Astric Celestiustolls

Sunshine, Thanks! The boys keep us entertained. I like dogs too, but we've always been long-time apartment dwellers and cats are easy... except when they're not! Haha!

Astro Noodles and Mike Q, Yes, North Dakota does have some amazing skies indeed. There was a bit of a haze the last two weeks due to wildfires in Canada and Eastern Montana, but I feel selfish complaining about those and hope that the people and animals in those areas are safe. Astro Noodles, I did end up getting the TPO 180 UltraWide Astrophotography Lens, which I am excited to test out. This should allow some better and easier focusing from the Canon zoom lenses that I was using. Also, thanks on the pipes comment! My brother-in-law got me those and when the job stress gets high, I often wonder if I should grab some tobacco and use them! Mike Q, my wife and I lived in Toledo actually and, I never thought that I would say this, but we miss it. We lived in the suburb of Maumee in a nice town home. Being a Northwesterner by origin, Ohio was an interesting place for my wife and I. From our perspective, Ohio seemed like a microcosm of the rest of the nation.... Technically in the Midwest, but go east and you're in a state that is even more quintessentially Midwest, Indiana, and then travel one state east and you're in the Mid-Atlantic, and then one state south and you're technically in the South. It sounds corny, but Ohio really did feel like the "heart of it all", as the saying goes. North Dakota winters are not too bad, at least snow wise, it is the brutal wind that makes it a bitter cold. I am hoping to get some clear skies before winter hits, which is not too far away, sadly. My job-hobby timing is terrible because when the job slows down it is because the soil literally freezes!

Noodles, I agree, I am happy with the mount so far. Unfortunately, I am using only camera lenses at the moment, although I got a Canon 55–250mm f/4–5.6 IS STM to accompany the Canon 18–55mm f/4–5.6 kit lens. I am actually pleased with it so far for a beginner. I ordered a 58mm-threaded Bahtinov mask for it to see if I cannot squeeze more focus out of it. The camera's metering as well as sensitivity of the focusing ring on the lens leaves a lot to be desired and can be a little frustrating. I am using the Canon EOS 1500D (Rebel T7 in the United States). The DSLR that my father let me borrow is a Canon Rebel T3i (also the 600D) and although I like the new T7, his is the workhorse at the moment due to the versality. It may be older, but it still has all the features and, with using the tracking mount, the articulated/flippable screen comes in handy! I am currently eyeing Oceanside Photo & Telescope's TPO (Third Planet Optics) UltraWide 180 f/4.5 Astropohotography Lens & Guide Scope. I assume I will eventually graduate to a larger aperture scope, but being out here in North Dakota, I think that this thing would work wonders.

Hello all, I have not been on here in quite some time. The busy field season as a government soil scientist had begun after we visited our families at home in the Pacific Northwest in early spring. However, I have been able to get out and enjoy the night sky here and there. I quickly outgrew one of our smaller telescopes (Zhumell Z114) and sold it to another beginning amateur astronomer. One night my wife and I went south of town and the Milky Way core revealed itself more than it does in our usual stargazing spot, which is north of town. Anyway, we realized that we needed to capture better images and we invested in a tracking mount and a camera. My father, back in Washington State, let me borrow his camera so we can get double the data collection before it gets too cold out here again for months. I hope to improve my focusing and composing! We saw the Northern Lights the other night (September 3, 2022) when they were out for many people around the world. We even saw STEVE! We definitely had to research just what it was that we were observing. I hope everyone has had some time this warm summer to get out and enjoy the stars!

Hello all, I came on here to see what anyone else was able to see. I almost did not want to reply because of the disappointment over there with the weather, but I decided that sharing is caring, haha. Besides, my poor family back home in the Seattle area were rained out as well, because of course. We were graced with clear skies after record precipitation events here in North Dakota which is making my job as a soil scientist a more muddy than dirty, but my boss let me telework today—I am writing this on my lunch break, I promise—as he knew I would be up late. My wife and I set up the Apertura AD8 outside for the first time. The temperature was approximately 58 degrees Fahrenheit, which is "flip-flop weather" on the Great Plains... if you do not wear cowboy boots! I was worried about the dirt roads around here, but people were mostly respectful and drove slow, perhaps to check out our setup. I was worried about the hills near the Jamestown Reservoir, but the moon rose above the trees just as the eclipse started. I was able to use the event to sneak-a-peek at other objects, including one of the small, faint galaxies to the left of Phecda, and I am cursing myself now for forgetting to attempt to find the Pinwheel Galaxy since I was starhopping around Ursa Major. Nonetheless, although I do not know which one in particular I was looking at, I suspect M109 and I am please I was able to see it, surely the dimmest object I have looked at thus far as a newcomer to the hobby. I attempted to take the best photographs as I could using my iPhone 11 Pro fixed to an Orion SteadyPix smartphone telescope adapter. I understand that these are probably horrendous compared to the astrophotographers out there! I will probably get better at it as time goes by. The main lesson learned was to attach my phone before it gets dark next time. Also, has anyone seen the Space X Starlink "satellite train"? I have never seen it until yesterday evening and it was utterly terrifying during the first moments until I realized what it was. We truly did get lucky as it is going to rain more this week, but I wish you clear skies out there so you can get back to stargazing! Joseph.

Chris, Welcome to SGL! I am a new member as well. My wife and I are admittedly "pandemic astronomers", but the good news is that the hobby stuck and that was largely due to great resources such as SGL and that is why I eventually became a member. I understand that we are not supposed to show favoritism, and I will refrain from mentioning other sites, but SGL seems to be the most up-to-date in all aspects and more intuitive to use. Plus, I like the international aspect of it, as there are lots of knowledgeable people here literally the world over! We are in Jamestown, North Dakota. I imagine that you do not have to venture terribly far for some dark(er) skies, but I know that living in a mid-size city may warrant looking into a light pollution filter. I am not yet knowledgeable enough to recommend which one(s), but I would look into it, especially if you live within the city limits. And, yes, we cannot wait for spring as well! We have an Apertura AD8, Celestron C90, and a Zhumell Z114 to meet our needs for now and to allow for versality and are eager to set them up! Good luck and happy stargazing!

Welcome, Mike! That amount of aperture should definitely beat the lights over there from Columbus. We lived in Toledo for a while and that part of Ohio is absolutely beautiful. We spent an afternoon at the Shamrock Winery in nearby Waldo back in 2019. I hope to get back east someday, as Ohio really felt like "the heart of it all", as they say, a true microcosm of the rest of the country. We are out here in North Dakota and while we have clear skies, it is far from "civilization"! I hope those skies get cleared up for you soon!

Thank you all for the warm welcome! Greymouser, you totally called it! Through a little more research and by me not wanting to waste the opportunity of these skies, I now have an Apertura AD8 (203mm) Newtonian coming by the end of the week, hopefully! I will have to post a picture when it is all set up. I have aperture fever and a literal one as I unfortunately contracted COVID-19 last week out here in “North Dakovid”.

Congratulations on the retirement! We are down here in North Dakota and I am a new member as well, so welcome! I have visited BC, but I need to visit Alberta... it looks gorgeous! I know what you mean with these temperatures, it is a shame to have such crystal clear nights with such cold, biting winds, but it still is nice to poke our heads out of the car for whatever amount of time we can bear it and take a peek at the sky. Hopefully spring comes soon for us!

Hello all, my name is Joseph Cooper and my wife Katherine and I are new to the amateur astronomy hobby. Admittedly, we are "pandemic astronomers". We, along with our two cats, Chancellor and Duke, are currently living in Jamestown, North Dakota as I am a federal government soil scientist with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. My wife is a distance student with the University of North Dakota underway on her MA in Counseling after recently earning a BA in Psychology and a BS in Family and Human Development, simultaneously. I apologize for my username, but I hope that any fellow soil scientists appreciate the blend of astronomy and soil taxonomy! We are originally from the Seattle-Tacoma region, specifically Kitsap County across the Puget Sound. With the light from the city and the rainy weather, it was not until I enlisted into the US Army as a field artilleryman that I saw unadulterated views of the night sky in Colorado, and, of course, later in Iraq and Afghanistan when the desert haze was absent. After my military service, I used my veteran's educational benefits to earn a BS in Environmental Science and an MS in Agricultural and Life Sciences. I also have a Graduate Certificate in Horticultural Science. Besides Colorado Springs, Colorado, we have also lived in: Madison, Wisconsin; Fresno, California; Toledo, Ohio; and Aberdeen, South Dakota. It was the visit from Comet Neowise in 2020 while in South Dakota that we realized that we were wasting these pristine skies of the Northern Great Plains. The clear skies at night here are just fine for the naked eye, but our curiosity has gotten the best of us. Now that we are just up the road in North Dakota, we have prepared for skygazing in 2022. 2021 was a little too busy for us with yet another move, but we will be ready this time! In this post is a picture of a spot that we are prospecting for when the weather gets warmer, Beaver Lake State Park, in Logan County, North Dakota, up on the Coteau. You can see that it is a 1 on the Bortle scale. Our nearby go-to spot by the Jamestown Reservoir is on the border of a 7 and an 8. It was here that we saw the Aurora Borealis for our first time when it suddenly came alive in early October, 2021. We only had our eyes then, but it was enough. Many North Dakotans told us that they had not seen them come out like that for many, many years, so we are very fortunate and grateful. Indeed, the cold weather atmospheric optical phenomena here alone are enough to keep us entertained until it gets warmer. We have seen parhelia, or "sun dogs" as well as light pillars. As we are beginners, our telescope equipment comprises only a Celestron C90 Maksutov-Cassegrain and a Zhumell Z114 Newtonian (Dobsonian). We have tested these out and although the apertures are smaller than preferred, I believe that we can get away with it due to the non-light polluted skies. We can just make out the Cassini Division with the C90! We even have a pair of Zhumell astronomy binoculars, and it is truly astonishing what we can see just with those alone. I understand that there is some resistance to eyepiece and filter kits and that it is highly recommended to only buy what you need, but after some research, I purchased kits from both Apertura and Celestron, with Plössl eyepieces and planetary filters. We also have an Orion 7–21mm zoom eyepiece. We also have a Zhumell O-III filter to hopefully bring out the nebulae a little bit more. Amusingly enough, I made the mistake of purchasing an Explore One Aurora II telescope (114mm Newtonian) from an online retailer without learning about the difference between parabolic and spheroid primary mirrors first. Regardless, the telescope arrived damaged. Before I was able to drop off the telescope at the local parcel service for a return, it’s replacement arrived, but it was also in rough shape. However, I cancelled the return because I learned that the Zhumell Z114, while its focuser feels somewhat cheap, has a reputable parabolic primary mirror that is easy to collimate. I was able to receive a refund from the retailer for the former telescope(s) and simply kept the alt-azimuth mount and tripod units which are not that bad. Thus, our Zhumell Z114 telescope can come off of its Dobsonian mount and be put on a decent alt-azimuth mount and tripod with the Explore One Aurora II's mounting rings. I could not be happier as a beginner, as my wife and I can have both telescopes mounted and enjoy either the same or separate views. I have included a picture of our stargazing gear, minus the accessories. At this time, we have a Bresser dedicated astronomy camera en route and I hope to use the C90 for lunar and planetary pictures and the Z114 for deep sky pictures, at least the Orion Nebula and other brighter deep sky objects. We hope to make friends with folks on this platform far and wide, but hopefully with any fellow North Dakotans. People in these rural areas, contrary to popular belief, are as busy or busier than people in the urban areas, and I would certainly know as I was a grain inspector for the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service before finally getting into the Natural Resources Conservation Service. I have been introduced to walleye fishing since we moved out here. I went salmon and trout fishing with my father several times when I was younger at home in the Pacific Northwest, but fishing in the "Prairie Pothole Region" is just as rewarding. There is still plenty to do out here, including finding small vineyards and wineries, as I am a viticulture enthusiast. My wife became the best "pandemic baker", and I must say it is not bad being her test subject, as you may have noticed from our pictures! We are happy though and that is what counts. I succumbed to watching the Great British Bake Off with her and I found it rather wholesome, as we Americans tend to ruin shows with too much competition and manufactured drama. We also have fun going on rural drives and capturing pictures of the "ghosts" of the prairies, as there are many homesteads, farmsteads, and old grain elevators still standing. Despite Western Washington being an objectively desirable area, we really miss the so-called Rust Belt, and we use that term affectionately. Toledo, Ohio was a very interesting city, and it had many amenities and proximity to the Mid-Atlantic Region and the rest of the Great Lakes Region. It was truly affordable for a couple who are in their early thirties in this day in age. Ohio has a special place in our hearts, and we hope to eventually return there in the future. Of course, we will need to have much bigger apertures on our telescopes! As you can see, we are obviously not from the Midwest, otherwise this would have been a much shorter and humbler introduction, but I wanted to ensure that we made ourselves known since we are in the "middle of nowhere". Thank you!