Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Despite the clouds tonight I managed to watch the ISS pass over just now, it was so bright that I could easily see it through the thin clouds to my West. Jupiter was beaming away to the South but clouds are rolling in, pity that I didn't take my monocular out to see the ISS, might have seen the shuttle.

Another pass is due tomorrow night so will hopefully catch the shuttle then!

later
Mitch

6 comments:

  1. Mitch,

    I enjoy your postings. I encountered them when looking for examples of folks who had a Meade ETX-80 -- a telescope I was considering last spring and now own. I was looking for a small, relatively light (grab-and-go) telescope that I could take along on camping trips. So far I've used it only from our back deck, but with great success.

    Like you, I am exploring the skies again after a number of years away from Astronomy. My rekindled interest is motivated by moving to Boise, Idaho and the remarkable skies of the high desert of the Northwest US.

    I too looked at the *very bright* ISS passing overhead several nights ago -- also naked eye. I agree that having some magnification would have almost certainly revealed the shuttle.

    Good luck taking your class! I hope you continue to contribute to your blog.

    Best Regards,

    Jeff

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  2. Hi Jeff,

    Sounds like your skies are much better than mine!

    I was disappointed with the Meade and decided that I needed to spend more to get the quality that I wanted.

    Interestingly though after I bought the Skywatcher I decided to try the Skywatcher EP's with the Meade, guess what? The view was tons better with the new eyepieces!

    I would have liked to have kept the Meade and would have thrown their EP's but I didn't have the room to keep 2 scopes.

    There's a moral here I think, if you're disappointed with the quality take it back because you may well have a dud!

    My problem was that I bought the Meade mail order rather than from a proper Astro shop. The guy at the shop where I bought the Skywatcher was surprised that I'd been disappointed with the Meade.

    Anyway I passed the Astronomy class and once I've got some house remodelling done I plan to do some more.

    cheers
    Mitch

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  3. Mitch,

    Remodeling... me too. To paraphrase our former president: I feel your pain!

    Your comments about the eyepieces on the ETX-80 are interesting. I have a very nice pair of eyepieces I purchased a number of years ago. I quickly abandoned the eyepieces that came with the ETX-80 after trying my older eyepieces. A striking improvement.

    I've spent the last several weeks exploring some of the summer-time Messier objects. The ETX-80 does justice to M31, for example.

    I eventually hope to rescue some of my remodeling money to get a modest digital imager. It would be fun to add time exposure to some of the things I observe.

    Enjoy your fall skies. You have a six hour advantage -- let me know if the universe ends! :-)

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  4. Hello Mitch!
    I found your site and really loved it. Would you like us to be link partners? My website is astronomy-page.com

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  5. Hi Clement,

    I'm glad you like the blog, I hope to get around to some observing again soon!

    I've added a link to your site, nice one btw.

    cheers
    Mitch

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  6. I've added yours too on the Links Page

    Thanks, clear skies,
    Clement

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