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Afterdark Skies

A friendly place to find a few stories, hints, and utilities about the hobby of astronomy. Above you see how my hobby of astronomy has evolved over the last couple of decades. On the left is a 6 inch f/5 Newtonian on an Equatorial Mount. It has been one of the best telescopes I've ever owned, and the one I've seen the most thorough. It's not the biggest I've owned, but neither is it the smallest. It's one of the best packages I've owned, the best overall compromise in size, convenience, and viewing capability. It has a simple sychronous motor clock drive which, on the Equatorial Mount, lets it track objects well enough for comfortable observing sessions. It has a big enough aperture to see many astronomical wonders, and it is (was) light enough for me to carry to my viewing location fully assembled.

I say was light enough because 20 years ago I was stronger, strong enough to fairly easily move the apparatus around. Now, that's not so easy for me to do. So recently I repackaged the telescope into a DOB mount configuration. Same telescope, same observing capacity, but much easier for me to move around, and with more accurate setting circles for finding targets. What's missing? The clock drive. A sacrifice I was willing to make.

This telescope is described fully within this web site, as well as a number of others. Some of my favorite observations are also covered, like the time the Endeavour Shuttle (aboard it's cargo plane) flew right over my home on it's journey to its final resting place.

You'll also find utilities here for finding star targets, finding out how different eyepieces might work with your equipment, details about the planets in our solar system, and much more. I invite you to use the menu at the right of each page to investigate your favorite topics.