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Topic: Star Gazing In Oregon (Read 207 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: Star Gazing In Oregon
Reply #1 –
We are blessed to live in an area that has dark skies, plus we are at 5,600 ft. elevation.  Now is supposed to be a good time to view Saturn so DW took her telescope out last night and was able to see the rings. If she goes out again tonight, I may wander out and take a gander.
Greg & Victoria
2017 Mid-Bath  “Nocona” towing a manual 2015 Forester
Previously a 1985 TK
SKP #61264
Re: Star Gazing In Oregon
Reply #2 –
Quote from: HiLola  - 
We are blessed to live in an area that has dark skies, plus we are at 5,600 ft. elevation.  Now is supposed to be a good time to view Saturn so DW took her telescope out last night and was able to see the rings. If she goes out again tonight, I may wander out and take a gander.
Stars for the goose, stars for the gander   ;)
Joel & Terry Wiley
dog Zeke
2013  31 IB   Orwan   / 2011 CRV Tow'd LWEROVE
Re: Star Gazing In Oregon
Reply #3 –
Quote "We are blessed to live in an area that has dark skies, plus we are at 5,600 ft. elevation.  Now is supposed to be a good time to view Saturn so DW took her telescope out last night and was able to see the rings. If she goes out again tonight, I may wander out and take a gander. "

Pic shows Saturn and Jupiter circled, looking south. East is to your left. Jupiter is to the west of Saturn, and tonight, near the moon. If you can find Saturn, Jupiter should be easy. You should also be able to spot 3 of the 4 moons as well. (I think Io is behind the planet).
Ken

PS. After a week or two, when the moon is no longer up, Saturn is just to the east (left) of the Milky Way; Jupiter just to the west (right). There is lots of fun stuff to look for in this area of the sky with binocs or scope. A good test of how dark your skies are is whether you can see the Milky Way (actually if, and how much detail you see).
Former 2009 MB owner
 
Re: Star Gazing In Oregon
Reply #4 –
Ken and Joyce, I live in dark skies OR, 5300 ft, closest town(pop 30) 20 miles. Absolutely wonderful clear sky. Amazing moon. Would you mind sharing what kind/brand of telescope you use? Sharon
2005 RK
Re: Star Gazing In Oregon
Reply #5 –
Quote from: HalfMile20  - 
Ken and Joyce, I live in dark skies OR, 5300 ft, closest town(pop 30) 20 miles. Absolutely wonderful clear sky. Amazing moon. Would you mind sharing what kind/brand of telescope you use? Sharon

Sharon,
Sure. I use a no longer manufactured Meade LX200GPS, 8 inch. Meade is still in business to be sure, but they no longer make the LX200GPS line. My scope is about 20 years old and permanently mounted in my observatory. 99.9% of what I do is imaging; I look thru the scope usually only with the grandkids. So far, I've imaged (mostly for identification purposes) all of the Messier catalog, and about 360 targets on the Herschel 400 list. Only a few of the images are of the "pretty picture" type. In total, I have imaged probably 500 or more galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters, as well as way to many images of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Venus. I probably have several hundred images of the moon, including one that identified a previously undocumented feature. If you are having trouble going to sleep some night, a lot of the images are posted on my blog, which is nightskyranger.blogspot.com.
The picture below is the scope when it was first put in the observatory.
Ken

PS While this is a good "all around" scope, it's not what I would suggest for some one starting out, mostly because it's heavy to set up on it's tripod (hence, my permanent mounting). Otherwise, it's a great first scope.
Former 2009 MB owner