jjohnson3803

After a month (or more) of garbage weather, I was able to spend about an hour observing the moon today. 😀

I have a pair of surplus WWII-era US Navy 7x50s. If you can find a pair without mold, etc, I'd get them. They're a little clunky, but I think they give nicer views than my 10x50 Nikon Aculons or my 15x70 Orions. (Yes, the Orions have the aperture advantage, but also need a tripod as they're on the heavy side.) I'd wager the Opticrons mentioned above are a good choice. I have a pair of baby Opticrons and the optics are quite sharp.

It's been cloudy / rainy / foggy / snowing here since Christmas. <sigh>

Wow. Very impressive! Since I have a couple UHCs and a holder like Peter's. I'm going to have to give that a try. I am in Bortle 7-8 though, so I'm not expecting too much.

Outstanding report! I'm only about 1500 miles away, but the closest I've gotten to Flagstaff is Phoenix (also a biz trip).

Different people have different tolerances for stress and different stressors. I greatly appreciate and admire the pix that people produce, but maybe you'd enjoy yourself more if you spent some time doing manual, visual astronomy - no power supplies, cables, alignment, etc. Carry out manual alt-az mount with scope, carry out chair (if needed), plug in eyepiece and observe. I've seen more and more discussions lately started by people who want a break from the technology, either short-term or "forever". But only you can decide that.

After three weeks of garbage skies and snow (maybe closer to four weeks, I've lost count), it might clear up a bit tonight or early tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, it's also predicted to be -4°F. And the weather service said El Nino was going to keep us warmer and dryer than usual. 🤪

👍 I used to loathe the moon, but decided I might as well embrace it rather than fight it. I still don't observe when it's close to full, but it's become one of my favorite targets.

I don't know if you'd consider them to be cheap, but I really like my Vixen SLVs. Nice eye relief if anybody wears glasses. Not superwide angle. They do go on sale from time to time or you might be able to find used ones.

I have a SkyWatcher ST102 achro and an Astronomics AstroTech 72EDii (not quite an APO), so I'd say get one of each. 😉 If I had to choose between them, I'd likely keep the 72ED. I originally bought a 102ED but it was a beast compared to both the 72 and 102 achro.

If you want to go the DSLR route without a scope, there are camera trackers available.

Have a look at posts #7 and #8. Might be helpful. Travel kit

I second the suggestion(s) for a small refractor. I have an ST80 that travels well and was inexpensive enough that I won't be too upset if it ever gets lost / trashed. If I'm more willing to take care, I have a 72ED that's about 30cm long with the dew shield retracted and a little over 2kg. Both are light enough to use with a camera tripod and lightweight mount.

No. Four inches of heavy, wet snow this morning here (Chicago) to be followed by another wave of snow tonight. 😒 And that's to be followed in a day or so with windchills well below 0° F. However, it looks like it will be clear on Maunakea tonight, so there should be a livestream of sorts to watch: https://www.webcamtaxi.com/en/usa/hawaii/maunakea-subaru-telescope-cam.html

I'm pretty sure the last of the Iridiums was deorbited. I'd guess a head-on meteor. I also think there could be rare or unstudied atmospheric phenomena that pop up from time to time. A little ball of plasma (?) rolled across my living room floor once during a lightning storm, so who knows?

I couldn't find a paper copy, so I got a Kindle copy. Great book. Simpler times. I'm not that far from his hometown and I've thought about driving there sometime just to see the area. It's probably covered in asphalt and car dealerships now. 😒

Aside from a few brief clear patches, my diary tells me this is Day 26 of cloudy skies. I should have expected it as I received a new AZ-GTi mount from FLO about 27 days ago.

I've read some of his books and watched some videos, but I honestly don't think the guy is worth that much to see in person.

I'm thinking about getting a Brandon for my 72ED f6 refractor as an experiment since I've read generally positive comments about them. My most expensive EPs currently are Vixen SLVs, which I've been happy with. Worth a try or should I save my astro funds for something else? (I usually wear my glasses when observing, so LER is important to me.) Thanks!

I enjoy studying my atlases and guidebooks, but I find this site to be helpful if I want to zero in a bit on various targets. Some might find it useful: http://www.virtualcolony.com/sac/

Sorry to hear about the problems you've had. I've thought about trying EAA or AP and each time I considered it, I came back to the joy of observing with a simple scope and without any technological hoo-doo. I do admit that I'm very tempted to try a SeeStar, but I don't have the spare funds for one right now. Maybe that's a good thing.

-30°C windchill predicted for Monday here, but it finally ought to be clear! Say what you will about observing through doublepane windows, but I believe I'll do just that. 😁

My AZ-GTi arrived from FLO in mid-December and it's been cloudy since. But it does seem to work well in my living room. 🙃

It's made a big difference in the total amount of my observing time since I quit waiting for a "good" sky. Now I'll scoot outside for even a 10-minute look through a sucker hole. But yes, a very portable GnG is a must.