that should have been my 10

that was mis typed, it has my 10 f5 dob i took out last night.

--
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universe, with tribes of humans, who may have been the forefathers of the
Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. Some believe that they may yet be
brothers of man, who even now fight to survive, somewhere beyond the
heavens.


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Starlord wrote:
that was mis typed, it has my 10 f5 dob i took out last night.

Ah, now I know that with your 7mm tel you were viewing at around
180X -- maybe less demanding than the 300X or so I had guessed
with a 19" Dob at something like f/4.5 when it comes to seeing
grin.

It's interesting how 8" Dobs at f/6 and 10" Dobs at f/5 or so
have around the same focal length. I'm going to try my first
lunar observing with my Dob, and see how well the seeing holds
up with a 7.5 mm Takahashi at 160X -- not too far from what you
were using.

The nice thing about the Moon is that it's easy to find, and
holds up even to urban light pollution, of which here in
Sacramento we have a fair share.

Are you going to view the total lunar eclipse -- only another
48 hours or so away as I write?

Best,

Margo

"Margo Schulter" wrote in message
Are you going to view the total lunar eclipse -- only another
48 hours or so away as I write?


Hey Margo... I'm thinking it will be an interesting one for us here on the
US East Coast. From what I've gathered (and I hope I've got this right),
it's going to be in full eclipse mode as it hits the western horizon around
6:30-7:00AM on the 28th. That means it's going to be happening in early
daylight. I've not seen that before. Should either be an interesting view,
or an interesting challenge. I don't really know what to expect, which is
what makes it all the more exciting to make the effort.

I've got a decent spot the next town over that has a great view of the
western horizon. I expect I can hang there and watch the show before heading
to work. It's the same spot that I caught a full on daylight view of Comet
McNaught in the western sky at dusk earlier in the year. Now that was
amazing. I stopped there on the way home from work having heard that the
comet was visibile in broad daylight. I stopped, got out of the car, put a
thumb up to block the sun and sure enough, there was a very bright object to
the south and east of the sun that looked like a short contrail from a
distant airplane. However, it didn't move after a minute or two and I knew
then and there that I was looking at a comet!

I've missed some of the more recent bright comets so it was a real pleasure
to capture this one into memory.

-Steve

Steve Paul wrote:

"Margo Schulter" wrote in message
Are you going to view the total lunar eclipse -- only another
48 hours or so away as I write?


Hey Margo... I'm thinking it will be an interesting one for us here on the
US East Coast. From what I've gathered (and I hope I've got this right),
it's going to be in full eclipse mode as it hits the western horizon around
6:30-7:00AM on the 28th. That means it's going to be happening in early
daylight. I've not seen that before. Should either be an interesting view,
or an interesting challenge. I don't really know what to expect, which is
what makes it all the more exciting to make the effort.

Hi, Steve, and let's see -- I'll switch to another Linux virtual terminal
and see that totality is from around 0952 to 1122 UT, according to a NASA
site; so I guess that would be 0552 to 0722 EDT, which would fit your
scenario. Yes, an interesting observing challenge.

I've got a decent spot the next town over that has a great view of the
western horizon. I expect I can hang there and watch the show before heading
to work. It's the same spot that I caught a full on daylight view of Comet
McNaught in the western sky at dusk earlier in the year. Now that was
amazing. I stopped there on the way home from work having heard that the
comet was visibile in broad daylight. I stopped, got out of the car, put a
thumb up to block the sun and sure enough, there was a very bright object to
the south and east of the sun that looked like a short contrail from a
distant airplane. However, it didn't move after a minute or two and I knew
then and there that I was looking at a comet!

I've missed some of the more recent bright comets so it was a real pleasure
to capture this one into memory.

I must admit that Halley and Hale-Bopp are the main ones I've observed over a
period of time, doing a bit of sidewalk astronomy with 7X50 binoculars. Those
were at night, however.

What I'm considering for the eclipse, apart from my 7X50 binoculars, is trying
my 200mm f/6 Dob with a 20mm 2" wide-angle eyepiece and a 2X Barlow -- which
should give a field of around 40' at 120X. That would fit in the whole Moon,
albeit maybe with some coma and edge distortion; this would be first light for
the EP, Barlow, and also an Orion variable polarizing filter. It's curious, since
getting the scope I've almost exclusively been doing some beginner deep sky
observing with a basic 25mm 1.25" SuperPlossl.

I'm wondering if the filter at 40% (the brightest setting) would be best for
totality, or if taking off the filter for that portion of the event would be
comfortable. Also, let's hope that the 20mm EP doesn't cause any balance
problems for the Dob, which has a tension control handle that is supposed to
solve such problems -- and likewise for a similar 30mm EP that I hope to try
soon.

May I wish you good dawn and early daylight viewing!


-Steve


Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter

Lat. 38.566 Long. -121.430