Observing Log for Mike Durkin1/15/2005 8:00-9:30 PM Alley Pond Environmental Center Transparency: 3/10, seeing: ?/10 127mm Mak
Went to the public astronomy session at Alley Pond. It is run by Mark
Freilich, who is a member of the AOS.
I brought my Orion 127mm Mak to set up and let people observe.
After Mark gave a 1 hour introduction we went out the the parking lot to
look out through the telescopes. It took me a little while to set up my
scope because this was the first time I was using the new motors that I
had just ordered. After I had to motors set up, and did a very rough
polar alignment, the scope seemed to be tracking well enough for public
viewing. The motor controls seemed didn't quite seem right though. I
tested the motor again when I got home and they seemed to be working OK,
so I'll have to try the motors again when I get a chance.
So the sky was definitly idea for observing due to clouds. We could only
make out the Moon, Saturn, and some of the bightest stars. I pointed my
scope at Saturn most of the night with the 17mm(90x) and 7.4mm (208x). A
few people took a look at Saturn, and I'm pretty we could see one of the
moons. Based a software program, it was either Tethys or Dione that we
saw.
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