Bowmoreman
Clear enough skies
Reged: 09/11/06
Posts: 9062
Loc: Bolton, MA
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Will do, Neil... right now my weather forecast for tomorrow evening looks... promising... Bolton CSC says 30-40% overcast, but other weather sources say either "mostly clear" (weather.com, noaa), or 13% overcase (weather underground)...
Whats weird is the Bolton CSC - about 2 miles from here - has data for Saturday PM... mine is BLACK (i.e. missing) for that time - but only on cloudcover!)...
Will take all the prayers for clearness that are offered!
clear enough skies!
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Dave
MI250 SBS mounted: C11Hyperstar,FSQ106ED,TOA130NFB;Lunt60THaB1200FT/DS50
Visual:DM6, XT10i w/ZambutoMirror,RTP
EP: 31T5, Ethos (21,17,13&8),10XW,5XW,3.5XW; Paracorr T1
MallincamColorHyper+,QSI583WS,QHY8
SBIG STV eFinder
Denk II: (2x24Pan,2x10XW)
Gerbings Heated clothes, Wilder Skies Observatory (BYO#90), Speco9"Monitor
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smokin oakum
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/24/07
Posts: 1529
Loc: Wilmington, NC
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Quote:
Will do, Neil... right now my weather forecast for tomorrow evening looks... promising... Bolton CSC says 30-40% overcast, but other weather sources say either "mostly clear" (weather.com, noaa), or 13% overcase (weather underground)...
Whats weird is the Bolton CSC - about 2 miles from here - has data for Saturday PM... mine is BLACK (i.e. missing) for that time - but only on cloudcover!)...
Will take all the prayers for clearness that are offered!
clear enough skies!
Yeah I looked at your CSC, and the black is a bit weird. Does that black mean BETTER than dark blue?  I doubt it, but possitive thinking right? My CSC shows that tomorow night might be my first real first light with the Mallincam. I took it for a spin last night, but only looked at mars through one of them sucker holes. Orion never showed it's face and I DO see what you mean by tracking. Brian at Round Table said that mine is shipping out next week! That will give me a couple of weeks to play before my first outreach with about 30 kids at a place here in Wilmington called Dreams. It's for kids from broken homes, to have an outlet and stay out of trouble.
Giving back is such a selfish thing sometimes, isn't it? It makes me feel great, and I know that is selfish, but God understands.
Good luck
Neil
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Broadcasting live views of the night sky @
Sparkcast
C11 CGE / Hyperstar
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
MoonLite Focuser
Round Table Platform
12" Parralax rings
Cape Fear Astronomy Club
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Bowmoreman
Clear enough skies
Reged: 09/11/06
Posts: 9062
Loc: Bolton, MA
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That's great, Neil! I feel the same way!
Well, whatever was going on w/ my CSC is now fixed; though I'm NOT liking particularly what it is now showing - 40-50% cloud cover at 6PM tomorrow...
But, weather underground is showing MUCH better only 16% clouds - so I'll go with their forecast 
clear enough skies (and fast receipt of your RTP!)
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Dave
MI250 SBS mounted: C11Hyperstar,FSQ106ED,TOA130NFB;Lunt60THaB1200FT/DS50
Visual:DM6, XT10i w/ZambutoMirror,RTP
EP: 31T5, Ethos (21,17,13&8),10XW,5XW,3.5XW; Paracorr T1
MallincamColorHyper+,QSI583WS,QHY8
SBIG STV eFinder
Denk II: (2x24Pan,2x10XW)
Gerbings Heated clothes, Wilder Skies Observatory (BYO#90), Speco9"Monitor
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smokin oakum
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/24/07
Posts: 1529
Loc: Wilmington, NC
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Quote:
That's great, Neil! I feel the same way!
Well, whatever was going on w/ my CSC is now fixed; though I'm NOT liking particularly what it is now showing - 40-50% cloud cover at 6PM tomorrow...
But, weather underground is showing MUCH better only 16% clouds - so I'll go with their forecast
clear enough skies (and fast receipt of your RTP!)
Now my CSC is broken! The part that is showing looks good. I've checked my weather forcast, and it says that Sat. looks like  so I'm going to go with my CSC! 
Later brother.
Neil
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Broadcasting live views of the night sky @
Sparkcast
C11 CGE / Hyperstar
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
MoonLite Focuser
Round Table Platform
12" Parralax rings
Cape Fear Astronomy Club
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Bowmoreman
Clear enough skies
Reged: 09/11/06
Posts: 9062
Loc: Bolton, MA
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Success!!!
Sweet Success!
I had 13 2nd and 3rd graders + their parents over tonight... from 6PM til about 7:45 (after all everyone had to leave to get home in time to watch the Patriots game!)...
Anyways.. in spite of a bit of hazy clouds...
We had a wonderful 1st outreach event here at WSO:
Before they all arrived (i.e. between 5:20PM and 6PM) I setup the Vixen to be fully aligned and pointed at M31; with MCHP setup and the 19" Proton - I had something that was a sure - fallback - best bet!
Then, I setup the RTP with the 10" XTi and had that all aligned in advance... so that as they arrived, I would be able to show things...
1) first I pointed out things like Polaris - linking that to their learnings in school about the earths axis, tilting, seasons, etc...
2) then showed a few consteallations (again, using GLP) - specifically, Cassiopeia, Orion, Taurus, and Orion - with the hazy clouds that was about all there was...
3) then , after all had arrived (it takes a few minutes for that many separate parents and kiddo's to arrive!), we started in with the crescent moon - using my old 15mm Meade EP) - given its crescent nature, they ALL thought this was VERY cool - took about 20 minutes to get through everyone!
Every single person thought the moon was WAY cool - some called the craters "holes" (which I thought was cute) but all thought it was "cool", "wow", "oh my goodness", etc...
4) then on to Mars!!! put in my 6mm Radian... there were moments of "wow, I see some brown bands", or "is that white" (poles?), etc... but they were less impressed - I had notified all that it was smaller and farther away, etc...
5) then I moved on to M31 - via MCHP in the WSO... I used the old trick of having them all count down to the updates on the integrations - in this case I was using 28 seconds... while explaining about galaxies, how far away, etc... then BAAM - there it was in all its glory! Praise God! Amazing to all viewing!
6) We closed up with Orion Nebula in the XT10i back on the RTP - nice and greenish nebula with the trapezium nicely illuminated for all to see - all via the an old 15mm Plossl...
90 minutes of great time with a dozen 8-9 year olds and their parents!
Thanks to my wife - for the pitchers of hot chocolate and fresh backed cookies - and our school (Imago School) for the support!!!
I will be doing this again! It was SO rewarding...
and thanks to God for the clear skies - which lasted JUST long enough - by 8:00 pm (game time coincidentally?) the high clouds were a-thickening!)...
Outreach with (or without) MCHP is cool!
clear enough skies to all!
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Dave
MI250 SBS mounted: C11Hyperstar,FSQ106ED,TOA130NFB;Lunt60THaB1200FT/DS50
Visual:DM6, XT10i w/ZambutoMirror,RTP
EP: 31T5, Ethos (21,17,13&8),10XW,5XW,3.5XW; Paracorr T1
MallincamColorHyper+,QSI583WS,QHY8
SBIG STV eFinder
Denk II: (2x24Pan,2x10XW)
Gerbings Heated clothes, Wilder Skies Observatory (BYO#90), Speco9"Monitor
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Chris Schroeder
Postmaster
Reged: 12/11/04
Posts: 8515
Loc: N.E. WI Sky Glow
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Just wonderful Dave
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Chris
Mallincam Color Hyper Plus
10" DSH with SC DSC, CPC 800 XLT
AT 111EDT, AT 102Achro, ZS80FD 10th Anniv, AT 72ED, ZS66SD, PST
CG5-AGT, EZ-Touch, Voyager
POD XL3
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Douglas
Vendor - Night Vision Astronomy
Reged: 05/21/07
Posts: 343
Loc: Pound Ridge, NY
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Congratulations Dave! It is such an awesome feeling.
Sounds you made sure to have everything setup in advance which is key when doing sessions with young kids. Counting down the integration is fun for them and really helps ... I love the BAM when the image hits the screen! Exciting stuff.
One thing never fails, show a kid the moon and they will never forget it, always their favorite.
The MallinCam has inspired me to do a Saturn party for my kids and their friends. Later in February when it rises earlier we'll have some fun and put it up on the TV in the living room.
- Doug
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Night Vision Astronomy
Stepping Stone Observatory
BIPH Image Intensified Binoviewer
Obsession 12.5" AN/SC
Tak FSQ-106 EDX2 & EM-200 Temma II
QSI 532wsg CCD & SX Lodestar Guide Camera
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
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