On Dec 7, 2022, at 11:24 PM, Mark Ost <jimcoble2000@...> wrote:



We did it!

After a hopeless day of solid rain and clouds around 2230 I looked out and the clouds were thinning. I immediately called Kent (collect) and told him the moon was visible. It was riding too high from my balcony so I grabbed my 80mm F10 and three eyepieces stuffed into my pocket then hurried down the stairwell unto the sidewalk. Ran back up and got my Universal Astronomics side mount alt az and a adjustable height chair. I shoved three old people out of the way in the stairwell (I hope they didn't fall too far down that stairwell but what was I to do?). You can't throw the telescope off the second story now can you?

The UO mount is one that can reach zenith easy. Well as the clouds cleared the view was magnificent! Mars was a a hairs breath under the limb of the very bright and mostly full moon. The color contrast was wonderful. Mars was very steady and had that rust orange color. I could easily see the dark markings in the southern hemisphere. Contrasted to the silver white of the moon the view was just grand. Mars was 19 arc minutes away from the disc of the moon. I was working at 60-90-120x . Though it never got really clear I did get 30 minutes before the clouds moved in again. It was well worth the trouble. I was even able to occasionally see Mars naked eye with some difficulty very close to the bright moon. Sort of like a very big double star with 10 magnitudes difference at 19 arc seconds.  That's exactly what they make grab and go scopes for. Clouded back up at 2300.

PS. A message to Roy and all who bought new scopes recently...........screw you!! We still did it.

On Dec 7, 2022, at 11:24 PM, Mark Ost <jimcoble2000@...> wrote:



We did it!

After a hopeless day of solid rain and clouds around 2230 I looked out and the clouds were thinning. I immediately called Kent (collect) and told him the moon was visible. It was riding too high from my balcony so I grabbed my 80mm F10 and three eyepieces stuffed into my pocket then hurried down the stairwell unto the sidewalk. Ran back up and got my Universal Astronomics side mount alt az and a adjustable height chair. I shoved three old people out of the way in the stairwell (I hope they didn't fall too far down that stairwell but what was I to do?). You can't throw the telescope off the second story now can you?

The UO mount is one that can reach zenith easy. Well as the clouds cleared the view was magnificent! Mars was a a hairs breath under the limb of the very bright and mostly full moon. The color contrast was wonderful. Mars was very steady and had that rust orange color. I could easily see the dark markings in the southern hemisphere. Contrasted to the silver white of the moon the view was just grand. Mars was 19 arc minutes away from the disc of the moon. I was working at 60-90-120x . Though it never got really clear I did get 30 minutes before the clouds moved in again. It was well worth the trouble. I was even able to occasionally see Mars naked eye with some difficulty very close to the bright moon. Sort of like a very big double star with 10 magnitudes difference at 19 arc seconds.  That's exactly what they make grab and go scopes for. Clouded back up at 2300.

PS. A message to Roy and all who bought new scopes recently...........screw you!! We still did it.