearly make out the Northern band. The Southern band has mysteriously gone missing over the last several months. Hopefully it will come back. It just wouldn't be Jupiter without the two dark bands.

I'm super excited for my present, and so is Jaaromy. He's actually been the one behind all the set up and picture process. I'll have to give it a try by myself so that it will officially be my present and not Jaaromy's. Think of the episode of the Simpson's when Homer gave Marge a bowling ball for her birthday.

I can't wait to take more pictures. Perhaps when it's warmer.