That's pretty funny - - "Cordless". Reminds me of the nickname they gave one of the characters
in "Ghost Busters".
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Wright" <slcdmw01@No-Spam>
To: <sf-bay-tac@No-Spam>
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 3:19 PM
Subject: [TAC] Re: Backyard observing 10/09/01
> Hey! I did some backyard observing last night, too, from my house in Palo
> Alto.
>
> I go outside at 10:45 PM and look at the sky with just my eyes. My backyard
> faces east. I recognize Cassiopeia, but I can't recognize or name anything
> else (from this you can tell I haven't yet earned my Certificate for having
> Observed Every Object in the Universe) :-)
>
> Next I get binoculars. The seeing from Palo Alto is surprisingly good. There
> is this window in the sky, in the general area of Cassiopeia, where for some
> reason the light-polluted mist is rolled back, like God parting the Red Sea,
> and the view through binocs knocks my socks off.
>
> Below Cassiopeia I witness an awesome stretch of sky with stars crowded all
> over the place. What is that? I go inside and fire up SkyGlobe 3.6
> (incredible freeware assembly-language program) to find out. OK it's named
> Perseus. Look! I learn that both Cassiopeia and Perseus are thick in the
> middle of the Milky Way. Heck, I learn something new every day. I see also,
> from this software, that Saturn should be prominent.
>
> Right. So I open the shed and drag out my very best telescope (happens to be
> my only scope): an equatorially mounted Celestron 60mm refractor "Firstscope".
> Oh boy. A book tells me one of the stars in Cassiopeia is supposed to be a
> double. Skyglobe calls this star "ETA CAS". You're supposed to be able to
> split it, if you can achieve 100X magnification.
>
> The little plastic spotter is almost useless, so forget that. I sight along
> the barrel of the refractor to get it in the neighborhood of Cassiopeia, then I
> go hunting around using my Celestron 25mm "Wide View" eyepiece. Dang I have
> the best equipment, don't you think?! Each time I mention my eyepiece, a
> choir of brass horns should play fanfare ... so, 25mm Wide-View! Tat-Tata-Da!
> Yeah!
>
> Anyway. I see lots of stars but I can't be certain I've got ETA CAS. I trade
> off between quick looks through the binoculars and quick looks through the
> scope, to help sort things out. But it's difficult because the scope view is
> inverted! Maybe if I hold the binoculars upside-down ... no, that doesn't help
> ;-) OK eventually I'm 100% certain I've got ETA CAS centered in view.
>
> The scope is 900mm focal length, so my 25mm "Wide View" eyepiece (Tat-Tata-Da!)
> gives 900/25 = 36 magnification, right? Is that how you calculate it? Next I
> put in my 2X barlow. That means 72 power, right? Well, can't split it. Next
> I use my 10mm eyepiece, 90 power. I start to imagine I'm splitting it. I go
> for broke and use the 10mm with the barlow, but I just don't know. The image
> seems wobbly and vague. Maybe the magnification is beyond the seeing. Or
> maybe I just need to get my dang contact lenses to settle down. OK now I think
> I've split it. A smaller dim dot to the right of the main star in my view. Or
> maybe I'm just imagining it.
>
> My wife starts calling from the bedroom. I can hear her from out in the
> backyard. When are you coming to bed? Pretty soon dear, but I'm still kind of
> awake.
>
> I'm buzzing with this soft excited feeling, that I've been susceptible to all
> my life, that comes onto me when I'm working hands-on with fine systems or
> mechanisms or instruments. You can bet this science-excited feeling is the
> reason I wound up here in Silicon Valley, instead of staying in my native Salt
> Lake and becoming a truck driver.
>
> OK so I point the thing at Saturn, and Saturn looks fine. I mean, it looks
> really great. Stunning through my 25mm Wide-View (Tat-Tata-Da!) + barlow, and,
> like, 3D and close enough to touch through my 10mm. I can see that gap in the
> rings, you know, whatever that gap is called. But using the 10mm and barlow
> together, I see the wobbly vague effect again. Maybe those lenses are not
> meant for each other.
>
> My wife calls for me again. Says the bed's too cold and she can't heat it
> herself. It's a female metabolism thing. She uses our wife-husband
> code-nickname for me, "cordless". "Cordless!" It means she wants my
> high-metabolism, "cordless" auto-heat-generating self in bed with her, so she
> can get to sleep. OK.
>
> I did not leave the scope set up. I packed away the eyepieces, then tucked the
> scope (tripod and all) under one arm and carried it back to the shed. I'll
> observe tonight too if those clouds don't show up.
>
> Well, here's looking up your old address!
>
> Salutations from Dan Wright
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Oct 10 2001 - 16:01:50 MST