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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

My dog Laika and the C11 Mount case
06 May 2010

It was a clear evening Wednesday into Thursday - and I thought to make some adjustments to the C11, taking advantage of the nice spring morning.

Setting up the scope off of my garage at 11:00 pm, neighbors stopped by to see what I was doing and chat and to pet Laika, who I had with me. A neighbor girl took her for a walk close-by while I chatted with her Mom and fiddled with the scope.

Laika was getting tired and found a comfortable spot to lay, she was in my C11 Losmandy Mount case...

Normally, my heavy mount rests in the case...

But as it was being used to hunt M57 down, I guess she thought it was a good place to sleep and keep warm, as it got a bit chilly...

...so I placed a jacket over her and she went fast asleep while I fiddled with the telescope.

I went back to hunting down the Ring Nebula, using the 9x50mm finderscope and the trusty Rigel finder...

I prefer the Rigel over any other zero-mag finders, including red dots and especially over the Talrads - which are heavy and bulky. The Rigel projects concentric illuminated circles onto a plastic screen - which can be brightened and dimmed, as well as adjusting the blink rate or solid on.

Combating the alley lights, I located M57, (my favorite planetary Nebula), but found that the glare from the alley lights were washing out the faint glow of the object. I attempted to image the nebula - with frustrating attempts.

I did manage to get one...kinda-sorta...

It's near impossible to focus and center a image one cannot see in the LCD screen, so it was best guess.

I do have a off-axis guider that I have never used, but need to fiddle connecting it. Perhaps soon and it may help.

It was now 3:00 am and time to wrap up - and Laika was still sleeping warmly in the case...



Good dog.

[patrickm]

How cool! I am so glad that y'all found each other.

After some careful observation, Julia and I are thinking beagle and vizsla? Maybe ridgeback...

Do you know what the breeder was breading her for? That would probably be a big clue.

We had a rotsa ruck with putting Caine (and mostly us!) through a group refresher course at Barking Lot. The trainer there came highly recommended. He uses only positive behavioral training and reinforcement. Helped for us to spend the time together, made him even more tired cuz brain work is even harder than physical work, made a few new friends, and got the rust kicked off of our dog handling skills. Also does private lessons. Maybe you are already doing this, but thought I'd throw it out there.

Dang she is KEY-ute.
p

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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Patrick,

I have no connection with the creep that threw her out in the bitter cold street in January, so I don't know what his breeding plans were.

But, a chain of events brought her to me...I'm glad she's here....and now snoring on the couch.

Others have said some Beagle & Ridgeback are in her...so I'll take you and your wife's observation as solid.

Laika will be at more Chicago Astronomer star parties, now that it's warmer out....and hope to meet Caine soon.

[patrickm]

In our house, a dog (or cat) in a telescope case would likely result in the forfeiture of said case to critter and purchase of a new one. I am lucky I still have my own couch to sit on—for now.