from the new deck (Union)

At about 10 PM I headed out to Mom's new studio observatory. I could see Saturn as I got about half way across the lawn. I attached the Telrad to Mom's reflector 'scope after remembering to install the batteries.

With the installed 1" eyepiece, I could see Titan to the right of Saturn. And, faintly, on the same side as Titan, at the edge of my vision, with the 18mm at the edge of the focus range, I could see Rhea.

There was a magnitude 9 star almost directly above Saturn.

I called Mom on the handset-to-handset telephone intercom. I asked her to bring an extension cord so I could run the clock drive. She joined me on the balcony of the studio. I plugged in the motor to the nearby AC outlet. Handy. It started whirring away...

We looked at Saturn, Algieba, ε (epsilon) Lyra, and the Ring Nebula. It was difficult to split these double stars with the 18mm. On the Double Double, I tried my Celestron Barlow with both my Celestron 26mm and the Meade 18mm. The problem, at 136x, was the telescope shaking.

The damn focuser limits I had forgotten about. Couldn't quite get the 18mm in sharp focus. Need to replace this focuser. Upgrade time!

We had to stand very still when the other was viewing.

Mom understood now the effect of small vibration through the wood structure.

I totally forgot to go for the Great Hercules cluster high overhead.

We talked about Gemini (low in the west), Leo, Arcturus and Boötes, Altair and Aquila , Antares and Scorpius, and the Summer Triangle.

We discussed kill switches on the security lights, red lights under the railing, dimmers, my workstation ideas. She's pretty keen.

Later Mom made notes of everything we did. Cute.

The skies were very clear (like last night). Even though we were off the ground 7 feet or so, there was still some dew to contend with. That reminded me that I have yet to make a Telrad cover...

The view was pretty spectacular. The little deck on the studio will be a great spot to observe from! It was a lot of fun, our unofficial opening of the observatory.