Observing Jupiter Tonight
I spent a very short while observing Jupiter and four of its moons tonight. I had intended to stay up late to do some serious observing with my good telescope as well as do some astrophotography. Unfortunately, I was completely exhausted before dinnertime (and that was after a three hour nap) so I decided to make it a very short night and only view through our little telescope.
The small telescope is far easier to set up... it is far lighter... and, since I can't really do any astrophotography with this small scope, it is far less complicated with far fewer parts. I was able to fill my pockets with a few eyepieces and just grab the telescope already on its mount and head out to the backyard. It is very much a grab-and-go telescope so it is far easier to use at the last moment.
The viewing was surprisingly good tonight. I was able to easily see four of Jupiter's moons and the bands on Jupiter were clearly visible. My biggest complaint was that the focuser on this small telescope poor. That was one thing I was not able to upgrade when I rebuilt this telescope a few weeks ago. I did add larger focusing knobs to help focusing but the focuser is still rather crappy... it wobbles... and there is no fine adjustment, so... it is exceptionally difficult to get the focus just right. That being said, the viewing was good tonight.
Another frustration is that we have far too many trees around our house. I like having the trees around the house but it is not all that suitable for astronomy. This makes viewing difficult. The solution to this is to head out to a local field to view. That will come in time. For now, I'll continue to simply view what is visible from our yard.
Although it was a very short night, observing Jupiter was very good tonight.
The small telescope is far easier to set up... it is far lighter... and, since I can't really do any astrophotography with this small scope, it is far less complicated with far fewer parts. I was able to fill my pockets with a few eyepieces and just grab the telescope already on its mount and head out to the backyard. It is very much a grab-and-go telescope so it is far easier to use at the last moment.
The viewing was surprisingly good tonight. I was able to easily see four of Jupiter's moons and the bands on Jupiter were clearly visible. My biggest complaint was that the focuser on this small telescope poor. That was one thing I was not able to upgrade when I rebuilt this telescope a few weeks ago. I did add larger focusing knobs to help focusing but the focuser is still rather crappy... it wobbles... and there is no fine adjustment, so... it is exceptionally difficult to get the focus just right. That being said, the viewing was good tonight.
Another frustration is that we have far too many trees around our house. I like having the trees around the house but it is not all that suitable for astronomy. This makes viewing difficult. The solution to this is to head out to a local field to view. That will come in time. For now, I'll continue to simply view what is visible from our yard.
Although it was a very short night, observing Jupiter was very good tonight.
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