Old Lesson for New Observers: Multiple Looks

It was another night with new observers, and they were so excited to see objects for the first time. After the WOW affect had lessened a little bit, we got them to look at the same object (a small open cluster) through several little refractors. Once it was in everyone's EP, I started with the obvious question, "What do you see?" I got various descriptions. So I followed with another question...and another...and another. As the looking went on, the description got better, and better, and better. They began to notice arrangements, grades of apparent brightness, slight differences in color, and finally the faintest stars. It is a lesson that is so much fun to learn because with the repeated looks, the object's characteristics become much more apparent.