01/04/2009, THO
Well, the Swift and the Micronta had been buttoned up in their boxes
asleep through all of December's dismal weather. Whenever there was a
rare clear spot, I'd pick up the tabletop Jupiter scope and point it
up... But that wasn't it.... maybe it was the cleared off work-desk from
the holidays, or
working too much, and being to tired to get out much last night in the
first clear dry night in months....Maye I missed the restorative
richfield cruising with our old copier lens scope that I'd sent on to
our son last year......
A focuser arrived in the mail this week from Sheldon F and set
of some first-of-the-year antsy-ness. today I pulled out the bits
The objective purchased over a year ago as a replacement for the
copyscope similar diameter (61mm) but at 375mm, a third longer
http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/l3858.html
Preston had very nicely traded me a 60mm Tasco tube for another short FL
objective
And Friday night, I dug a trashed Celestron eq mount from the closet.
The Vixen 1.25 focuser from Sheldon clinched the deal, robust and
smooth, perfect for this little cruiser
The objective fit perfectly into the cell, and I taped it with the
dewshiel onto a hardware store yardstick (meter stick minus 3.4" ) . The
focuser had only 2inches of travel, so I tried out the prism diagonal
with all 4 of my 1.25 eyepieces, a homemade Erfle leftover momento from
the copyscope, a 7. ortho, A pentax zoom , and a 25ish mm Jaegers
unmarked widefield. The first cut, even with the careful measurements,
the tube was too short, and the focuser had to be racked out all the way
to focus out to infinity.
A second odd tube fit the Tasco cell just fine ,and 10 minutes with a
hacksaw, and a bit of tape had my new scope assembled for testing.
The old Celestron Eq mount had seen some rough weather, rusted in spots
under the crome, and in need of a good cleaning and new bolts, nuts and
washers. The black tripod needs stripping too, and the flaking paint
refinishing. But it does have slowmotion cables, which I'd never used,
and the screw on mount offers several possibilites for scope attachment.
Zipties worked well for now.
Well, a handheld the moon came first, braced out through the west
window. Even though a 7mm ortho is better suited for a long focus scope,
it filled the field of the F6 with a sharp smiling orb , steady on the
mount, but warbling in the heat from the nearby rooftop. I was
surprised by the minimal CA with this short of a focal length, it was
there if one looked for it, but not distracting, nor did it mush the
edge of the moon.
The mount , in spite of cosmetic problems, is actually smooth and solid. For this experiment, I set the polar axis vertical and used it as an altaz mount. Learning the slow mo cables was like driving while looking in the rear-view mirror with Etcha-Sketch knobs instead of a steering wheel, a lot of fun!
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12/09/2008, West of town
Responding to an article in our local county paper,
http://www.marinij.com/novato/ci_11098331
D. and I loaded a couple of chairs, thermoses (thermi?) of tea, binoculars, bag and Calliope the 50mm refractor into the Escort and headed to the reservoir 3 miles west of town. A nice collection of local astronomers and interested folks, maybe 15 in total showed up, a few dobs, a goto or two, a pair of big binos on a parallel mount and my little peashooter.
First thing as I was setting up the tripod under red penlight, a sparky little seven year old loped over with a spotlight on the scope box. "Need some help?" I declined nicely, but thanked him. The sky was 99 percent humidity, about 40F, cold for us, and threatening fog. The moon, and a smattering of stars about 30degrees above the murky horizon, more romantic than astronomical good seeing, but the evening turned out really fun. I'm intimidated by hordes of people, but had wonderful talks with a couple my age who had a scope at home, have no idea how to use it, but really love the sky, and want to learn.
William, the little boy came back over as we were looking at the moon at about 25 thorough a 20mm plossl and the hybrid prism. He asked for a look, and I showed him how to aim, and why the equatorial was set up. He readly understood, and the refractor is simple enough to let him find things for himself. He was thrilled to find the moon again. "Its moving. The earth is moving" I can see it!". William;s older brother , a cool 13 yearold, even though he does not have a scope, asked polite permission, and I talked him through Pleides down to Aldeberan and the Hyades, and then over to the double cluster in Perseus. Told them about the story of Andromeda and Perseus and the sea monsters. "Is she really up there"
"Only in our imaginations!"
A couple of teenage girls sidled over and I offered them a look. They were awed by the views of the moon, so clear and sharp. I am continually amaze at the quality of this government surplus objective. It must be apo, no color at all unless I try one of the lesser hugens in it. Makes ya wonder what their up to over at Lawrence Livermore Labs! Some spy stuff or stealth technology no doubt.......
I love this stuff!
Another woman , who had a pair of 80mm binos on a parallel mount, turned out to be a local official in the San Fran Sidewalk Astronomers. Way cool to talk with her , and got her card. We met the ranger for the county park, and he said to call whenever a number of us want to come out there observing and they can turn off the security lights. He seemed to be very eager to for us to take advantage of the park! The lake is surrounded by hills and dairy farms and a golf course across the way, but a grand darker sky than in town.
After years of observing mostly alone it was nice to find a small local group. Any other clubs are 30 miles away, and that's just much with a busy work schedule. This might just turn out to be a regular event!I got a few names and emails to start something
The fog oozed in between the hills and closed up the sky around 9 Not long enough and the seeing was murky but it was a grand night!
Socked-in at home now, with tea and fig newtons....
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10/22/2008, Southern skies
This morning, I got a small gift on my way to work. Clear , still cool morning at 530, and at a dark open spot on my walk, I was stopped by the drama of Orion, Scorpio, and the bull. The Dogs chased the Hare underneath just along the ridgeline to the south. Even downtown, not 35 miles from San Francisco, and the Great Nebula could be seen naked eye. The sighing moon hung off to the east.
As I watched, a single bright light blue meteor streaked a 40 degree path across Orion's shoulder for fun. Who else, aside from a few sleepy commuters, and delivery truck drivers was up this time of day? Who else was looking up at the sky? Who else saw, at this location, a small grain of space dust burn out in glory?
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08/12/2008, ODCC
Though not plentiful, the Perseids showed up on time this morning at 3 am. I'd emailed S., my meteorite buddy and a couple other astro friends to meet at our local church parking lot.
At 1030 on my walk home from work, a grand bollide streaked in the northeast over downtown, a good omen if you believe in them . After a 2 hour nap I got up, made a thermos of tea and pan of apple scones. J. was already there, laid out in sleeping bag and pad in the field. I was really glad that T had come to, a customer from work .
We couldn't figure where to turn off some of the outside lights , but still had a grand couple of hour in conversation punctuated with "Oh there's one!"
Each of us have various interests in space, one ATM'er, one space exploration and technology enthusiast, one likes meteor showers, but has little outside interest in the skies, and one who has never settled down to any particular discipline...
Perfect weather, cool, slight breeze off the ocean after a 90F day, and it even got chilly. 'Round 4 am enough chill made the tea and scones welcome. We toasted the views and agreed that we looked forward to Fall viewing.
Since school starts next week, it always seems like the beginning of the year to me~ time to settle in a little bit, dig research more and set up a viewing plan. The fireworks and the fellowship made for a fine beginning to a new Astronomical year.
Clear skies and apple scones!
Carol
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08/05/2008, THO
'S been a long time since I spent time out under the stars, Life, and sometimes the weather has gotten in the way.
Last evening, I caught the moon, Saturn, Mars and Venus a little after sunset, in the binocs from work...Mercury was out too, but to shy to play.
Perfect seeing last night when I walked home the dark way from work at 10:30 sparkling , clear, weeknight so the neighborhood was quiet.
When I got home, I popped out the screen in the west window, shut the door and had a stroll through Bootes, CB, Serpens, and the western edge of Hercules with one of the tabletop 50mm refractors, an older Tasco, parked on the windowsill. Not much in the way of deep sky object mentioned on my Serpens Caput map in Planetarium, but it reveals some lovely loops and groups of stars in a small scope. Super nice views in the amici-adapter prism and an old 50mm Jagers eyepiece. That makes the sweep about 11 times magnitude.
Didn't get to bed till 130 am and slept over slept till 630 this morning.
Tonight the Swift comes out!
Clear skies and plum torte!
Carol
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