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

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

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

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

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

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

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