The Year in Capsule ReviewPosted By Dave Mitsky |
It was by no means a good year weatherwise in south central Pennsylvania (the 2005 Martian apparition was particularly disappointing) but I was able nevertheless to manage a number of regional dark sky site trips and a bit of imaging with my Canon Digital Rebel DSLR from the ASH Naylor Observatory.
The highpoint of the year, astronomically speaking, was most definitely using a 30-inch Tectron under the seventh magnitude skies at New Mexico Skies to log hundreds of objects including some rather interesting ones that I hadn't seen before such as the Double Quasar, the Elephant Trunk Nebula, Hind's Variable Nebula (a really tough hombre), IC 5148 in Grus, and Pease 1 in M15. Day trips to the White Sands Missile Range Museum, the Apache Point Observatory, the National Solar Observatory at Sunspot, and the New Mexico Museum of Space History were thoroughly enjoyable too, as was observing with a Tele Vue 140, a 152mm Astro-Physics Starfire, and a 20-inch Obsession at Steve Pastor's home observatory.
The Black Forest Star Party was a second highlight. I also enjoyed attending the 2005 Stellafane convention (we actually had two clear nights for a change) and, although the weather was not very cooperative, the Green Bank Star Quest was a lot of fun as well. The 2005 NEAF was another good time event.
I was able to do a fair amount of white light and H-alpha solar observing throughout the year.
As far as new gear is concerned, the purchase of a Denkmeier Standard binoviewer (along with a second 30mm Celestron Ultima and a second 19mm Tele Vue Panoptic) and a Denkmeier Power X Switch star diagonal lightened my wallet considerably.
Dave Mitsky
The highpoint of the year, astronomically speaking, was most definitely using a 30-inch Tectron under the seventh magnitude skies at New Mexico Skies to log hundreds of objects including some rather interesting ones that I hadn't seen before such as the Double Quasar, the Elephant Trunk Nebula, Hind's Variable Nebula (a really tough hombre), IC 5148 in Grus, and Pease 1 in M15. Day trips to the White Sands Missile Range Museum, the Apache Point Observatory, the National Solar Observatory at Sunspot, and the New Mexico Museum of Space History were thoroughly enjoyable too, as was observing with a Tele Vue 140, a 152mm Astro-Physics Starfire, and a 20-inch Obsession at Steve Pastor's home observatory.
The Black Forest Star Party was a second highlight. I also enjoyed attending the 2005 Stellafane convention (we actually had two clear nights for a change) and, although the weather was not very cooperative, the Green Bank Star Quest was a lot of fun as well. The 2005 NEAF was another good time event.
I was able to do a fair amount of white light and H-alpha solar observing throughout the year.
As far as new gear is concerned, the purchase of a Denkmeier Standard binoviewer (along with a second 30mm Celestron Ultima and a second 19mm Tele Vue Panoptic) and a Denkmeier Power X Switch star diagonal lightened my wallet considerably.
Dave Mitsky
