Blog Posts
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2021 Maine State Star Party
Unfortunately I was unable to make Friday night’s festivities. I was told there were intermittent clouds throughout the night but some observing was able to be done. I arrived Saturday afternoon around 1:30pm. Not many people had stayed through Saturday unfortunately. I missed seeing them as it has been over a year if not closer…
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Countdown to the Maine State Star Party 2021.
Counting down the days until the Maine State Star Party 2021 in Cobscook Bay State Park here in Maine. Fingers crossed for good weather, clear skies, and no wildfire smoke that we’ve been dealing with for a good part of the summer. Charlie Sawyer is the person who has been putting on this event for…
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A little rusty start.
Tonight was the first time that I’ve pulled out my telescope from the garage and used it since May 2020. I don’t have any exact reason why I haven’t been out using my scope for over a year. Partly has been bad weather here in Maine. Weekends are mostly when I do any stargazing. So…
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Roadtrip to Quill Hill
Took a roadtrip with a couple of photography friends to Quill Hill in western Maine to do some night sky photography. I tried out painting the tree with my headlamp to see how it would come out. Used my Canon M50 with my newly acquired Sigma f/1.4 16mm lens. It got pretty cold, even though…
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Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)
As seen from my back deck facing north in July 2020. Was truly an awe inspiring object to view naked eye with binoculars and to photograph with my Canon M50 camera. I hope to see more comets like this one in the future.
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Pandemic observations
Long overdue post. A friend of mine stopped over with his 16″ equatorial mounted f/6 Lightspeed Newtonian telescope, during the beginning of the pandemic. The telescope is a beast but moves very easily. Some great views of various deep sky objects. The clock drive works and helps keep your object centered in the eyepiece. My…
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Public Star Party 6/22/2019
CMAS held a public star party at my home (first star party here) aptly named Foss Hill Observatory, here in Rome. We had a great turn out of about 15 people. One new member joined us from our Facebook group. He was interested in astrophotography and got to see another member’s setup for taking photos…
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The Great American Eclipse of 2017
I decided a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to see the total solar eclipse that will be happening here in the United States on Monday, August 21st. I’ve been reading and studying weather maps and places to go to. I came to a conclusion late last night that I think Tennessee will be…
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Stellafane 2017
Back towards the end of July, I attended the Stellafane Convention in Springfield, VT for the first time. Every amateur astronomer that I’ve talked with says that Stellafane is a must-do trip. I’m happy to report that yes it is a must-do trip. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here are my thoughts in a somewhat chronological…
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Workday & Public Star Party 6/24/2017
With the help of members and volunteers, we managed to paint more of the exterior of the Brower observatory. I helped finish the installation of shingles. It’s nice to see the observatory looking much better. It felt much drier inside too. Still more painting to do, fill in cracks and eaves with spray foam, and…
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