Great Weekend for Stargazing
Was a really great weekend for stargazing. I didn’t do any imaging this weekend, just out looking at the sky with the family.
I received the mount and rings from ADM Accessories on Thursday so here is a couple of pics of my set up with the new AT66ED piggy backed on the C8.
The Astro-Tech 66mm ED I picked up from Astronomics is an awesome little scope. Looking forward to trying some imaging with it.
Friday night was very clear, crisp, and a bit cool. My daughter Mary Shannon and I spent several hours out looking at Jupiter, several open clusters, Andromeda, and a bunch of double stars. We really had a great time. My son Johnathan came out to look a couple of times. We also saw several “shooting stars”!
Saturday night was clear and a bit warmer. I had some trouble getting the scope aligned right to get the goto to work well. Not sure what I was doing wrong, just could not get the alignment to work. Going to say it was because it was a long day and I was pretty tired. We had a long day so we only spent about an hour and a half out.
Sunday night was very clear and warm enough that it was comfortable with just a sweatshirt. Sandy and I spent a few hours out. Jupiter was very sharp, it was very easy to see the gas bands on the planet and the 4 large moons. Andromeda was also very easy to find. We spent time looking at several other clusters and double stars. Just a great night.
Looks like the weather is going to be pretty decent for the next night or so. I hope I can get out and maybe try some imaging with the new AT66ED scope.
