29 replies to this topic

[Amazed]

We had 3" of snow on Friday and today Sunny weather and a high of 35 degrees. With the sun 80% of the snow was gone. I set my Evolution 8 scope out about 4 pm and covered it with a blanket and took a nap until 8 pm. The temps dropped below freezing by that time. Being 73 I have not been out since December due to the cold nights.
Getting back into it tonight I got good views of of the moon, Jupiter and the Orion Nebula.
The cold was not too bad except for my fingers on the cold metal. That sucked the heat right out of them.
Reading the posts here I see I am not alone getting older and braving the cold.
I invited my grand kids out, but no takers on the offer...😅

Edited by Amazed, 23 March 2024 - 11:09 PM.

[PNW]

I was out for 2 hours the other night before I was driven in by the cold. When I got home, the outside temp was 48* !!!

[michael1959]

I long for the "warm-ish" evenings of NC winters. I left NC about three years ago. Now in S. Ontario. I try to stargaze on the cold clear nights, but it just isn't as much fun when you can't feel your fingers. Layers help, but it's definitely tougher up here. 

 

It's rare that a scope larger than 100mm makes it outside in the winter months. Too much trouble to set up and take down in the cold.  

[Mike Q]

I tried Orion last night with the 16 inch, needless to say the full moon wrecked havoc with my plans.  It was 28 degrees with a breeze.  I went an hour or so before throwing  in the towel.  Oddly enough I quite because of the moon and not the cold.

Edited by Mike Q, 24 March 2024 - 07:04 PM.

[alg460]

Amazing to me how people living on Carl Sagan's "little blue dot" can have no appreciation, let alone fascination, for the vastness and amazing diversity of what is beyond our petty mundane concerns. They could at least show a little respect for something far beyond themselves.

But no. They treat you with derision. You're just some crazy old man with a gadget.

 

You, me and everyone on this group are crazy, bordering on insane. And, I can prove it. We obsess over everything to do with our equipment while enduring painful conditions to test it and prove its worth. We buy more and more thinking we will reach some unattainable perfection. There is no applause though. Just darkness in our minds trying to justify why we bought (or sold) something. Worse, who in their right mind would buy a new telescope, or new eyepiece, or new diagonal or whatever, knowing full well that it would cause a month of cloudy nights.