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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Fellow Chicago Astronomer...

Thank you for registering as a member of the Chicago Astronomer. You will find information, shared experiences and assistance in your passion that is astronomy. But most of all, you will find friendship and support at the Chicago Astronomer.

We would like to get to know who you are. Please tell us a bit about yourself, your interest in astronomy and where you may be located.

Enjoy the forum and see you soon.

[starthrower]

Logging in from 59 degrees N latitude, Sweden:

See macholz (c/2004 q2) on 6 Jan. here it is way up toward the top of the sky a few degrees SE of M45 (Seven Sisters). It is a few seconds E of Tau Ari (Aries). in 10 x 50s it looks like a small asterism mimicking Sagitta, with Tau and Zeta Ari.

No color except opaque white. Has the surface brightness of a nebula and magnitude of M31 almost. I can see why Messier confused globular clusters with comets.

[Deleted]

Hello Chicago Astronomer Joe!

This is Jason aka Buzz the Alien!
"AH THE POWER OF CHEESE!" lol

Awesome web site! Looking forward to learning more about astronomy from your site.

I'm still using my Meade Polaris DS-114 but I still have a lot to learn as far as my lenses. I seem to never be able to get good definition...I think I need to upgrade to one of those 10"+ mirrors. lol

Anyways, I'm glad to see your still doing well and have taken this astronomy passion one step further.

Do you still stay up and listen to Coast To Coast AM?

If you ever have the time you should join us in the www.nighthawkzone.com NightHawk Zone during the broadcasts! Great bunch of people and a lot of fun. George Noory mentions us all the time.

Hope to see ya there sometime!

Peace!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Buzz Oldman!

What a blast from the past!... ;D

Welcome to the Chicago Astronomer and for your first post.

Cool that you came across the Chicago Astronomer, and we will certainly assist you in getting the best from your scope. And yes...still a C2C listener, and I'll stop by the hawk site soon too. Thanks for the invite.

Not much cheese talk here...but feel free to post on astronomical and space matters. And if it's not related, hell we got a space on the forum for anything else as well. Even the power of cheese.

Glad you stopped by.

[mahesh]

Hi Joe
Hi Everyone. 'Long time no see'!
i just want to wish everyone at The Chicago Astronomer a very happy 2006.

[dcraig]

Hello to all my friends and relatives in Chicago. This is Don Craig, Jr. in Indianapolis, and I am happy to be a member of the Chicago astronomy family. I have pursued my hobby now for about 4 years since retiring from the Indiana State Department of Health. What a wonderful hobby and what a wonderful group of people you meet in amateur astronomy. I have learned quite a bit since beginning the hobby but actually I've been drawn to astronomy all of my life. I am a visual astronomer, ie, I do not take astrophotographs. My equipment consists of: 16" Meade Newtonian reflector with go to computer controled equatorial mount, and a 6" Meade achromatic refractor with go to computer.

I want to make the hobby as interesting as possible to all amateurs, so I have written a book about the Andromeda Galaxy, my favorite subject. It contains guides and helps for the amateur in finding and viewing this most important Messier object. I'm sure you would enjoy reading it because it is the most comprehensive book ever written on Andromeda. I hope you will have the opportunity to get a copy and read it.

Well that's it for now. Drop me a line and I'd be happy to discuss Andromeda or anything I have done. Good luck and clear skies. ;D

[bdavid226]

Hello Fellow Astronomers of All Ages and Genders!

I'm located in Hutchinson, Kansas, home of the Cosmosphere!

I've always had the passion for Astronomy since I was about 10 years old, which was a while ago. We definitely have a great view of the sky out here to view the heavens with my 8" telescope! Hope to gain a lot of knowledge from the all of you. Have a blessed day!

David Bosworth

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

David,

Welcome to the Chicago Astronomer crew.

An 8" scope is a great instrument to scan the skies for pure enjoyment and discovering it's secrets.

Tell us some more about yourself and your interest in citizen astronomy.

[bdavid226]

Hello Joe and Everyone!

I received my B.S. and M.S. in Applied Math and currently I'm working on my PhD in Applied Math/ Statistics. My Masters Thesis was a Mathematical Model for a Toy Supernova using systems of nonlinear differential equations. I've always had the love for Astronomy by going to a couple of the observatories in Denver almost every Summer to check out whatever the special occasion that was going then. I finally decided to purchase for myself an 8" Celestron telescope with all the bell and whistles to observed the stars on my own. Since then I've introduced to my three kids the field of Astronomy by taking them out to show them Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and all other super cool stuff. Since then I've not used my telescope in a while that I feel the urge to take it out and get back into star watching again. Now living in Kansas we have the blessings of seeing the sky with no light pollution of any type and not have to worry about packing things up and living the city just to find a remote location in the country to observe the stars. Well, bye for now and thank you for including me to be in your forum! I hope everyone have a blessed week!!

David Bosworth

Psalm 19: 1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge...

[wingshadow]

Hello Astronomers,

I'm here because I followed a link Joe had on CN. Cleaning his C11... I've been interested in astronomy since childhood but due to a few different forks in the trail I was unable to pursue it until now. I spent my life as a working cowboy, and saw many a clear night sky without having a clue of what I was seeing.

I'm from a family that was lucky enough to Homestead on Palomar Mountain a hundred years ago. There is a telescope there now. A big one. They picked the site after a survey and study starting in the 1920's and lasting many years. They found it to have the most 'clear sky' nights of any other proposed sites, so they built a 200" scope there. These days they've added many more smaller ones.

I'm lucky in that I've lived under these skies and see Orion's Nebula nightly with the unaided eye, plus of course the march of the Milky Way, and the magic within.

Now I want to get serious so I put the horses away and took on goats and gardens. I eat veggies off my land and sell to local markets downstream. I have solar power for electric and my own well water. I work hard and stop to smell the roses.

I got hold of a used 12" F/10 Meade SCT and want to do what Joe did to his C11... Looks so easy... and I've got time. I have a couple questions to ask Joe, so I came here.

I once had a 4" Edmund tube from the 60's that I strapped to my pack horse as I rode at night but it couldn't take the stress of being bucked off... so it broke. That was years ago and this is my second scope.

I've been to Chicago a couple times. ate some pizza, saw some great museums and trains, and the pot holes are world class! Don't know much more about it, but I'm sure there's more.

Now I'm trying to follow the links and see how Joe's C11 worked after he got it going again, but I got as far as a car crash and then got lost in Chicago traffic I guess.

If any one knows where I'm supposed to click next, that would be great.

OH... BTW... I just got my first internet connection on the Hacienda this year... I'm almost like real people now!

Wingshadow

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Ws....

What a fun read and a positive energy guy you reflect.

A cowboy Astronomer is quite cool, I must say.....and the skies there must be incredible...!

I have had great success in the regular C11 dis-assemblies and cleanings/mods - (Another one coming soon). Your 12" Meade should be a similar project. The other C11 cleaning threads can be found here at our ATM board...

astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ATM

Get your area clear to work on the scope, take your time, gather you cleaning materials and organized and the procedure I executed...you should be fine. When you do it, take pics as you go along and post the story here for others to enjoy and learn. You can ask all the questions you like.

Look around here, post often and welcome to the Chicago Astronomer!

[wingshadow]

Thanks for the quick support Joe. I will document the procedure as best I can. The scope is approaching 15 years old (Meade says they can't tell me but I've found three different dates on electronic parts so far) ... It must be dirty by now, and I see 'stuff'. I'm being told to never touch anything to do with the mirrors by 'reputable' people. Leave it to the pro's they say...

I think a lot like you though... There may just be no one behind the curtain!

I'll try not to bug you until I've drained the swamp completely...
Wingshadow

[Paulie pchris00]

May 2, 2012 20:18:43 GMT -6 wingshadow said:

I once had a 4" Edmund tube from the 60's that I strapped to my pack horse as I rode at night but it couldn't take the stress of being bucked off... so it broke. That was years ago and this is my second scope.

Horses have no respect for the tools of science.

Welcome to Chicago Astronomer.

[omarr]

Hello from New Jersey and thanks for letting me join the site. Been in and out of Astronomy for the last 10 years. Recently decided to get back into it and dedicate myself to the subject. Well at least as much as I can between work, the wife and raising my children. Currently own an Orion xx16g, Meade LX200R 10", Nextstar 8SE and my recent acquistion\project\rebuild a C14 Edge HD.

Look forward to learning and sharing as much as I can