Friday, February 27, 2026

Public Astronomy

I assisted Boise Astronomical Society with a star party at Future Public School in Garden City. The name sounds like someone had a planning map for a subdivision and wrote Future Public School in a box and someone assumed that was the name not a projection.

This was in late afternoon so we were limited to the Sun and the Moon. The Sun has a pretty decent sunspot right now that is very big, many Earth diameters and a few freckles right at the limb.

Lots of polite kids very excited to look. There is a future for America. A couple adults curious to know about solar cycles and Earth climate.

I took my Televue-85 sitting on an EQ1 mount. This is really a bit more scope than this meant was meant to carry. It clearly was unhappy. I am inclined to buy a Vixen AP-SM mount. They are about 3x as expensive as the Chinese mounts of comparable capacity and features. The CFC mount project started because i thought the Vixens were no longer available in the U.S.

The Vixen mount is fairly light for its capacity, about 14 pounds plus counterweights.  Something i can pick up and carry seperate from the scope. (A Televue-85 is pricy enough that you do not want to trip while carrying it.)

I expect a substantial inheritance soon and I may buy it when that comes into my account. The EQ1 mount is appropriate for the 3" f/4.5 reflector i built some years ago.

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