Gino Audet is an amateur astronomer and astro-photographer from Matane, Quebec. He visited Camping Griffon, my wife’s family campground, on July 6 to host an evening of stargazing.
Although it was low season, 25 people of all ages showed up. To keep warm in the cool Gaspé evening we drank hot chocolate, and in keeping with the space theme we enjoyed rocket candies.
Our luck that night was good – it was cloudy all day but cleared up just as we started at around 8 pm EST, then when we were wrapping up our observations at midnight the clouds rolled back in.
We had some amazing observations – using Gino’s very large Celestron 14″ Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope we observed Mars and its moons, Saturn, some of its moons, and its famous rings. We observed Jupiter and several of its largest moons, as well as the red swirls of its atmosphere.
Gino also pointed out dwarf stars, galaxies, and constellations and showed us some of his astrophotography results. He is a great guide to the night sky – very knowledgeable, patient, and enthusiastic.
Hopefully Gino will come back to help us observe the Perseid Meteors showers. NASA says they will be extra awesome this year!
