crux

I took a few days off last week with my wife and daughter and went down to Stanthorpe.  We stayed at the Twinstar Guesthouse, which my wife chose, because it had an observatory!  When I was younger, I was into star gazing, and I forgot how much I liked it until now. So tonight I took a walk outside with my binoculars and pointed them skyward.  When I was younger, I didn't actually do this too much - I didn't think you could see much more with binoculars than you could with your naked eye - but I was wrong.  After getting used to playing around with the binoculars, I took a look at Crux (the southern cross), and noticed an interesting star cluster above one of the stars.  It was the Jewel Box.  Very happy.  I didn't think it was possible to see something , but it was.

By the way, if you are into star gazing, and you travel through Stanthorpe, make sure you stay at the Twinstar Guesthouse Observatory.  Along with some telescope time, you get a great breakfast, and the rooms are very comfortable.