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Hello! I'm Star Slinger!

Star Slinger

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Star Slinger

Star Slinger

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Hello!

I finally have the time to sit down and write this. A little about myself: My name's Jess and I'm a space fanatic from an artsy little town called Moscow, Idaho. I always grew up loving astronomy but never felt strong enough in my math abilities to pursue it in college...SO I graduated with an Art Ed degree instead, lol! I am an artist...but my love of astronomy never went away. And in fact it grew stronger and even became the subject of most of my art. In 2012 I finally bought my first telescope. An Orion Skyquest XT6 dobby reflector...my little light hog. I began to hang out with our local astronomy club, The Palouse Astronomical Society and attend their star parties and meetings. I ended up getting a job as a presenter at the Washington State University Planetarium here in Pullman, Washington where I give one show of my own design 2x/month. It's been a BLAST so far and has fulfilled a part of my life I never thought I'd have.

Through working at the planetarium...I feel cool like Jack Horkheimer (the original star slinger) hence my name, lol. I began to seriously dabble in astropohotography and of course the obsessions that comes with that...some of you may know what I'm talking about! I went to this amazing star party over the summer called the Table Mountain Star Party in Oroville, Washington where I finally bought my first tracking scope. It's a 4.5" Explore Scientific refractor with a German EQ CG-5 GoTo mount.

I've done real well with my Dobsonian over the years but this new telescope is a completely different experience for me. I want to be able to swing it around and can't. I feel like I have to think about things in a completely different way when I go out for a night of imaging and observing. I have yet to practice my polar aligning but the first time I tried it was awful. Right now the motor's RA is incredibly sticky and makes awful crunching/squealing noises, especially when cold. We greased the **** out of it so I hope that has helped (have yet to have a clear night to find out!). I will admit that I'm frustrated with the purchase of this telescope but would like to try to learn how to properly use it...and more importantly...image with it. I feel like if I just stick with it I'll get used to it.

Aaanyways...I decided to join the SGL in order to help me better understand this telescope and to learn how to get some better images. And maybe even get some help rectifying this sticky mount issue I'm having. OH! And also to make friends with some of you fine people. :)

-Jess aka Star Slinger

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Star Slinger

Star Slinger

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Thanks for the suggestion, mayhap it could be...I'll have to look into it. The guy I bought it from (who I actually know from my local astronomy club) told me that the RA got sticky occasionally. When we use it indoors it seems fine, but when we bring it outdoors...mannn...it's an awful noise lol. It was so bad the last time I used it I gave up trying to align it. It will get to a certain point then not want to go any further making it impossible to point to scope at anything. I hope I can just grease it or tweak it and it will be fine...but something tells me the entire motor is *rubbish* and I'll just have to find another goto mount. :*(

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