CN FORUMS ARCHIVE Telescope Reviews: A small thing... but still I'm proud of myself.

Mark ,

By the time I got out , any blue patches had been swept over with orange cloud , whilst overhead , raging black thunderclouds , as we'd had most of the day , accompanied by thunder and lightning and very heavy downpours ( just for a change ! ) began to spill their contents with a vengeance .

Rushing east south east , the storm even cut off the signals from the Winter Hill TV and radio masts , located on the west pennine moors , which tower at the eastern side over a place called Horwich , some 13 miles south - east from our location , as a south - easterly flying Crow may fly , but after 24 minutes of torrential rain , just as the sun was setting , clear blue sky appeared in the west , bringing the thin crescent moon into naked eye view , with the dazzling diamond that was Venus a roughly estimated 5 degrees or so from it , in a 4 to 5 o' clock direction .

With eyeglasses on , using first the Zeiss 7 x 42 hand - held but with elbows resting on the ledges of an opened Velux window in our south west facing dormer roof , I used the craters on the moon's limb to focus the binos as sharply as I could , on axis -- with Venus out of the field of view when the crescent moon was centralised , but as soon as I panned down and right , I could JUST about see the moon AND Venus in the same field , without having to move my eyes around , with plenty of blue sky around both , framing the image -- a very nice picture in itself .

Moving Venus so as to be directly in the centre of view , I could just about see that it's phase must be fuller than the moon's , but with the crescent SUSPECTED at what appeared to be the same inclination as that of the moon .

Quickly swapping over to the Helmsman , which I had left in " perfect infinity mode " from it's last outing , I could barely notice any difference between what I saw through it , and what I'd just seen through the Zeiss .

I couldn't QUITE be certain of the relative size or direction of the crescent through either of these 7x binoculars -- but the sun was almost set by now , and I sensed I was running out of time if I were to avoid the ironic adversity of the sky darkening further .

Switching swiftly to the Nikon 10 x 42 SE , with arms fully supported , I could DEFINITELY confirm that the tiny Venus crescent WAS a crescent , facing almost directly towards what for all the world could have been it's anorexic mother .

All the visual imperfection I recognised as being related to astigmatism .

I sensed that if , in that moment , I could have masked the 42mm objectives down by 50% , I could have been a happier observer , and confirmed without doubt all my " hunches " .

Also , closing each eye in turn , I sensed that even by closing my BEST , right eye , if anything , what I was seeing was less ambiguous .

Following my scantily reported observing sessions over recent months through the tartan - tinted 20 x 90 , not to mention an equally whisphered WEEK spent carefully re - aligning the much maligned Helios 15 x 70 , I COULD , perhaps even subconsciously , have developed a psychologically unfounded fear of the hitherto most beloved aspect of this hobby - namely TWO EYED VIEWING !

I suddenly realised I COULD have arrived at that place called Gilmer Junction , entering a whole new world , which can be seen ONLY through ONE eye .

At that precise moment it started raining again -- very heavily .

Kenny

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Milton Wilcox R.I.P