Scattered Thoughts . . .

When Lukey and I were using the microscope a week or so ago, I noticed a few nagging problems that needed to be resolved before I attempted another microscopy session and especially a session that included photography and/or videography.  I spent the past week or so trying to resolve these problems and thought it would be best to document it all here. My first problem was that what I was seeing on my camera (and on the 32" monitor connected to my camera) was not nearly as crisp as what I was seeing visually in the binocular eyepieces.  This was really frustrating.  I had been using my Sony a6000 camera in a prime focus configuration.  Prime focus imaging involves no additional lenses including eyepieces.  This type of imaging works very well in astronomy but I was not liking what I was getting in microscopy.  The images and video were very soft, sort of mushy, un-crisp.  They looked really terrible on the 32 inch monitor. The next problem was figuring out what I actually needed to

O ne of the things on my very long to-do list is to build a small observatory shed next to my outdoor telescope pier and then fence the entire area to keep out bears, bobcats and skunks.  I have sketched all sorts of plans but, between continuing health issues followed by the pandemic and lack of available lumber, I have made absolutely no progress in actually building this shed/observatory area.  Well...  I did build the telescope pier and the foundation for the shed but that is all that has been accomplished thus far.  My plan was to use an old Hewlett-Packard desktop computer for controlling my astronomy gear and it would be housed in this astronomy shed.  This old computer is in the eight to ten year old range and hasn't been used at all over the past two years.  When I purchased a new computer two years ago, I saved this old computer specifically for the purpose of using it in my new observatory.  I recently started loading astronomy programs onto this old computer to get it r

New telescopes and microscopes always seem to ship with almost useless eyepieces.  The crazy thing about this is that both microscopes and telescopes are far more enjoyable to use if you have decent and large eyepieces.  You'd think that new products would ship with accessories that make the product enjoyable to use so a new user isn't discouraged or turned off to the hobby but it seems the manufacturers are more focused on spending as little as possible.  The tiny eyepieces that ship with most microscopes and telescopes do not make the new product enjoyable to use... not at all...  and I've seen many beginners stop the hobby because of this.  This means they didn't spend any money on future accessories too which hurts the manufacturers. I, however, prefer to improve anything I own.  I care for everything I own, properly store everything, and properly maintain everything.  I don't even like seeing fingerprints on my stuff! I had already replaced some of my objective

Our little lab... We had Kenzie visiting us for most of the day yesterday which was a nice surprise for Gee and me.  We started off with some tasty French Toast with bacon and sausage.  Then Kenzie played with her dolls with Gee for a little while.  As they played, I set up an area on my desk for a hands-on lesson in micrology.   I have always felt that this stuff would interest Kenzie so even I was a bit excited to have a short session with her to see how she would react.  If it didn't interest her, we'd just move on to something else. If it did interest her, then she could get excited about something new! We talked about what a microscope does... she learned that we can study the cells that make up each thing we view... she learned that healthy cells, generally speaking, are very similar... then we viewed all sorts of prepared slides to compare the cells. While Kenzie was viewing the slides through the binocular lenses on the microscope, I looked on by viewing each s

In my zeal to stay ahead of the grandkids' education so I am able to continue to converse with them about anything they may care to share or question, I am constantly trying to stay on top of my own education. Fortunately, I enjoy research and educating myself so I do this everyday anyway.  I spent a lot of time during my primary and secondary education using microscopes for a wide variety of subjects. Even my college engineering education required the use of microscopes on occasion. For my last year of college, I was also a student teacher teaching various aspects of civil engineering to underclassmen. At times, even this required some microscope use. I also used microscopes in my physics classes at the Merchant Marine Academy. As if all of that wasn't enough microscope use, I've had my own microscope since around sixth grade. Now, many decades later, I like watching the grandkids' interests and knowledge evolve so I'm constantly trying to introduce them to new