I just got home from an all-nighter on Kitt Peak. What a perfect location for First Light on the new dob! Of course my 15" of aperture pales in the shadows of the professional scopes in the domes atop Kitt Peak, which include the Mayall 4-meter telescope. But it was a lot of fun seeing those domes behind my setup (they're visible in the picture above), and hearing the sounds of purring motors as the observers moved from target to target throughout the night.
I had the refractor set up for imaging, and just used the dob in manual "push-to" mode (I skipped the digital setting circles). Collimation was tricky but we managed to get it fairly good and I was pleased with the results. The first object viewed was M13, then M97 and M108, then a bunch of other nebula, galaxies, and clusters. Jupiter was a grand sight and we watched a moon emerge from a transit and also observed the Great Red Spot as it slipped across the face of the planet during the night.
Larry had first light on his dob as well. He spent a lot of time trying to get the Go-To and tracking devices working, without total success. Dean S. and Dean K. were both set up for imaging.
It was especially great to be able to get out for this night of stargazing because we actually should have still been at the Texas Star Party. Unfortunately the awful weather made us leave early, on Thursday morning. I did present my talk on Amateur Spectroscopy on Wednesday afternoon, and was pleased with a good attendance and lots of interested people in the audience. But there was so much moisture and dire predictions of flooding that we decided to call it quits early.
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