I am a wimp

Last night here in SW Montana it was a gorgeous viewing night. We live
a few miles south of Bozeman and the skies are always dark and were so
last night, despite the gibbous moon brightening things up.

It was also -2F at 8pm.

I just couldn't get myself to drag the XT-12 out to look at stuff.
Instead I grabbed my 7x50 monocular (half a binocular, due to an
accident several years ago) and used it instead. Still had a good time
just looking at things.

Of course it didn't help that I spent much of the day flying the Slow
Angel (a Piper Tomahawk painted like a Navy Blue Angel) around much of
SW Montana without much sustenance other than a couple of Pepsi's, then
sitting around the house in the late afternoon drinking beer and
watching football.

By the time it got dark I was ready to just kick back.

Speaking of cold weather, has anyone ever had a contact lens freeze to
the eyepiece when viewing in really cold conditions? That happened to
me several years ago when I still had my Edmund 6" reflector. When I
stood up from looking at M42 everything was kind of fuzzy in my right
eye. I shined my flashlight on the eyepiece and lo! there was my
contact.

Took the eyepiece inside, let it unfreeze, then popped it back in my
eye. Everything was cool. Or cold.

Nowadays I wear bifocals and only wear contacts when I'm skiing or
hiking or some other outdoor activity so it's not something that will
happen again, but I was wondering if this has ever happened to anyone
else.

--Walt

"Walt" wrote:

I just couldn't get myself to drag the XT-12 out to look at stuff.
Instead I grabbed my 7x50 monocular

Nights when you just don't quite feel up to setting up a large
telescope are custom made for either a smaller telescope, binoculars,
naked-eye astronomy, or . . .

I suspect we all have such nights from time to time. You're not a
wimp unless you make a habit of not getting out on clear, *moonless*
nights ;-)

Speaking of cold weather, has anyone ever had a contact lens freeze to
the eyepiece when viewing in really cold conditions? That happened to
me several years ago when I still had my Edmund 6" reflector. When I
stood up from looking at M42 everything was kind of fuzzy in my right
eye. I shined my flashlight on the eyepiece and lo! there was my
contact.

I've never had the pleasure! I tried contacts many years ago; but
when I discovered that I could see more through a telescope without
contacts than I could with contacts -- the contacts had to go!

Speaking of cold, somewhere I have a comet sketch that was made when
the air temperature (excluding wind chill) was minus 40F. I stepped
out briefly on a minus 50F night (again, the temperature didn't
include any wind chill); but concluded that I had met my
low-temperature limit and quickly rushed back inside! Now, it's
become quite rare to see temperatures that low. Heck, we're lucky if
we get down to minus 20 now that global warming has kicked in ;-)

P.S. I had the added excuse of clouds (at least a few) last night.
Besides, my lunar program has been slow taking off. I'm finding it
difficult to go back to the moon after looking at faint fuzzies; but
I'm trying to change! Next year I'll be more dedicated to the cause!!
--
Bill
Celestial Journeys
http://cejour.blogspot.com

Walt wrote:
Last night here in SW Montana it was a gorgeous viewing night. We live
a few miles south of Bozeman and the skies are always dark and were so
last night, despite the gibbous moon brightening things up.

It was also -2F at 8pm.

I just couldn't get myself to drag the XT-12 out to look at stuff.
Instead I grabbed my 7x50 monocular (half a binocular, due to an
accident several years ago) and used it instead. Still had a good time
just looking at things.

I can't help thinking the ideal solution to such an issue would be a
small apo (80mm or less) on a tripod or grab and go mount. Of course,
it would be much more productive than a 50mm bino and might make you
leave the 12" inside even more often...

I have my eyeball frozen to a Wild T2 theodolite eyepiece once, luckily
enough it is detachable (not the eyeball) and few mins in my hands soon
released it.


Speaking of cold weather, has anyone ever had a contact lens freeze to
the eyepiece when viewing in really cold conditions? That happened to
me several years ago when I still had my Edmund 6" reflector. When I
stood up from looking at M42 everything was kind of fuzzy in my right
eye. I shined my flashlight on the eyepiece and lo! there was my
contact.

Took the eyepiece inside, let it unfreeze, then popped it back in my
eye. Everything was cool. Or cold.

**************************
Dave Parkin
Swansea - Wales - UK
**************************
Keep Wales tidy, dump your rubbish in England.