It was a bit cooler today, got up to only the upper sixties. I went straight home after work and then took off with Brian to get some screws for the new focuser for the Vixen 100mm Telescope. I then had to set it up and get the spotting scope aligned. I then tried to align the polar scope, need to find a place that will allow a better alignment. By the house there are so many trees and you cannot find something to align with that is at least 1/4 mile away.
The focuser is nice but when I had the camera attached I had trouble with the tension and either it would slip down (the scope was pointed up) or it wouldn’t fine focus because the tension was too great. Also, It seemed that the tube would jiggle too much, I think it was due to having the focusing tube almost fully extended.
Looked at Saturn and my brother and I quized each other on some stars, I think I can now locate, about 12 stars:
Sirius, Arcturus, Pollux, Castor, Capella, Rigel, Procyon, Betelgeuse, Polaris, Kochab, Dubhe, Mizar
need to find, Vega, Deneb, Altair, Aldebaran, Regulus, these are almost too south though: Antares, Fomalhaut, Canopus, Achernar
and 4 constellations : Ursa Major(Big Dipper), Ursa Minor (Little Dipper), Orion, Cassiopeia
Looked at the beehive Cluster, I’ll need to take a photo of it if it is clear on Wednesday or Thursday.
I stopped in at the Suwanee Taco Mac, had my normal BOTM, Beer of the Month, got my pint glass, had a salad (better than wings for me) and also had another wheat beer. A Horny Goat, in a can, it actually was very good.
