For me the best of the reunion was the company of all those in attendance. We were like old friends sharing the common love for astronomy. The camaraderie during the meals (which were excellent) was fantastic. There were at least six telescopes set up Friday night and we observed from about 10:00pm to about 2:00 to 3:00 in the morning. I had my Telementor with the Rainbow Optics diffraction grating and I was able to show the others the spectrum of Vega with at least one prominent hydrogen absorption line. The skies were great with just a slight problem of transparency. 

Saturday afternoon we were treated to a conference by Francisco Romero Rica were he reviewed the whole world of double stars in detail. Francisco and Maria were still on their honeymoon. Afterwards Pepe gave a slide presentation of some of his best astrophotography work. Luis then presented us with a work he did about the movement of the solar system in our galaxy. Saturday night was cloudy so we prolonged the evening meal with great conversation, jokes and many smiles. During the whole reunion English, Spanish and Italian were the languages used and there was no problem communicating.

From our arrival Friday afternoon to Sunday late morning, Pepita and I enjoyed the reunion immensely. As we were driving up to Sena de Luna from Salamanca, Pepita commented what happens if it clouds over and I replied just to be in the company of these people in a great rural hotel with excellent food surrounded by beautiful mountains was worth the trip many times over.
 

Thursday 12 September 2002

Arriving at the Asturian airport, after two plane journeys, had me enjoying the customary warm welcome from Cristina, Ana, Fiorenzo and Luis( our director ). Paolo and Tito arrived a short time later, heavily laden with luggage, to another very warm welcome after their flights too. Their arrival signalled that first contingent were all happily gathered and we were all soon on our way to Sena de Luna , and the observing decks at the hotel Dias de Luna. 

After settling into our rooms Luis soon had us setting up telescopes and proudly showed us the S-33 telescope mounted over a Vixen GP. Darkness began to fall, we left our observing equipment to cool and partake in the excellent cuisine the owners of the hotel enthusiastically offer each year. After this welcome feast, we ventured out under a clear sky. And what a sky this place has to offer!! The stars of the Milky Way shone out like beacons. I knew that the skies would be clear in the UK, but I am certain not this clear.

The S-33 telescope is a very fine instrument and I soon had it pointing at all the usual objects when using a new instrument. Vega is a star I always visit at this time of year and it certainly didn’t disappoint this time through this telescope. I just love to observe this glowing orb and am always in awe of it’s brightness. The double double looked spectacular also and I could detect elongation, and when the seeing allowed, a hairline split of the system,( X90 ).  Some of my favourite colour contrast double stars looked even more dazzling than usual. Fine tuning the setting circles on M57 I then concentrated on objects difficult to observe from my location at home in the UK. M22, M25 and M11 all come to mind as stunning objects through S-33 but all superb through 20X60 binoculars, kept close to hand.

Cristina was using her Meade ETX goto scope and I could hear it whirring gently from one object to another for most of the night. I just couldn’t resist  taking a peek at the view through the eyepiece of this telescope, giving excellent views of some very interesting objects off Cristina’s list. Observing Fiorenzo building his telescopes onto his EQ6 earlier, had me intrigued as to what the views would be like. The EQ6 was carrying three telescopes, a large refractor, 80mm wide view refractor and a small finder scope. All of the telescopes gave perfect, rock steady images of any object in view. This was a very impressive telescope combination and I thoroughly enjoyed observing objects through his system. Paolo (no smoking binoculars), Tito (16X70Vixen) and myself, all used binoculars throughout the night. I am sure that we all enjoyed touring these perfect skies with binoculars, drinking in the views. This type of sky is perfect for the binocular viewer and I found it very hard to leave the binoculars for the telescopic eyepiece. All of the objects viewed under the dark and clear skies of this place with binoculars, telescope or the unaided eye, never fail to impress. Time seemed to pass all too quickly and it soon got to 3am. ( end of the first night )

Friday 13 September 2002

This was the day the meeting was to start,  with the rest of the attendants arriving during the day. Luis and Ana arriving first, in order to greet and meet people as they arrived at the hotel.

At dusk, the telescope observing decks were filled with telescopes and binoculars, all ready for action after the meal. During the meal, I noticed Luis, at the head of the table, with the look of a very contented man.  The 3rd European meeting had started with all the spirit of 33 flowing freely.

The observing session, following the meal, passed even more quickly than last night.
Using my 20X60 binoculars I observed the Moon slowly sink into the top of the mountains. I looked on, as the Moon slowly disappeared from view. An absolutely stunning sight, impossible to forget. The skies were not quite as good as the previous night, but John soon had me spellbound with some fantastic views through his Telementor, soon to be the star of the show. He put in a rainbow optics grating and showed everyone the spectrum of Vega. Fabulous. Using about 80X per inch of aperture on the double double was a wonderful experience for me as I hadn’t seen a Telementor in action before. Thank you John for introducing me to this wonderful little telescope. 

Pepe set up his Stellarvue semiapochromat triplet (serial #11) on a driven Vixen GP.  Always willing to share the view, Pepe caught my interest as he was using a Celestron MicroGuide eyepiece to determine the periodic error of Fiorenzo’s EQ6 mount, comparing it to his own Vixen GP. Fiorenzo and Cristina were both busy selecting objects for their projects but were always willing to share the view with others. Paolo, Tito and myself concentrated on using binoculars.  After watching Paolo and Tito, for only a few minutes, working together finding objects, I soon realised that I was observing a master at work. I don’t think Paolo would be at home using a goto telescope, he IS the goto computer!!. I haven’t seen anyone find so many binocular objects in so short a time. Luis (our director) was quietly  setting co-ordinates into the “Skysensor”  driving his Takahashi  with Baader Eudiascopics. This is a very high quality combination,  I am sure speaks for itself. Perfection springs to mind though! I could hear Luis constantly chattering and realised that he was very busy making observations from the current project into a recorder. I soon persuaded him to show me a view of the Pleiades, with a hint of nebulosity.  What a joy to behold this telescope is, especially under a Sena de Luna sky!! Another 3am finish and a very happy band of observers retired to bed, contented.  ( end of the second night )

Saturday 14 September 2002

One of the highlights of the whole weekend, for me, was that some great sunspot groups were on view. Cristina and Fiorenzo set up the ETX on the Friday observing the sun, with Paolo, on the “no smoking” binoculars, observing Venus. I was fascinated to watch Paolo find Venus using binoculars, data from a pc and a few gadgets from his deep pockets. Saturday saw Pepe and his Stellarvue showing sunspots in all their glory. An absolutely superb view of a large group of spots appeared almost three dimensional to my eye. As evening crept in, clouds started to appear but we had some very interesting talks (all very professional) from Francisco, Luis and Pepe, who finished with some of his photographs (works of art in their own right). I hope that Pepe can guide us to a web page containing some of the slides. They are quite simply, breathtaking!!  Cloud cover kept all the toys in their boxes that night so dinner was extended until late into the night.

Sunday 15 September 2002

This was the official end to the meeting with all the attendants slowly drifting away back to their respective homes. Driving away from Dias de Luna, on to the now famous “fabada” meal, I thought of a very appropriate road sign, common in Scotland. The sign is usually in the Gaelic tongue but translates as, “ Haste ye back “.  The end of a fluorite weekend, thoroughly enjoyed by all.    “Off socks”.
Tim J Leese. September 2002.