Kn4fty

Howdy and welcome to the Lounge! Rob

Great report! I really enjoyed reading it. Also I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that occasionally tries to use the wrong reference star! Hahahaha Rob

Welcome Joao!

Welcome Waruna to the forum! Plenty of brains to pick here!

Place them in a tube followed by a ruby then a light source. Attach these to sharks and take over the world.

Hahahaha your right! Blasted mind! That's what I meant! Thanks for pointing it out! I was wanting to look at 51 but trees where in the way. Guess it stuck in my mind. I'll edit. Yeah my foot hits my EQ mount too, but it's so heavy it doesn't move.

Congratulations on the new scope! Glad you did get some good views. Look forward to hearing about a good night with it. Rob

We had a beautiful clear night here in Kaintuck, so I set the ETX 70 up. I had a little trouble getting it level. My folks driveway is a gravel old school driveway with dips and humps. Took about 20 minutes to level it. Then I thought I'd try the easy alignment. It kept going to stars behind the trees. So I reset and did a 2 star alignment on Vega and Altair. My first target of the night was M13 in Hercules. Despite the Moon, that beautiful globular cluster was shining bright. It wasn't quite centered so I used the keys to center it. Then the scope moved it right back. I fought with the scope for about ten minutes until it finally stayed centered. I recorded the info for the cluster and made a sketch. The little scope wouldn't magnify enough to show individual stars, but I still enjoyed the view. One of my brothers came out for a look then went back in due to the cold. I then punched in M92 in Hercules. This globular cluster was visually smaller and needed averted vision to really reveal it. I recorded it and sketched it. Like M51, this cluster did not breakdown into individual stars. Next I punched in Luna and the scope swung to it. I threw on a lunar filter and it became a comfortable level for my eyes. The sharpness of the view was amazing. As much as I love my newt, it doesn't seem to give as sharp a view of the Moon as the little frac. I recorded the session and began to sketch the terminator. I had just finished the upper part of the view and was adding some final touches when my foot hit the tripod and I lost the view. Augh! Blasted giant foot!! I then happened to glance up and noticed heavy clouds getting ready to cover the Moon. I packed everything up and called it a night. The little ETX 70 might not be able to give the views of my 8" newt overall, but I'm enjoying it and enjoying having a scope that is easy to transport. It was a short night, but a good one. Rob

Thanks Philip. She even helped me build the new battery box for it before we took it out. We looked all over for a box for 6 AA batteries, but could only ones that held 2. We ended up buying 3 of those. So she helped me solder them together. She was my extra hands lol.

You're absolutely right. Many lose that wonderment. Yeah, I think she'll eventually be an astronomer.

We had a small break in the clouds tonight so I set up the ETX 70. My 12 year old niece was excited about getting to see something in it. I aligned it with Vega and Altair, then plugged in the Moon. My niece set her step stool down and I showed her how to focus. She looked into the EP, focused, then said WOW!! I put a different EP in and once again she said WOW!! She looked for awhile while asking questions about the moon. Next we moved the scope to Mars. It was tiny, but still she looked for awhile. I told her about some of the surface features my brother and I saw in 2003. Suddenly she yells "I can see it!" Referring to the polar cap. Then the clouds covered the planet. Quickly I moved the scope to Albireo. She initially only saw the one star. I told her how to use averted vision and then she saw the other. Unfortunately neither was showing color due to the clouds. After a minute it was too cloudy to continue. It was a quick session, but a good one. I just let her have control of the scope and she seemed to enjoy. Tomorrow night is supposed to be clear, so we'll take the scope out again tomorrow night. She wants to see the Andromeda Galaxy.

Howdy from Kentucky! Welcome to the forum! I'm into observational astronomy so can't help with AP, but there are a ton of AP folks here with a world of knowledge. You've come to the right place.

Great write up Lars! I really enjoyed the video! Rob

Sounds like a great night despite the seeing. Thanks to posting! Rob

Great report! Thanks for sharing!