Posts Made By: john raymond

Mr Whiskers

Happy thanksgiving

If you saw the ad I posted this morning for my 5" f/12, I changed my mind. Sorry for the trouble. I'll never find another one in this lifetime.
John

30-Apr
Crockett Park public night. [COLOR="Red"] Forecast = rain [/COLOR] :C
6-May
ECSP [COLOR="Red"] Forecast = rain [/COLOR]
7-May
ECSP [COLOR="Red"] Forecast = rain [/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"]Going to Novac Astronomy day instead[/COLOR] clouded out anyway
http://www.novac.com/wp/outreach/astronomyday/
8-May
ECSP [COLOR="Red"] Forecast = rain [/COLOR]
9-May
Mercury Transit, Science Museum of VA. [COLOR="Red"]Clouded out !!![/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"]14-May Astronomy Day at SMV , Solar viewing success! [/COLOR]
4-Jun
outreach or personal observing at dark site [COLOR="Red"]Cloudy [/COLOR]
5-Jun
outreach or personal observing at dark site. [COLOR="Red"]Cloudy [/COLOR]
25-Jun
Powhatan State Park public night VA
2-Jul
outreach or personal observing at dark site
3-Jul
outreach or personal observing at dark site
27-Jul
YCSP
28-Jul
YCSP
29-Jul
YCSP
30-Jul
YCSP
7-Aug
outreach or personal observing at dark site
27-Aug
Crockett Park public night
28-Aug
outreach or personal observing at dark site
4-Sep
outreach or personal observing at dark site
24-Sep
outreach or personal observing at dark site
25-Sep
outreach or personal observing at dark site
26-Sep
outreach or personal observing at dark site
1-Oct
Novac Star Gaze
22-Oct
Powhatan State Park public night VA
24-Oct
SRSP
25-Oct
SRSP
26-Oct
SRSP
27-Oct
SRSP
28-Oct
SRSP
29-Oct
SRSP
20-Nov
outreach or personal observing at dark site
27-Nov
outreach or personal observing at dark site
28-Nov
outreach or personal observing at dark site
4-Dec
outreach or personal observing at dark site
25-Dec
outreach or personal observing at dark site
26-Dec
outreach or personal observing at dark site

A couple of single images with Canon M3 and 18" Teeter Dob

Handheld iPhone image , 7" F/15 scope with 21mm eyepiece , poor seeing and slightly cloudy , evening of Jan 21.

Here is a single handheld iPhone image of Plato showing the rim shadows on the floor. 3 craterlets were visible at this magnification (230x) The third craterlet was resolved as two at 400x . Unfortunately he iPhone erases a lot of detail. The mountains in Mare Imbrium are favorites of mine, Mons Pico, Piton and the rest.
Seeing wasn’t very good. We had a clear day, then clouds moved in after sunset, a little rain, then clearing again,
Scope is a New Moon Hybrid with 18” f/3.5 Fullum primary. Eyepiece: Paracorr 2 and 8mm Delos.

Last night was outreach at Twin Hickory Library just outside Richmond. There was a class indoors with several scopes setup outside. The waxing gibbous Moon was the main attraction. Good thing , as the ambient light from nearby shopping malls and athletic field washed out the sky. Many young children and curious parents attending. No one did this for me when I was a kid.

A predicted iridium flare caused a loud “Ohhhhh” from the crowd.

At the Big Meadows Star Gaze last year, someone mentioned NGC 7492 as a tough object. I failed to see it in a 7". Someone else found it in an 18". It was dim and unresolved. The fellow who mentioned it said it was plotted in a 5th mag beginners star atlas some years ago, and gave him many nights of frustration as he never saw it in his small scope.

Last week I saw it in a 12", very, very faint.

I made up for that by ending the night with NGC 247 in Cetus and 253 in Sculptor, bright and large galaxies.

Thanks
John

MASP is a lot of fun. This is my 3rd year.

The funniest thing about MASP is when the Pleiades rise above the treetops around 10-11pm. You hear shouts all over the field "The Pleaides! The Pleidaes!" and the whirr of dozens of motorized scopes slewing to the east.

John