[AZ-Observing] Trip to Riverside Telescope Makers Conference
- From: "Steve Coe" <stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 19:47:22 -0700
Howdy all;
Well, David Fredericksen and I had a great time at RTMC this year. We
enjoyed a smooth and easy ride over and back to Big Bear and really had =
an
enjoyable time while there. We were joined by Wayne, who works at =
Glendale
CC with Dave.
The bunkhouse we have stayed in for years included Doug Snyder, who runs =
the
best planetary nebula website I know of--www.blackskies.org and Bob =
Buckner,
a SAC member from years past.
Walt and Becky from Wickenberg were nice enough to provide several meals
with we were there, thanks so much for the hospitality.
We had a chance to view through a variety of scopes on the main field,
several of the vendors stayed open once it was "dark" to allow people to =
use
their scopes. I had a great view of the 60% illuminated moon in a =
Televue
refractor and the new super wide field eyepiece, it was excellent, great
contrast and that spacewalk effect. I also enjoyed Saturn with a =
Stellarvue
102mm scope and a 5mm eyepiece, great detail for a mushy night.
The next day we got and participated in the swap meet, David and I each
found what we were looking to buy. Dave got a great print of an =
astrophotos
and I found a great focuser for my 6 inch refractor. =20
Then it was time to get to the speaker's hall for an excellent talk by =
Chris
Schur. He is shooting fascinating images of the giant nebulae in the =
arms
of spiral galaxies. Chris gave a short overview of how it is done and =
then
showed several terrific images of M 51, NGC 2903 and M 33. There was =
lots
of applause from the audience at Chris put those excellent images onto =
the
screen.
David had a chance to talk with Gary from Stellar Cat and I chatted with =
an
Australian Gary from Argo Navis. David is planning on buying a large =
scope
(32 inch) with the Stellar Cat tracker installed and I talked with the
"other" Gary about another trip down under.
We met up with Dennis Churchill, a SAC member from years ago and found =
he
has returned to Arizona and is living in Goodyear. He plans to attend =
some
meetings in the future. I also had a quick handshake and greeting with =
Fred
Tretta, who is also planning to drop in on a future meeting.
I know I am leaving out a lot, but I can't remember it all right now. =
It
was the best Riverside I have been at for some time.
Clear skies;
Steve Coe
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