Astronomy bleh

[johnridley]

I took my 15" dob to Berzerker, so of course it was overcast the whole weekend.
And while I can't complain too much about a summer where it never got truly uncomfortably warm, August through October is typically a great time to get the scope out as the nights get longer and the bugs get less numerous. But Clear Sky Clock continues to read lousy transparency and seeing, even on days when it's not totally clouded out. I haven't had the scope out more than once in the last year, and it's kind of a shame to leave a nice instrument like that gathering dust.

Maybe I need to switch to asteroids instead of galaxies; been thinking about that anyway. Asteroids I could see through bad seeing.

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Just go for whatever conditions allow. Even the moon, if that's the best view available.

K.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been thinking about getting into lunar observing. I'd have to make an aperture mask for my scope, looking at the moon with it, even with an 80% grey filter in place, is too bright.

Also, just looking at stuff because it's pretty doesn't last very long for me. Sure, I can spend an hour or two just cruising the moon, but it's nice to have a goal too. There are things on the moon that are hard to find and some that are only visible for a specific hour or two every month as the shadows fall properly, those would be cool to observe.

There are a couple of very good lunar observing books that have been hard to find for years and are back in print right now; I should probably pick them up.