#1
|
|||
|
|||
First Clouds
My new telescope (an Orion SkyView Pro 6LT OTA) arrived yesterday. I came home to mostly clear skies and dutifully sat down to dinner and helped put my older daughter Grace (2.5 years old) to bed before opening the boxes. By the time I had the OTA mounted on an old SkyView Deluxe Equatorial mount I already had and got it outdoors the clouds had started to roll in. I got a look at the Moon before the clouds were too thick to see through. I bought the tube rings and 8x50 right angle finder scope with the OTA. It all went together nicely. I already had the large and small counterweight for the mount, but I'll need to get another large counterweight (replacing the small one) in order to balance the telescope. When Grace came downstairs this morning her reaction was "Telescope! Big big telescope!" She's Daddy's little girl. I let her play with the finder for a while before swapping it for the Edmund's cardboard tube telescope she normally plays with. The forecast for tonight is for clear skies, but given the new telescope I'm not too optimistic. -- Brian Reynolds | "But in the new approach, as you know, | the important thing is to understand http://www.panix.com/~reynolds/ | what you're doing rather than to get NAR# 54438 | the right answer." -- Tom Lehrer |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
First Clouds
I already had and got it outdoors the
clouds had started to roll in. So...you thought all the tales of the "new scope blues" were just hearsay, huh? :-) Peace, Rod Mollise Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_ Like SCTs and MCTs? Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers! Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
First Clouds
I already had and got it outdoors the
clouds had started to roll in. So...you thought all the tales of the "new scope blues" were just hearsay, huh? :-) Peace, Rod Mollise Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_ Like SCTs and MCTs? Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers! Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
First Clouds
I already had and got it outdoors the
clouds had started to roll in. So...you thought all the tales of the "new scope blues" were just hearsay, huh? :-) Peace, Rod Mollise Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_ Like SCTs and MCTs? Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers! Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
First Clouds
In article ,
Rod Mollise wrote: I already had and got it outdoors the clouds had started to roll in. So...you thought all the tales of the "new scope blues" were just hearsay, huh? :-) Those weren't the first clouds I've observed with a telescope, just the first clouds for that telescope. When we were dating (and I had more free time to help with the local club's monthly public events) I took my wife to so many clouded out star parties that she still says I should take up amateur meteorology. Tonight was a little better. I got to see the Moon for a little longer in clear skies, and M42 for a bit as the clouds approached. As I tried to find Saturn the clouds rolled in. I need to figure out a way rotate the tube without upsetting the balance on the declination axis. I'm thinking about adding a ring to the OTA so that it can't slide down further when the rings are loosened. I also need to get used to pointing a GEM. All of my smaller telescopes (various copyscopes and a 500mm f/5.6 mak) have been on camera tripods. At some point I'm going to have to degrease the mount and focuser. The focuser and manual setting circles get pretty stiff in the cold. That will probably have to wait until I get a lot more free time. -- Brian Reynolds | "But in the new approach, as you know, | the important thing is to understand http://www.panix.com/~reynolds/ | what you're doing rather than to get NAR# 54438 | the right answer." -- Tom Lehrer |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
First Clouds
In article ,
Rod Mollise wrote: I already had and got it outdoors the clouds had started to roll in. So...you thought all the tales of the "new scope blues" were just hearsay, huh? :-) Those weren't the first clouds I've observed with a telescope, just the first clouds for that telescope. When we were dating (and I had more free time to help with the local club's monthly public events) I took my wife to so many clouded out star parties that she still says I should take up amateur meteorology. Tonight was a little better. I got to see the Moon for a little longer in clear skies, and M42 for a bit as the clouds approached. As I tried to find Saturn the clouds rolled in. I need to figure out a way rotate the tube without upsetting the balance on the declination axis. I'm thinking about adding a ring to the OTA so that it can't slide down further when the rings are loosened. I also need to get used to pointing a GEM. All of my smaller telescopes (various copyscopes and a 500mm f/5.6 mak) have been on camera tripods. At some point I'm going to have to degrease the mount and focuser. The focuser and manual setting circles get pretty stiff in the cold. That will probably have to wait until I get a lot more free time. -- Brian Reynolds | "But in the new approach, as you know, | the important thing is to understand http://www.panix.com/~reynolds/ | what you're doing rather than to get NAR# 54438 | the right answer." -- Tom Lehrer |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
First Clouds
In article ,
Rod Mollise wrote: I already had and got it outdoors the clouds had started to roll in. So...you thought all the tales of the "new scope blues" were just hearsay, huh? :-) Those weren't the first clouds I've observed with a telescope, just the first clouds for that telescope. When we were dating (and I had more free time to help with the local club's monthly public events) I took my wife to so many clouded out star parties that she still says I should take up amateur meteorology. Tonight was a little better. I got to see the Moon for a little longer in clear skies, and M42 for a bit as the clouds approached. As I tried to find Saturn the clouds rolled in. I need to figure out a way rotate the tube without upsetting the balance on the declination axis. I'm thinking about adding a ring to the OTA so that it can't slide down further when the rings are loosened. I also need to get used to pointing a GEM. All of my smaller telescopes (various copyscopes and a 500mm f/5.6 mak) have been on camera tripods. At some point I'm going to have to degrease the mount and focuser. The focuser and manual setting circles get pretty stiff in the cold. That will probably have to wait until I get a lot more free time. -- Brian Reynolds | "But in the new approach, as you know, | the important thing is to understand http://www.panix.com/~reynolds/ | what you're doing rather than to get NAR# 54438 | the right answer." -- Tom Lehrer |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Cassini Image: Bands of Clouds and Lace | Ron | Astronomy Misc | 1 | May 13th 04 07:16 PM |
What are those mysterious gasses in our Milky Way? (Forwarded) | Andrew Yee | Astronomy Misc | 0 | January 14th 04 12:22 AM |
UFO Activities from Biblical Times | Kazmer Ujvarosy | Astronomy Misc | 0 | December 25th 03 05:21 AM |
ICESat's Lasers Measure Ice, Clouds and Land Elevations | Ron Baalke | Science | 0 | October 6th 03 09:12 PM |
Seeing the Milky Way through the clouds. | Larry Brown | Amateur Astronomy | 4 | August 4th 03 01:39 AM |