Howdy All, With some prodding from Greg and Butch, I have decided to to begin a small series of posts on the conversion of my scope and the many stages it has gone through on its journey to its current status. I am hoping the posts will be interesting to all and perhaps stir the [...]
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Sky Commander
Hey all!! I’m looking forward to next weekend in the desert to put my new SC circles to good use. I’m really excited about the expanded database of objects and the way the database is laid out. I expect that it will make navigation to various objects much easier. Oh, by the way, my [...]
Messier Award
At our last meeting our president, David Adalian, suggested that our club members take advantage of the different observational awards that the Astronomical League provides. These awards are designed to improve ones observational skills. I am proposing that our club work together on the AL’s Messier Award. This will also tie-in nicely with Dan Demmers’ [...]
Night Sky Tracker Log
So, Since I am feeling rather prolithic this week, I thought I would share my most recent purchase from my favorite online store, Amazon. I have been attempting to get Austin, my son, involved in this hobby and have been looking for a beginner’s logbook of sorts that would allow him to record his oberservations [...]
Scale of the Universe
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I thought this little interactive tool would help in the discussion of the complexity of the universe we love. Take some time and scan through it. You wont be disappointed. http://scaleofuniverse.com/ Dan
Orion Binocular Viewer First Look
Last evening at the close of our regular monthly meeting, the TAA members adjourned to the Eckes observatory to experience what was a somewhat unexpected pleasure. Not long ago, in an effort to adjust for my relatively advanced astigmatism, I purchased the Orion bino’s from Amazon for around $200.oo. My first thought given the price [...]
This month is Dues Month
To all old members and new members, now is the time to pay your dues. I will be updating our membership list for the Astronomical League and subscriptions for the web site. Remember that your dues is what keeps the TAA running and pays our bills. Our monthly meeting is this Wednesday. The location has been [...]
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February Challenges
NGC 891 – Andromeda This is one of my all-time favorites. NGC 891 is a beautiful edge-on spiral galaxy, elongated in the NE-SW direction just west of the bright star Almaak. Particularly striking is the prominent lane and central bulge. I really like the way this galaxy takes on a “ghost-like” appearance against the foreground [...]
Friday Night at Pena Planetarium
For those not -in the know-, TAA provides free public viewing opportunites. Friday night is one of them. This is a great time to see several planets. Neptune, (if the sky gets dark enough, early enough), Uranus, Venus, and Jupiter. The moon will also be about 1/3 lit, which makes for some great viewing It [...]
Horsehead Nebula 1-13-12
Friday night, while observing in the Mojave Desert, I decided to try again to find the Horsehead Nebula. This time I had my 13.1 inch Dob. The sky was very clear with very little wind. After much trial and error, I was able to make out the Horsehead. I used my 17mm Nagler (88X magnification) with [...]
