Hideously belated observing report: another Messier Marathon at the Salton Sea (from April 2019)

Although you’d never know it from the complete dearth of posting from October, 2018, to last month, I neither died nor gave up stargazing. I even had some pretty cool experiences, I just didn’t summon the energy to blog about them. I’m now going to engage in some retrospective pothole-filling, starting with my 6th and […]

Finally – the Bresser Messier AR102S Comet Edition at the Salton Sea

Sometimes life is cruel. (Did I say cruel? I meant ridiculously First World cushy, where a grown man can afford nice toys and has the time to play with them and blog about it. But within the context of this grown man’s play-time blog, sometimes life is cruel.) To wit: my Bresser Messier AR102S Comet […]

Misusing a fast reflactor: moon-gazing with the Bresser AR102S Comet Edition

I was going to hold off before I posted anything on the performance of the Bresser Messier AR102S Comet Edition (which I swear I am going to start calling something else, just as soon as I think of a good nickname). That’s because I haven’t had a chance to try it out under the conditions […]

SkyScanning in Utah – and Claremont

I’ve been interested in Orion’s SkyScanner 100 tabletop Dob ever since 2012, when I got to look through the SkyScanners owned by Terry Nakazono and Doug Rennie. In particular, the evening I spent stargazing with Doug up in Oregon that October is in my short list of all-time favorite observing sessions. See that observing report […]

Observing Reports: two perfect imperfect nights at the Salton Sea

The Saturday before last, November 14, I was at the Salton Sea with Terry Nakazono. Terry was rolling with a new scope – a Meade Polaris 114. It’s an f/8.8 reflector – the 1000mm focal length makes it a bit longer than the 900mm, f/7.9 Orion XT4.5 (which London has). UPDATE Nov. 29: Terry writes, […]

Sketching NGC 6633

As long-time readers will recall, I have been bully on the idea of sketching DSOs for a long time. I have been inspired by the careful observations and sketches of Doug Rennie and Terry Nakazono in particular. So I made up a blank observing form (which is now up on the sidebar here), printed out […]

Observing Report: PVAA star party on Mount Baldy

Last Saturday a bunch of us from the Pomona Valley Amateur Astronomers, plus a few folks from neighboring clubs, got together at Cow Canyon Saddle on Mount Baldy for the monthly PVAA star party. Here’s a panorama of the whole group while we were setting up before sunset. It’s worth clicking on to scan around the […]

Observing Report: All-Arizona Star Party 2014

  If it’s late October or early November, it must be time for the All-Arizona Star Party. London and I headed out for it this past Saturday, Oct. 25. As in 2012, we were joined by the indefatigable Terry Nakazono. Here Terry and London pose for the obligatory “look how much crap we crammed into […]

Ken Fulton on refractors

If I’m succumbing to refractoritis, I’ve at least had some help getting there. David DeLano and Terry Nakazono have let me look through their big beautiful lens-based scopes. Darrell Spencer posted about the crisp views through his huge refractors on CN. And Doug Rennie sent me this back in August. It’s an excerpt from Ken […]

Big fish with light tackle

From the first time I read it, I have had a strange fascination with Jay Reynolds Freeman’s “Refractor Red meets the Herschel 400” (available here), wherein he describes observing the legendary deep-sky list with a 55mm refractor. Freeman wrote, “Ask people who land big fish with light tackle, why I do what I do.” Lately […]