Friday, September 11, 2009

Stress Relief: Just me and the Pronto

I haven't been myself lately, and I don't mean that I ceased making fun of the Mars believers or poking fun at other strange and wonderful things, just not myself.

Just stressed...so I thought, even though I am out later than normal for observing, the Pronto's ultra-fast set up on the AZ3 mount will soothe things over a bit. And it did.

Jupiter was really steady tonight and I managed to see Io "wink back in" which was really neat. 9mm Nagler with a 2X Barlow gives 106X in the Pronto, plenty of power tonight to see the GRS hollow but I noticed a few other "brown barges" in the cloud belts. Again, very steady and impressive for such a diminitive aperture. But again, up in less than five minutes...who can beat that?

Had an unusual moment of not being able to find the Double Cluster, but blamed it on positioning and boosted up the tripod leg height a bit.

Also another note, seems I have blown a leg on the AZ3. Thinking I have snapped the plasticky part at the top of the aluminum leg. Oh well, easy to replace.

M:) Keep smiling!

2 comments:

  1. Hey Marc you are right on target here. It is amazing what a few photons of light will do. I am glad we have this in our lives - astronomy meets many needs! Your little scope is a gem to be sure!

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  2. I agree. Nothing like getting out under the night sky after a stressful day. Works for me too. That Pronto is a nice little scope. We definitely need more clear nights here in the east though.

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