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It's been a while since I've updated my logs. On August 14, 1998 I married the most wonderful woman in the world. As you might imagine, I've been busy
with other things and haven't had much time to observe.
We were able to get away September 9 - September 10 and go camping at Wild River State Park 2 hours north of the Twin Cities. The skies were very dark
and we had a great view of the entire sky. I once again failed to spot M101 but we did see the Double Cluster (naked eye and through the scope) as well as M20, M51, M57, and Jupiter. We
were able to see 2 of Jupiter's cloud bands. We
also spent a lot of the time just sweeping the sky looking at whatever came into view. My wife wants her own scope so she doesn't have to wait while I try to find interesting things. We are going to get a pair of binoculars so that both of us can observe at the same time. The binoculars' wide field of view will also help in spotting deep sky objects so we can then zero in on them with the scope.
Next month the Leonids are predicted to put on their best show in over 30 years. Hopefully the skies here in Minnesota will be clear on November 17.
I've added a picture of the Meade LX200 telescope to the equipment section. So far I've saved $250.00 in my telescope fund. Only $3000.00 to go....
As far as astrophotography goes, I've given up on getting good pictures through the scope for now. I'm going to start by getting good shots with the
standard 50mm lens on
the camera. Star trails will be the first thing I try. Once I'm able to produce good star trails I'll try getting shots of entire constellations. The real images through a scope will have to wait until I have my LX200.
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