Hello local list,
I guess I've only just got around to discovering
this list! I've been using the photos section for a while without communicating,
apologies. I've posted many shots of Mars (new webcam toy) like a lot of other
people with some animations which don't seem to be that common yet. I've
also snapped Uranus and a few frames of the moon (just for
calibration).
Got back into observing last year after a change in
job, country, and a baby all happening at the same time got me out of it 6 or 7
years ago. Got a Meade GOTO to learn the northern sky quick. Have been
bitten by the webcam/image processing bug on planets this year which has cut
into my real observing time on everything. I've only had time to take the scope
to a dark sky site once, Boulder UT a few months ago - wonderful place! The
scopes a winner but I will admit to be surprised at how sensitive it seems to
seeing conditions, the 38% central obstruction gives it a pretty bright set of
diffraction rings so I guess that's why.
Being somewhat of a planet lover, I could not
resist getting a few TMB Super Mono occulars (10 and 8mm) - they are due to
arrive this Friday so expect bad weather. I'm looking forward to comparing
them with my Radians of the same FL along with the UO's and TV plossls I have
which are all great on planets but do seem to suffer a little with ghosting
- recently sold my two RKE's because of that reason, they were terrible for
ghosting (and also to help fund the recent purchase!). The Radians are my winter
high power ep's as fogging is easier to manage with them. Anyway, I'll let the
list know what I find. My personal challenge on the planets is to try and match
or beat the detail captured by my webcam with a sketch, pointless I know
but I find it fun - I've come close with the UO's this summer on Mars - I've
posted some sketches if your interested.
I read the posts on star system observing with
interest - I was thinking of taking on a long term project of observing a select
group of binaries and plotting long term co-ords, again just for fun. I get a
kick out of getting tight trends from naturally occurring data.
Anyway, my first of probably
many ramblings has been posted!
Cheers
David