Posts Made By: Robert Price

For a 12.5" telescope you may be able to find aluminum tubes at a hardware store. Here in the Chicago area Menards has one inch diameter aluminum tubes. I did not have any luck with Home Depot.

Nice write up. That evening was frustrating, and I was about to go to bed at around midnight, hoping for a good night the next night, but as I was talking with others before turning in the skies opened up. When the skies cleared they really cleared. I trained my 16" scope on many small galaxies and star clusters. While dew did pose a problem the dew heaters helped keep it at bay. The Horsehead has always been frustrating, and this was no exception. I thought that I could see some nebulosity south of Zeta Orionis, but I did not see the signature notch. The burning bush, on the other hand appeared in all its glory. NGC 253 was a spectacular site to the south, along with globular cluster NGC 288. Both of these objects are so underrated. Look for them in Sculptor, they are worth the effort. This night saw me launch my new quest for a Herschel List certificate.
Saturday night was clear all night, but the south wasn't quite as good as the previous night, so I looked north through Pegasus, Cassiopea, and Andromeda. I found quite a number of beautiful Herschel objects along the way. I thought that I would conk out before midnight that night because I stayed up to almost 4AM the previous night, but I ended up going to about 1AM.
IDSSP skies can be glorious. This is a worthwhile event for deep sky observing. The only significant light pollution is in the southeast from Springfield, along with a couple of minor light domes in the south. Come out and enjoy, but be sure to dress warmly. It can get quite cold in October.

I thought about this and Bush Jr topped Carter by a comfortable margin. Others may make a case for Obama, but he inherited a mess from his predecessor and it's not fair to call him worst at this point.