Cruisin' the Atlantic

I wanted to put up a quick post as well about the family cruise.  It was an amazing time and the most relaxing vacation even with the kids! Really had a tough time getting things going back to normal after getting back.

Here is a quick couple of pics from the trip!

New Telescope

Speaking of scratching the itch.  I took astronomy way back in HS and used to go with my mom to the planetarium at the Fernbank Science Center all the time when I lived in Atlanta, GA as a boy.

Well when the family went camping a couple of times this summer it brought back the memories of looking at the stars, especially the trip we took to Senaca Rocks.  The Moon was amazingly bright and even know its light bloom lit up the sky to block seeing some other stars the kids thought it was great in itself.



I came back and started to look for the local astronomy club to see what was happening in this area.  The answer was a ton is happening in this area.  NOVAC is active astronomy club with a great outreach arm as well.  I joined and before I knew it I was hooked (again).  I started looking for a telescope and after much reading and reviewing I decided my first real scope would be a Orion SkyQuest XT8g.

I have assembled it and now need to take it out and calibrate the finder scope and check the collimation. I have also booked going to the Star Party at Spruce Knob over the Labor Day weekend so I will get to use it then for sure as long as the weather cooperates.