Do you survey the skys at night?

reply to post by ocker

I've actually got a big LightBridge telescope sitting here in my office.

The family bought it for me for my birthday.

I should take it out & use it, but it's such a big, heavy bugger!

Originally posted by Sam60
I should take it out & use it, but it's such a big, heavy bugger!

Bet mine's bigger than yours.

WG3

Originally posted by waveguide3
Update:

It's about 90 minutes since my post above and I've again just come inside after viewing another overpass of the ISS. This time the brightness was even higher at -3.3 and the little Progress module was right there behind it. The separation remains at about 45 seconds, but I guess over the coming 48 hours this will reduce dramatically. The docking takes place on 12 July, so it will be boosting it's speed a bit to catch up with its target. It'll be interesting to see how the gap has closed tomorrow night.

Update 2:
Well the night of 11 July was clouded over so no observation of a closing gap was posssible.

Update 3:

It's just past 10.30pm BST and the ISS has just made another very bright pass at high elevation. There was no obvious sign of the Progress 33 module. If it was still in close proximity (a few meters) I couldn't discern it by eye. I waited for 5 minutes after the ISS set in the East to see if Progress was orbiting behind, but saw nothing. It is due to be deorbitted at 10:24 a.m. CDT (4:24 p.m. BST) Monday July 13 2009.

WG3

[edit on 12-7-2009 by waveguide3]

reply to post by waveguide3


It's funny isn't it that the nights that are cloudy, is like a night missed now!

I'd never think I'd see a day (or night) where I'd be happy for a cloudless night, and now sometimes get annoyed at the Moon for illuminating the sky so well, the rest of our universe becomes too bright to watch.

Tonight looks like 1/2 cloud here, so it may be a good night to view.


@Sam60 break that mofo out man - you won't regret it, the Moon is out very early morning to about 8am it's visible in the southern sky. Also full moons aint really the best to view, rather the nights before and after - that's when you see some very interesting craters. Then there are the planets... get it out and check it out!

Originally posted by watchZEITGEISTnow
@Sam60 break that mofo out man - you won't regret it,

I believe the LightBridge scopes are Dobsonians aren't they?

If so, they're easy to set up and use. Unlike my Meade 10" SC, which weighs a tonne, both tripod and mount. I'm gettin' too long in the tooth for it, yet the lure of a nice ISS video won't let me rest! The UK has very damp summer evenings after sunset, so the tracking computer, CCD camera and all the gubbins are streaming wet by midnight. Wish I had an observatory!

Wg3

reply to post by watchZEITGEISTnow

You're right - I should give it a go.

Too much ATS & not enough sky gazing!




[edit on 13-7-2009 by Sam60]

[edit on 13-7-2009 by Sam60]

reply to post by waveguide3

That's right.....

It's a dobsonian.




[edit on 13-7-2009 by Sam60]