khalexa

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone! @Mark at Beaufort, I'm glad your son is safe. That's horrible what happened to the observatory, though--I've hiked just south of Livermore in the past, and it's sobering to see that a huge swath of that land has been burnt. For anyone that's interested, it looks like Tri-Valley is hosting a fundraiser to rebuild their observatory: https://www.trivalleystargazers.org/

Thanks for the welcome John 😀 I'm glad that the bushfires are over. As bad as the wildfires here seem to be, they're nothing compared to the scale of what you've had to deal with. CA burnt area: 1.40 million hectares. AU burnt area: 18.7 million hectares. Yikes! Can't thank these firefighters enough, especially the ones risking life and limb in another country

Hi everyone, hope you're all doing well! I've been lurking on this site for years but decided to make an account on a whim. I've been in love with astronomy for as long as I can remember and am still using the Orion 114mm mini-dob that my parents gave me for Christmas '06. I'm looking forward to chatting with you all and (hopefully) showing my progress for a Serrurier truss newt build. Clear skies & stay safe out there Speaking of clear skies, the thick layer of wildfire smoke finally cleared out of my city! Woop woop —Alexa