Andromeda Observatory

This past Saturday evening was the Saturn Spectacular observing event with the Rockland Astronomy Club at Anthony Wayne State Park, NY.  Lots of high clouds in the sky made for poor seeing but it was good to see all the people that turned out.  A personal highlight was two of my good friends who came up with me to view Saturn loved it.  It was the first time they had ever really experienced amateur astronomy, I know at least one is hooked a bit.  We observed Saturn with my 5″ refractor.  I broke out my binoviewer that night to get some 3d views.  I have to play with it to fine tune it, its been about a year since I last used it.  One other thing that I need to do is upgrade the focuser on the meade AR5.  The stock focuser simply sucks, its not smooth, plastic, and just aweful.  I am thinking about a moonlite or the scopestuff.com focuser.  One is $100 more than the other, so its something I have to think about.

Besides Saturn, we looked at M13, M51, M81, M82, and M57.  Its amazing how 4 hours of being out there and we only looked at a half dozen objects.  I originally set up the AT80 with the AR5, but the balance was off.

My only complaint for the night was parents who allow their kids to run all over the place.  I know they are only kids, but there are multiple thousands of dollars worth of equipment around, not a good place for kids to be “kids.”   It was a fun night, despite the seeing conditions.  I am looking forward to doing more with the Rockland Astronomy Club.

Earlier in the day I purchased this battery pack from walmart.  It was only $42.00 and works great.  Its 12v, 7AH.

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