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JKevin
newbie
Reged: 08/25/08
Posts: 4
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Absolutely incredible looking observing site!
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tigerroach
sage
Reged: 08/13/08
Posts: 315
Loc: Houston, TX
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"Padhenge," Houston Astronomical site near Columbus, TX.
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Brian
TeleVue TV-102, Gibralter alt-az mount
Webster 14.5" f/4.3 truss dob *under construction*
Canon 10x30 IS binocs
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Djennings
sage
Reged: 07/03/08
Posts: 237
Loc: Katy, Texas
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Quote:
Hey David
Take a ride out to Bay City and visit my dark site about 4 miles south of town. I'm sure you'll like it.
Hey OGarza,
Would love to, also, Nice Bike. Ours is in the Harley Medical Center getting surgery where another bike came into our lane and clipped us. 
Just aquired 2 new scopes, an Orion 120ST and a MAK 127, cannot wait to get out to a dark spot to try them out.
Thanks,
David
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Orion EON 80mm ED
Orion Premium 102mm ED (ordered)
Orion ST80 Guide Scope
Orion StarShoot AutoGuider
Orion 203mm F/4.9 Reflector Image scope
Orion SkyQuest 8" Dobsonian
Orion StarBlaster 4.5
Atlas EQ-G W/GOTO
Canon Rebel XT 350D
Orion Startshoot DSI II
Phillips SPC900NC Webcam
Sony DSC-F717 Digital Camera
1 Loving Wife
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kfred
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/11/03
Posts: 2005
Loc: Dayton, Ohio
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Currently: Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan
Fred
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River Cam - Cambridge England
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Steven Aggas
sage
Reged: 04/15/08
Posts: 290
Loc: Arizona
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Overgaard, Arizona
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Mr. Wizard
Elements in Harmony I, an 8"f6 German Equatorial - Stellafane Winner,
II a 20"f4.2 Newt-Dob - Astrofest Winner,
III a 6"f3.5 Finder/Newt-Dob, and
IV a 36"f4.5 Newt-Dob - "If it's up there, it's in here."
www.DarkSkyObserving.com
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Fiske
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/14/04
Posts: 2057
Loc: Missouri / United States
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Kansas City, Missouri: I don't have the stunning mountain vistas, but my primary observing site has the advantage of being in my own backyard.  I took this picture while I was setting my 22-inch Dob up for three enjoyable nights of observing over Labor Day weekend. My lovely scope assistant can be seen in the background.  Also, the garden shed where my scopes have been keeping company with our lawn mower, etc.
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Fiske Miles
Nikon 8x42 LX / 12x50 SE Binos
Mini Borg 60ED, TV-101, AT80Ach, XT-8, C11/CI-700, 22-Inch Dob
Way too many Nagler eyepieces
http://www.fiskemiles.blogspot.com/
www.fiskemiles.com
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Fiske
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/14/04
Posts: 2057
Loc: Missouri / United States
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Here is another picture of the scope with setup complete. I generally set it up on the pad at the back of our drive way, but changed the orientation to get a better view of the north sky (over the telephone lines at the back or our yard). This resulted in quite a bit of pleasant observing, as the south sky is not too great for urban astronomy at present, while the North boasts Cepheus and Cassiopiea. In addition, Cygnus was in excellent position for observation for much of the evening. An added advantage of observing northward is a larger expanse of clear sky. The southern view from our backyard is hemmed in by a Mullberry on the east side of our yard and two Hackberry trees on the West. These are large, mature trees, which leave about a one hour transit period for constellations to the south, Ophiuchus, Aquila, etc. And, looking north, the constellations are more nearly circumpolar and so take much longer to transit.
The weather was so nice Saturday, Elly encouraged me to pack up our RV and head out for the club dark sky site. But, we had planned on getting a lot of stuff done around the house over the long weekend so I opted to observe from home. Sunday, quite unexpectedly, she said we should order a second shed for astronomy equipment (which will be positioned behind where my Dob is shown in this picture). I have talked about doing it for some time. With the second shed, I will build a dolly for the 22-inch so I can leave it set up all the time and roll it out when I want to observe. We ordered it the same day. 
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Fiske Miles
Nikon 8x42 LX / 12x50 SE Binos
Mini Borg 60ED, TV-101, AT80Ach, XT-8, C11/CI-700, 22-Inch Dob
Way too many Nagler eyepieces
http://www.fiskemiles.blogspot.com/
www.fiskemiles.com
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Fiske
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/14/04
Posts: 2057
Loc: Missouri / United States
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And, finally, a picture of yours truly. Our RV can be seen next to our house in the background. The scope is designed to fit into the RV without requiring a trailer. The mirror box slides into an outside storage compartment. The setup table, shown in the first picture above, is at exactly the right height to slide the mirror box into and out of its compartment.
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Fiske Miles
Nikon 8x42 LX / 12x50 SE Binos
Mini Borg 60ED, TV-101, AT80Ach, XT-8, C11/CI-700, 22-Inch Dob
Way too many Nagler eyepieces
http://www.fiskemiles.blogspot.com/
www.fiskemiles.com
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Fiske
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/14/04
Posts: 2057
Loc: Missouri / United States
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And, even though our house is in midtown Kansas City, we occasionally receive interesting wildlife visitors (and not only from the bars in Westport).
Monday morning, on Labor Day, a young (and not very sophisticated) Cooper's Hawk came sailing in to make a frontal assault on our flourishing house sparrow population while Elly and I were enjoying coffee and tea (respectively) in our backyard. The hawk's would be breakfast saw it coming from a long ways off and retreated to the safety of a nearby bush, chirping insults at him for about 15 minutes while he stomped around the periphery, allowing plenty of photo opportunities.
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Fiske Miles
Nikon 8x42 LX / 12x50 SE Binos
Mini Borg 60ED, TV-101, AT80Ach, XT-8, C11/CI-700, 22-Inch Dob
Way too many Nagler eyepieces
http://www.fiskemiles.blogspot.com/
www.fiskemiles.com
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Out of Focus
sage
Reged: 09/23/07
Posts: 232
Loc: Roseville (Sac) CA
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Blue Canyon
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Orion XT10i w/FT
Orion XT6
Orion Mini Giant 15X63
Orion ST80-A
24mmHyperion,13mmEthos,
9mmNagler
AO series 160 &
L10 Microscopes
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Blue Canyon, Placer Co. CA
 
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Tom Clark
super member
Reged: 11/14/07
Posts: 144
Loc: Chiefland, Florida
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My front yard is the Chiefland club observing site. We have 200+ members from 18 states, and during new moons we have 20 observers in the summer, and 50+ in the winter. Chiefland has become a favorite vacation site for visiting astronomers. We have flush toilets and electrical outlets all around the field.
My dome is in the background. club info
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Tom Clark
super member
Reged: 11/14/07
Posts: 144
Loc: Chiefland, Florida
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Our favorite observing site of all time: Ayers Rock, Australia. Here is our 25" with Al Nagler shown looking at the Tarantula. We were there in '93 and '99. Gone are the days when the airlines would let a group of astronomers take a large telescope halfway around the world.
The site was 5 miles from our hotel, had no light domes, other than a occasional car along a road off in the distance Seeing was excellent, and the nearest large city was about 1000 miles in any direction.
If you ever go to the southern hemisphere for observing, go in April or May so all the best objects will be up. Imagine Omega Centauri straight up, and Eta Carinae over 70 degrees high. The Tarantula nebula was magnificent.
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bicparker
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/07/05
Posts: 1438
Loc: Plano, TX
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Tom,
After seeing Ayers Rock, I had to add this in. This is the observing site for the Deepest South Texas Star Safari (held between March and May each year) at Coonabarabran, NWS, Australia, near the Siding Spring Observatory.
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Bic Parker
17.5" f/5 dob
10" f/10 SCT
5" f/8 refractor
80mm f/6 refractor
66mm f/6 refractor
Plus a few others out of the rotation
Edited by bicparker (09/03/08 02:48 PM)
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Alvin Huey
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/18/05
Posts: 1536
Loc: NorCal
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Quote:
Blue Canyon
I and many TAC-Sac folks used to observe there, but the skies have worsened quite a bit.. We still go there once a in a while.
We observe at IHOP, about 30-40 air miles to the SSE. About 6.5 - 6.8 average skies.
This is not a great picture, but this is all I have in my office PC. My 22" just setup.
"Out Of Focus" - Are you a SVAS member? Have you heard of TAC-Sac? If not, click on the link in my signature to find out more about us and about our observing sites.
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Clear Skies,
Alvin #26
22" f/4.1 reflector, 30" f/4.3 StarMaster and Antares 6" f/6.5 on Orion SVP
FaintFuzzies | TAC | TAC-Sac
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Alvin Huey
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/18/05
Posts: 1536
Loc: NorCal
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Here is a photo of two of my friend's installing the mirror of the 30" Starmaster, also at IHOP. The skies doesn't look great, but this photo was taken after sunset as evidenced by lack of shadow behind the two guys, so the camera was overexposed a bit to capture shadow detail.
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Out of Focus
sage
Reged: 09/23/07
Posts: 232
Loc: Roseville (Sac) CA
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Quote:
Quote:
Blue Canyon
I and many TAC-Sac folks used to observe there, but the skies have worsened quite a bit.. We still go there once a in a while.
We observe at IHOP, about 30-40 air miles to the SSE. About 6.5 - 6.8 average skies.
This is not a great picture, but this is all I have in my office PC. My 22" just setup.
"Out Of Focus" - Are you a SVAS member? Have you heard of TAC-Sac? If not, click on the link in my signature to find out more about us and about our observing sites.
Yes, I am a SVAS member. Were you at BC last sat. If so I am the guy who was next to you with the 10" dob and Ethos.
Are you talking about IHOP off Hwy 50. I may start going there too. My nephew(who just took possession of my 6"dob) lives in So.Tahoe, and that would be a great place for us to meet.
I guess we should continue this conversation by PM.
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Orion XT10i w/FT
Orion XT6
Orion Mini Giant 15X63
Orion ST80-A
24mmHyperion,13mmEthos,
9mmNagler
AO series 160 &
L10 Microscopes
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Blue Canyon, Placer Co. CA
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