Some of my most memorable events are viewing Saturn's rings. On two occasions I have seen the spokes, and an several more I have seen Enke's division. Many of these observations were with my 12.5" dob. Other memorable 12.5" observations include Jupiter getting smacked by comet Shumaker Levy at Little Mountain. The 22" showed me many fantastic views of the heavens. Many images are etched in my mind from that beast. Fields wide veiws of M17 and M82, galaxy clusters, M22, Omega Centauri, etc.Yes, Joan, even the real M92! John Dobson opened up the cosmos for me, and many others with the advent of large aperture amateur scopes. One night I was returning from a school star party in Escalante. (Part of the Iomega program.) As I crossed the mouth of Spring Canyon in Nephi a strong crosswind blew the tube off the top of my truck. I made arrangements for temporary storage of the 24" concrete form and spider/secondary mirror in Nephi, and returned the next day to retrieve it. I had a star party scheduled in Panguitch the next Thursday evening, and I had no time to do anything but purchase a new roof rack. The old one was destroyed as it bounced down the freeway at 65 mph. I loaded up and drove to Panguitch. After assembly of the 22", I went to align the scope expecting the worst, but it was perfectly aligned! People always wonder about the durability of cardboard tubes. I tell that story and doubt disappears. However, most of my most memorable events have been meeting many folks. My first encounter with John Dobson before I started the 22", we had spianch and fried eggs at his friend's house before doing some refurb on his 24". I asked how he was able to grind mirros so fast. His response was "What takes you so long? Grinding mirrors in cave man's work - eat well, sleep well, and work like hell." That began a long relationship with him. My family still remembers visiting him at his home on Baker Street, eating figs, and being serenaded by him. My work on the Iomega Astronomy program that ultimately placed directly and indirectly around 300 telescopes in schools, and the associated people I met are very memorable. I still run into them from time to time. I bet Wayne Sumner sees them even more often. Some of these scopes were purchased through Coulter Optics. Once, when I needed rapid delivery (Coulter was not known for such.) I called and talked to the president of the company. The president mentioned that John Dobson was in his office. I asked him to say "hi" for me. John told him that he should place first priority on the scopes I ordered. I had the scopes the next week! The friends I have made through astronomy are some of my most cherished. Names are too numerous to mention individually, but let me say that over the last 47 years there are some who have been there consistently. Thanks to you. My all time favorite observation? There are too many to choose from. The above gives you an idea of the peppering through the years. I will say that my most enjoyable experience is knowing the sky. The sky belongs to me. Anytime I look up I see thousands of friends, and thousands more are unseen, but their locations known and noted frrequently. That is something many these days don't experience. ________________________________ From: Raeburn Kennard <rkennard@kmclaw.com> To: "utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, February 6, 2012 1:37 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Most memorable Astornomy viewing experience 6th Grade, Granger Elementary (where Costco is now), spring 1958. After a parent-teacher conference, our teacher, Kirk Wood, set up his home-made refractor for those of us who wanted to stay a while longer, and he showed us Jupiter with its moons. I was hooked! It took me almost 30 years before I could buy my own scope, but I stayed interested all those years, and enjoy sharing the stars with elementary kids whenever I am can. Raeburn G. Kennard _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".