Minor Telescope Adjustments and Some Lunar Observing

 

 

           Setting up my telescope a few evenings ago, I attempted to align the finder scope with no luck. Two of the six adjustment screws had been broken off. This scope is an eight inch Meade reflector, about 35 years old.  I bought it a few years after I joined the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh.  It has treated me quite well over the years. It has been taken to various places for occultations, eclipses and star parties.  Over the years the plastic had become brittle and once that happens, all it takes is a small bump and the bolt shears off.  Sometime during transportation between home and observing sites they had broken.

                I checked my various containers of bolts and couldn’t find anything that could be used in their place. They were made of plastic to protect the optical tube of the finder scope. It would be a shame to mar the white finish.  A visit to a local hardware store took care of the problem. I needed ¼-20 screws, 1 inch long. A fairly standard item except when you are looking for plastic hardware. Luckily, the store had just 6 of them in stock. I also bought 6 plastic nuts to lock the screws in place once it had been aligned.

                The screws and the nuts sat in their plastic bags for about a week before I had the time to tackle the project. It wasn’t difficult, believe me!

                A pair of pliers removed the two broken screws and some twisting with my fingers removed the other four. They had spread a bit near the ends because of being pressed against the tube for 3 or 4 decades but with a little elbow grease, they came right out. I gave the mount a once over with a rag, removing most of the dust. I gathered the various parts and took them outside along with the mount.

                Setting the tube level with the ground, I put the finder scope in place and roughly aligned it to the edges of the holder. Then I tipped the scope up a bit and found a telephone pole about an 1/8 mile away. Using a wide eyepiece and then narrowing it down with smaller eyepieces, I centered the scope on one of the arms of the telephone pole. A ceramic insulator provided the perfect target.

I lined up the finder by adjusting the six screws, going back and forth to make sure I was still centered on the insulator. Once I had it lined up I moved the scope and aimed through the finder at a near-by chimney. Then I checked the scope and it was pointed right where I had aimed it. Success!

                The scope then sat in the front yard waiting for dusk. I had already taken a quick look at the moon and was looking forward to seeing it in a dark sky. It is half lit and there will be lots of mountain peaks hanging above the darkness of the valleys on the terminator.

                I went out as the sky was darkening and did some lunar observing. The moon was high in the sky, half illuminated. There were a few clouds drifting by but all in all, the seeing was great.  The clouds disappeared as the night cooled down. The view of the moon was rock steady, I could see lots of details. I kept returning to the southern end of the terminator. There are lots of craters there, many more than the northern end.

                The way the sun was sitting the craters appeared to be hanging in space. It looked as if part of the moon had cracked off and had left a jagged edge. It also reminded me of lace, all those fine little craters, edged with black shadows. In places beams of sunlight illuminated the floors of the craters. It is amazing how many craters there are in this section of the moon!

                I noticed a straight line crossing one of the mares and realized that it was a feature I hadn’t seen in a long, long time. It is called the Straight Wall, an appropriate name if I say so myself. It actually isn’t a wall or a cliff, it is a slight rise in the surface and when the sun is in the right position, it looks like a shadow of a cliff. It is 68 miles long, about the same distance as between  Glenshaw and Johnstown! The crater beside it is named Brit, it is 11 miles across. (Picture was taken with a 1.25 Barlow attached to my camera. 8” f6 reflector, 1600 ISO @ 1/125 sc.)

  I lucked out and saw two passes of the International Space Station. For the first one I was inside and glanced at my clock and saw it was time for it to pass overhead. I ran (?) outside and looked up and there it was! Lucky!!  Later I happened to look at my watch and then checked the paper I had written the times of its passes on…and saw it was time once again. I went up to the street and there it was, just skimming the trees to the west. I watched as it drifted into the earth’s shadow.  It was nice and bright both times, hard to miss. Once again…lucky!

                There were a couple parties down the street from me and cars and trucks kept shining their lights on me so I came in for awhile. My community has a real light pollution problem! (Thank heavens that is its’ worst problem!)

                So, I’ll be heading out again around 3:30. Hopefully the neighbors light will be off by then. The moon should be out of the sky and Jupiter and Saturn will have taken its place. Time for a quick snooze!

                My luck ran out, I came outside and saw Jupiter and Saturn just before a large white mass of clouds covered them over. The views of the moon will have hold me until the next time. I brought the scope inside and jumped back into the nice warm bed and returned to my dreams!

Picture was hand held through the telescope 1/60 sc.