--- In auburnastro@yahoogroups.com, "Crappiefisher" <crappiefishergirl@...> wrote:
>
> Hey,
> I'm Denise and my husband, Jim, and daughter, Maggie are new to
> Auburn. Maggie has always been fascinated with the night sky and asked
> for a telescope from Santa. we, uh, I mean Santa gave her a Bushnell
> 525 X 3 Voyager Reflecting scope (We got a phenomenal price and it
> came recommended as a first scope). We went out with the scope to a
> place near Society Hill last nite to use the scope for the first time.

Great!  Glad you found Cliff's farm OK.
>
> We saw the moon and Maggie was in awe. We had a little trouble with
> focusing and keeping on target but it was pretty cool to see the
> surface. I tried to spot a nearby star and saw the most amazing
> thing: a circle of lights. what was this? A star? Unfortunately my
> husband and daughter when inside to warm up and by the time we got
> back to scope to look at it it was out of field and I couldn't spot it
> again.

I'm not sure what this might have been.  If you can reproduce the symptom at our star party, maybe we can figure it out.
>
> So kids join you guys and gals on your star parties?

Yes, as long as the mom or dad are there as well. 

>We are thinking
> of joining one of the star gazing nights at the forest preserve next
> time around. We are looking forward to getting out when the nights get
> warmer to see more things.
>
We're looking forward to it as well.

Russell