Finally back in action!

[Coralkong]

So, last night I finally got around to digging out the telescope and assembling it at the new house.

It wasn't a very good night for observing, and I was pretty buzzed, truth be told.

HOWEVER (and this is cool):

It was just getting dark and there weren't a ton of stars out. There was a monster cloud system off to my right, and lightning kept flickering and lighting up the sky. I picked out what I thought was Mars out towards the SW horizon. Low and relatively faint in the sky.

When I locked onto it with the telescope.....it was Saturn!

So......pretty poor on my part, but still cool, and I thought it was neat that the first thing I looked at in the scope at the new house turned out to be Saturn.

I just used a 32mm lens, but it was plain as day. Couldn't see the Cassini Division with that lens, but it was just nice to get out there and find out the scope was still collimated. When I pulled the scope out of it's carrying case, the Telrad Viewfinder was hanging off of where it was taped to the side of the scope. I thought it was going to be a nightmare, but NOPE. Stuck it back down and it worked like a champ!

Back in action!

Soooooo cooool.

 

[tiger roach]

Nice. Congrats on getting back on line.

Nothing else up there has quite the "wow" factor that Saturn does.

It was the first *real* object I ever saw in a telescope, when I got a cheap refractor for Christmas in 1971. I ran in to tell my parents I was looking at Saturn, and they didn't believe me until I got them to come look.

 

[Chihlidog]

Saturn is and likely always will be my favorite object to put a scope on. Every time I see it in the sky on a clear night, I end up pulling out my scope just because.

 

[DFB]

Jupiter is my favorite.
When I bought my first scope my daughter said " point it at that one Dad".
It was Jupiter with moons in view.