Adventures with the night sky…
Well, you knew I would do it, as soon as I had any inkling that the night sky might possibly be clear enough to see anything.
I went out in my back yard with Delaney and the telescope tonight. Here’s a quick question and answer session:
Did I manage to get the telescope auto tracking and doing that cool GOTO thing?
No, I didn’t. My current theory is that I did not charge my batteries up enough, and that was causing a little Autostar weirdness.
Did I manage to see anything?
Yep, I found Saturn all on my own. no electronics, no computers, no assistance. I just happened to know where it was.
Are you sure it was Saturn?
Well, it was 20x bigger than anything else in the general area, and it had these amazing rings around it, so yes, I’m pretty sure.
You could see the rings?
Yep, and I could even pretty clearly see the Cassini Division in the ring system itself.
Did you see anything else?
Uh, no. Saturn kept me pretty entranced.
How big was it?
I would say maybe 1/20th of the field of view was Saturn. That was with my lowest power eyepiece. I did attach a 2x Barlow up to the eyepiece at one point, and surprise, surprise… Saturn was twice as big, although still quite clear.
Why didn’t you try a higher power eyepiece?
I did try. Without any tracking assistance, and realizing in the field (or the basketball court, as the case may be) how poorly I had aligned my viewfinder, I did not have any success finding anything with a higher power eyepiece. Although Saturn was PLENTY bright to attempt such a thing as soon as I have my scope better aligned.
Did you take any pictures?
No, I didn’t. I told you I was going to just look at first.
How was the seeing?
Well, Frisco is awfully light polluted, several neighbors had porch lights on, and I was still amazed at what I could see… so, if it gets better if I go someplace dark, then all the better.
What accessory did you already decide that you need?
You knew I would come up with something, didn’t you? An auto-focuser. Every time I touched the focuser, the image jumped around like a junebug on speed. And the focuser is not in a very convenient location. And a chair. I was just on my knees in the middle of the basketball court, and it was VERY uncomfortable (or else I would still be out there).
Did Delaney like it?
No, actually, I don’t think she did. I didn’t let her look.
How can I see all this cool stuff?
Just ask. Leave a comment. Heck, most of you who read this have my phone number. The only thing cooler than looking at this stuff would be watching someone else’s face when they see it.
