Thanks to Leslie Brown, our little club is in possession of major professional-grade optics. Thank you Leslie! The Conn College 20" Ritchey-Chretien mirror set is safely ensconced in my workshop. Rather than simply storing them, I hope that we can mount and use them.?
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I suggest that we try putting them in a semi-portable dob style mounting that a club without a permanent observatory could use. As an example, here is a similar project done years ago by Mike Lockwood: loptics.com/ATM/telescopes/12in_cass/12in_cass.html
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Although I am very tempted to offer to build a beast like this, I have to admit to myself that it would be at least two years before I could get to it. So I've taken the liberty of asking Ryan Goodsen at New Moon Telescopes and Normand Fullum at Optiques Fullum if they would be intersted in the project. I haven't committed the club to anything, just seeing if the build would be possible.
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Or, if we don't want a professional is anyone else in the club interested in doing something similar? It's always more fun to use a telescope built by a friend!
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Some details to think about: price, components (mirror cell, spiders x2, tertiary flat diagonal, focuser, field rotator, go-to & tracking system, dew busting, a ray trace to determine spacing, where to put the focuser (on top like Lockwood or out the the side through an altitude bearing), and more.
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Whatcha think? Jay
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Wow.? Haven't seen the whole thing.? Looks like impressive potential for SeeStar image improvemets.
Mark
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Re: Did Saturn lose its rings?
Excuse the auto correct.? I wrote Fulbright Scholar and it autocorrected to scholarship.? My apologies for not reading over my messages before hitting send. Sorry Moshe, our Scholar at TAAS? - even if it is a page or chapter before them. I loved that line. John
On Thu, Feb 27, 2025 at 7:06 PM, John A. Sillasen via groups.io <jasillasen@...> wrote: As a Fulbright scholarship? Moshe, that's exciting and I'm sure we'll earned! Congratulations for representing the US while you are there.? Not sure I have the Western horizon anymore. Saturn is so low now that it's hard and thick (atmosphere wise) to reach. John Sillasen On Thu, Feb 27, 2025 at 6:59 PM, GEORGE BLAHUN <ks1u@...> wrote: Moshe, you picked a good time to travel.? The news is, unfortunately, real.? Have an enjoyable, safe and productive journey
George
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Re: Did Saturn lose its rings?
As a Fulbright scholarship? Moshe, that's exciting and I'm sure we'll earned! Congratulations for representing the US while you are there.? Not sure I have the Western horizon anymore. Saturn is so low now that it's hard and thick (atmosphere wise) to reach. John Sillasen
On Thu, Feb 27, 2025 at 6:59 PM, GEORGE BLAHUN <ks1u@...> wrote: Moshe, you picked a good time to travel.? The news is, unfortunately, real.? Have an enjoyable, safe and productive journey
George
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Re: Did Saturn lose its rings?
Moshe, you picked a good time to travel. The news is, unfortunately, real. Have an enjoyable, safe and productive journey
George
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Re: Did Saturn lose its rings?
Hello George,
Many thanks for the swift reply, it will be nice to have a few pictures to show the process of "losing the rings", and good luck with fighting the low horizon and the mud. Watch out for black ice.
The news from home is beyond belief. Is this really happening or AI generated news?
Moshe
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Moshe:
????? While Saturn will not lose its rings until March 23, it is now setting at 6:30, making it challenging to see without a low horizon in the west.? I haven’t looked at it for a couple of months, but I hope to as soon as the mud hardens up.? As you know,
I’m not an APer, but if the weather cooperates, I’ll try a shot or two without the detailed processing that most of the APers do.
George
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Re: Event: Waterford Library Outreach Event - Monday, March 10, 2025
#cal-invite
Deb and I will be in Colorado.? Would the Moon Chair be helpful for your talk, Leslie? Mark
On Wed, Feb 26, 2025 at 3:22 PM, John A. Sillasen via groups.io < jasillasen@...> wrote: Thanks George.? That does help. Probably worthy of putting my new to me Sky-Watcher AZ-GTI and the Tele Vue TV-85 with the battery pack & tripod sling Mark recommended.? Be a good test. Better than me setting it up in the van and pressing GoTo and saying, hey that looks like it worked....
John
On Wed, Feb 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM, GEORGE BLAHUN
<ks1u@...> wrote:
John:
? ? I’ll defer to Leslie, since there may be some time updates, but her presentation begins about 6pm and the observing will go until about 8pm.? If 颈迟’蝉 in the parking lot at the library, as opposed to the field at the historical society, parking will be less than 50ft from observing areas.? If 颈迟’蝉 in the historical society’s lot, it could be any where from 20 to 100 ft depending on your choice of viewing spot.
George
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Re: Event: Waterford Library Outreach Event - Monday, March 10, 2025
#cal-invite
Thanks George.? That does help. Probably worthy of putting my new to me Sky-Watcher AZ-GTI and the Tele Vue TV-85 with the battery pack & tripod sling Mark recommended.? Be a good test. Better than me setting it up in the van and pressing GoTo and saying, hey that looks like it worked.... John
On Wed, Feb 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM, GEORGE BLAHUN <ks1u@...> wrote: John:
? ? I’ll defer to Leslie, since there may be some time updates, but her presentation begins about 6pm and the observing will go until about 8pm.? If 颈迟’蝉 in the parking lot at the library, as opposed to the field at the historical society, parking will be less than 50ft from observing areas.? If 颈迟’蝉 in the historical society’s lot, it could be any where from 20 to 100 ft depending on your choice of viewing spot.
George
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Re: Did Saturn lose its rings?
Moshe:
While Saturn will not lose its rings until March 23, it is now setting at 6:30, making it challenging to see without a low horizon in the west. I haven’t looked at it for a couple of months, but I hope to as soon as the mud hardens up. As you know, I’m not an APer, but if the weather cooperates, I’ll try a shot or two without the detailed processing that most of the APers do.
George
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Re: Event: Waterford Library Outreach Event - Monday, March 10, 2025
#cal-invite
John:
I’ll defer to Leslie, since there may be some time updates, but her presentation begins about 6pm and the observing will go until about 8pm. If 颈迟’蝉 in the parking lot at the library, as opposed to the field at the historical society, parking will be less than 50ft from observing areas. If 颈迟’蝉 in the historical society’s lot, it could be any where from 20 to 100 ft depending on your choice of viewing spot.
George
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Re: Event: Waterford Library Outreach Event - Monday, March 10, 2025
#cal-invite
Mark/Leslie, can you please clarify the times of this event?? The calendar entry gives me 12 am to midnight the next day. What time is setup, start time and possible end times. It'll help me tons. That and how far is the parking from the observing?? If it's a hike with equipment,? then I will have to decline too. If it is 7 PM, then maybe. I have 2 doctors appointments the following day but the 1st is at 3, the second at 4:30 pm. John Sillasen
On Wed, Feb 26, 2025 at 7:20 AM, Amy S (Astrodog) via groups.io <glpmacgeek@...> wrote:
Amy
On Feb 25, 2025 at 9:59?AM -0500, Group Notification < [email protected]>, wrote:
Waterford Library Outreach Event
When:
Monday, March 10, 2025
Organizer:
Mark Strollo
mark@...
View Event
Description:
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Looking forward to it weather permitting. ?
Amy
On Feb 22, 2025 at 10:57?PM -0500, Mark Strollo via groups.io <mark@...>, wrote:
滨迟’蝉 almost spring, so 颈迟’蝉 Messier Marathon planning time.?
At Saturday’s TAAS, SAS and LLT happy hour we decided to do a joint marathon at the Salem Propbusters site. ?This year’s spring new moons are Saturday March 29th (with a partial Solar eclipse at 6:40 AM AND a TAAS/SAS/ASNH event at Hammonasset) and Sunday April 27th. ??With the New England weather, this means we have to “schedule” the events on our calendars for the Friday and Saturday nights on both of those weekends. ?Juggling the marathon, an eclipse, and a Hammonasset outreach event on one day will be a challenge.?
So put these dates in your minds/calendars/daytimers/phones/ASIAIRs or however you keep track of astro plans and be flexible as we get close. ?I will follow-up with Messier Marathon viewing order lists (in the TAAS groups.io files section), packing checklists, stay warm hints, and sleep deprivation techniques over the next few weeks.?
Hopefully between?us, we can view or image all 110 of Charlie’s marathon objects. ?Or at least a sprint of a few of them.?
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Did Saturn lose its rings?
Can someone take a few nice pictures of Saturn over the month of March 2025? Ostensibly our observation angle on earth should make the rings of Saturn "disappear" over March. It will make for a beautiful educational set of pictures and thank you.
Moshe?
p.s. I am spending the Spring semester in Europe as a Fulbright US Scholar, no telescope for me...
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Re: TAAS February Meeting Minutes
Thanks, George.
I added it to the TAAS groups.io calendar. Put 7:00 as the start time.?
Deb will add to Night Sky Network.
Mark
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Event: Waterford Library Outreach Event - Monday, March 10, 2025
#cal-invite
Waterford Library Outreach Event
When:
Monday, March 10, 2025
Organizer:
Mark Strollo
mark@...
View Event
Description:
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Re: TAAS February Meeting Minutes
Mark:
Thanks for the non-meeting minutes. I have two updates. Leslie has a presentation at the Waterford Library on March 10 and I plan to bring binoculars for the post lecture observing. I’m sure more help would be welcomed. Also, while he may have already picked it up, the optics for the Conn College scope will reside at Jay’s home, with me as a back up if that turns out to not to be feasible. It was/is being stored at Conn in the original shipping container, following a successful removal.
George
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TAAS February Meeting Minutes
There was no meeting, but I had written an agenda anyway. ??The OCD in me felt compelled to share what I would have talked about.?
The mirror, cell, and secondary of Conn College’s 20 inch RC has been removed and is being stored at George’s. ?Thanks to Leslie, Alex, George, Scott, John, and Max for helping to rescue the optics. ?I hope there is a bright future for them.?
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TAAS, SAS (Shoreline Astronomical Society), and LLT (Lyme Land Trust) astronomers met for Happy Hour in Old Saybrook. ??Besides seeing each other in daylight for the first time, we decided on a joint Messier Marathon this year. ??
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1) “Engaging Your Community” - I think we are doing pretty good on this. Although there are occasional cancellations, we have supported events at several schools, parks, scout troops, libraries, and universities. ??Thanks to Deb, Amy, and George for their successful efforts in this regard.?
2) “Like and Subscribe”- This is the social media presence.? ?Although we have a Facebook page, groups.io works for our communications, and have a Night Sky Network presence, the public is relatively unaware of our presence. ?Future (especially young) members are used to a faster pace of communications. ?I believe we are lacking in this area, and it should be a topic for our next meeting.?
3) We are doing poorly in the third area. ?Any members have an idea what this is??
There’s a link for more information ???
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滨迟’蝉 almost spring, so 颈迟’蝉 Messier Marathon planning time.?
At Saturday’s TAAS, SAS and LLT happy hour we decided to do a joint marathon at the Salem Propbusters site. ?This year’s spring new moons are Saturday March 29th (with a partial Solar eclipse at 6:40 AM AND a TAAS/SAS/ASNH event at Hammonasset) and Sunday April 27th. ??With the New England weather, this means we have to “schedule” the events on our calendars for the Friday and Saturday nights on both of those weekends. ?Juggling the marathon, an eclipse, and a Hammonasset outreach event on one day will be a challenge.?
So put these dates in your minds/calendars/daytimers/phones/ASIAIRs or however you keep track of astro plans and be flexible as we get close. ?I will follow-up with Messier Marathon viewing order lists (in the TAAS groups.io files section), packing checklists, stay warm hints, and sleep deprivation techniques over the next few weeks.?
Hopefully between?us, we can view or image all 110 of Charlie’s marathon objects. ?Or at least a sprint of a few of them.?
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Jay Drew
Mark Strollo
Lee P.