10/21/2006 - FRUITLESS OCTOBER STARGAZING
Well, tonight was yet another bust (sigh). I set up the 12" Meade Schmidt Cassegrain and prepared for a night of stargazing. Thought about hooking up the CCD and doing some imagery. But, alas, I just had fun browsing the Messier catalogue and not looking at much. We live on acreage that is surrounded to all sides by towering firs. That leaves a very narrow window of opportunity. The plane of the ecliptic is totally obscured, as are the horizons to each side, almost to zenith to the north and north-east. Forget looking south - I can occasionally spot a planet or the moon through the trees, but that's not for telescope viewing.
I walked into the kitchen, frustrated. Looking at my wife, I said: "I was trying to look at Uranus but it was behind the trees."
"As well it should be," she quipped...
In all seriousness, it was a rough night. With no bright lunar or planetary objects to get a good fix and focus on, astrophotography was out of the question, though I was tracking the North American Nebula for a while. The telescope is cool - just use the remote, tell it where you want to go, and it takes you there and tracks the object as long as you like.
I ordered a high-end equatorial wedge from Meade about five months ago. It hasn't shown up yet, but they did warn me that it can take some time.
Doesn't matter anyway, at this point. I need to find some good dark, clear land to stargaze from. But then I'm packing that telescope around and freezing my butt off in the middle of some farmer's field. There's got to be a better way.
I'll keep trying. I did get some good moon and Jupiter shots several years ago with the Celestron 8. So I know it can be done. But it wasn't done here - it was done where I used to live. The viewing challenges there were similar, but not so extreme.
Lots of fun, though. Tracked a satellite for a while and listened to The Jayhawks on my Ipod. So it wasn't a TOTAL loss. :)