Stella Della Update

One of our trio is headed up to Onas to take his chances in the rain tonight. Hopefully he'll stay dry. An updated forecast says clearer skies tomorrow night so I'm going over to pick my buddy up to meet up with our other guy at the camp. We're leaving in the morning tomorrow and will spend the day at camp hoping it will be clear! Hopefully it won't be a complete wash.

Sixth Annual BMAA Stella Della XXII Weekend

This is year six for my astro-weekend crew and year XXII for the BMAA's Stella Della weekend. It takes place in the dark skies of Ottsville, PA and lasts from today through Sunday morning.

Once we missed a Friday night due to rain, and once Saturday night for bad weather. This is the first year we're missing both days due to crummy rain.

All this and Mark and I have new telescopes we're looking forward to using!

Old Scope is BACK!

This post is about 1.5 months late, but thanks to the generosity of my old boss from Universal Space Network, I have my first big 8-inch Meade MTS-SN8 telescope back. I bought this scope when I was about 15 and when I asked recently, my boss said I could have it back for free!

Check it out at http://meade.outerblogs.com

Shark Fin Soup

Illegal fisherman are taking 70,000,000 shark fins per year killing that many sharks. This is decimating the entire shark population in the oceans which account for an entire ecosystem. If you're eating anywhere in the world and you see shark fin soup on the menu, please don't eat at that restaurant. If we don't buy it, they won't make it!

Big 5.25-inch mod

I'm modding my beautiful 5.25-inch scope I built last year. I got the idea from the August Astronomy edition. I need to shed some serious weight to get the mount to work right so I'm going to make the scope tube out of big coffee cans. That's got to drop about 85% of the weight or so. Then the mount won't twist under the stress of the scope weight!

Will keep you posted with pics.

Binos are the sh%t!

If you want a quick and easy night out with the stars and don't want to lug your scope out, take a pair of binos, a chart (if you need it), and your favorite outside lounge chair. The wide field is great for bigger stuff which is what bino viewing is great for. Plus when you're done there isn't much clean up.