jjohnson3803

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.

Amazing. The forum *does* need a "Wow!" emoji.

Absolutely. I was very, very close to joining the stampede, but held back for some reason. I think it's probably a fine device for what it does, but what exactly does it do, given my location, lack of enthusiasm for post-processing, and so on.

I'm in a B7-8 or thereabouts and I'll second the comment on doubles. I used to think of them as somewhat boring until rather recently, but there's something quite satisfying when I split a close pair. Enjoy!

Spectacular! Sigma Orionis is one of my favorite visual targets.

Beast! Beast! Beast! Beast! 😃

This is about 12-in long with dewshield retracted and weighs around 5 pounds and I believe was designed more for photography although I use mine for visual: 72ED It's a decent little portable scope and I'd be quite surprised if it's not sold under different brand names in the UK / Europe. Couple it with a lightweight mount and carbon fiber tripod and it's airliner friendly. (I use a ScopeTech Zero and Innorel RT90C tripod.) Just one possible option.

I'm a confirmed refractor fan so I am biased, but a 127mm triplet should show you some very nice views. Visual won't ever be able to match what you can do with long exposures, stackers, etc., but it's very relaxing compared to futzing with uncooperative technology.

I had a sunken patio at my former house, but it never flooded. I figured they either put in a bunch of drain tiles when it was built or maybe the thing was poured over a meter or so of gravel.

It can help if you have an indoor hobby to spend time on until the clouds move out. I've decided to dig my HO trains out of storage - it's been cloudy here since before Christmas...

Binos are light, portable, and (can be) relatively cheap. But, as mentioned, they can be hard to hold steady and it can be difficult to view objects high in the sky without lying on your back. Some people do use filters in them, but you need binos that accept filters or you'd have to kludge up some filter holders or something. Although I have several small to medium refractors, I've been surprised at how well a 50mm finder scope works on a lightweight photo tripod. The finder I use for casual observing has a helical focuser and can accept different eyepieces, so I can change the magnification when I choose. Plus it's f5, so it's short and super easy to pack for travel. I'm thinking of maybe trying this one just to see what it can do: 60mm RACI And it can always be used as a finder if it doesn't work out as a "real" scope. Just another option you might want to consider. Conventional wisdom says the best tool to deal with light pollution is a tank of gasoline / petrol to drive to darker skies. If you do try EAA, the Seestar 50 has been getting very good reviews and it's relatively inexpensive.

I waffle. I live in bad LP, so a S* could certainly reveal objects (like most galaxies) that I have no hope of seeing from home. OTOH, while the pics straight from the system look ok, it seems many people post-process their images to get "decent" images. Do I want to mess with that? Not sure. I do need an indoor hobby though to occupy me while I sit under the winter cloud deck here.

Clouds. Again. 😒

Looks like it's worth exploring. 👍