Yesterday it snowed all day. Cold, damp; just two days before that I saw quite a few people on motorcycles. Amazing how it can so suddenly change.
Going to work this morning I first had to scrape the ice off the windows on the truck. By noon I was going through huge puddles. I got in at 1:30, shoveled the backyard from the wet snow, and after dinner stepped outside. Damp but somewhat clear.
I took out my orange C80, popped in a KK 25mm and had a look. The Moon was up at about a waxing quarter, and very "wavery" through the eyepiece. I turned my attention to the Pleiades, and found that view to be better even though they were lower on the horizon.
Well, I'm going to try something here. I have a 3" (76mm) newt that I made from a Skywatcher that had an oxidized primary; I swapped it all out with the primary and secondary mirror from a Tasco 3T. I cut down the tube so it would come to focus with my
I bought the Tasco 3T for $40 and it had the worst mount ever, but very good mirrors.
I was going to make it into a
That's when I decided to see what I could make with the mirrors from the Tasco and the Skywatcher tube. Plus some mounting/welding to make a bracket to mount to my CG4.
BTW, the Tasco and the Towa are identical scopes. The Tasco is just a rebranded version of the original manufacturer, Towa. And both the primary mirrors now have collimation circles, and at
I took a few pics of the Moon tonight through the Skywatcher/Tasco; a stack of 15 shots at ISO 800 and 1/400th sec exposure.
Then I focused as best I could on the Pleiades. Kind of soupy on the horizon whereas the Moon was clear overhead. I used the
I have a finderscope on a homemade mount bolted to where the
I took 15 exposures ranging from 5 to 15 seconds. Surprisingly, this one at 13 seconds was the best of the bunch. Still some trailing, but it does hold promise. I might have some luck with better skies, a more awake me, more focus...
I was also noticing today on spaceweather.com that the Sun now has three active spots. Time to start bringing my white light solar rig with me in the truck
Alrighty, thanks for reading. This has got to be the most bland post ever; I just feel like I'm trying to make the most out of the least conditions and coming up totally flat
You all have a good night/day, and all my best to you!