Really neat nebulas folks and a fight free zone

neat stuff sage..I had a friend that built a fiber glass dome out of a underground storage tank in his back yard ,,complete with high powered scope and camera...even made it rotate..we spent alof of time sitting in there late nights expanding our imagination..ahh to be young again...

I actually went shopping for a big reflector telescope a few weeks ago, but the store I went to doesn't stock them anymore.

They directed me to Henley's, but soon after leaving, I forgot exactly where Henley's was.  Since it has been a good ten years since one could find a pay phone with a phone book so that I could look it up, my ambition abated, and I still don't have that telescope.

Thanks Sioux~ i am a way amateur star gazer and i hope we protect our skies,it is one sure way to make a person think,IMHO,about all things great and small.

Henleys 2000 Hst~ directly across from the Fox...

Wow! Thanks for sharing. Stargazing is just one of those things I never get tired of.

Where were you when Sam's children died last year? You never stood up for him. You never took a moment to look after him. You cared less.

Why?

As obtuse as you are, please note, children, as in more than one.

I am hoping your kindly nature will kick in one of these days, hopefully soon.

Hey Sage this is off topic ,but I saw a movie you might like.  It is called "WestEnder" and it is a Camelot/Prodigal Son type story that is beautifully done.  It has got great landscapes, I think it was filmed in Oregon. 

I have a telescope, but the focus knob is broken. It's now sitting in its dufflebag in the corner of the living room until I have time and money to repair or replace it.

Even if all the lights were off in Bakersfield, you would never be able to get that kind of clarity in this valley. There is too much dust and crap in this air all of the time, and we are only 500 feet above sea level. Mt. Pinos is about 8800 feet above sea level, which is about half way through the largest pressure change of the atmosphere. (Which means you're looking through far less air at 8800 than at 500, and further increases amount to little difference.) That's why observatories are on high mountains. If you want to go star gazing with a good telescope, you have to get up to the high desert up in the mountains, away from light and out of this crappy air.

I used to live in Boulder Colorado and spent a lot of time at the university observatory and up at NCAR. Talk about stargazing...wow! Most of the local observatories are doing solar studies now, partly due to light contamination, but mostly because there is really nothing new to be learned or discovered on ground based optical equipment, other than perhaps the W.M. Keck in Hawaii. Today's ground based research is being done mostly with radio telescopes (dishes) which are not bothered by light contamination.

Having said all that, I still like to drag the telescope out in the back yard on cold, clear winter nights to look at the Orion Nebulae or Jupiter, Saturn and Mars...all of which still look pretty even through our valley air.

Dear Kat?SAM~ not to be acknowledging you in any way~Sam was one of the first people to reach out to me when my first son died and among the many others who continued to reach out to me ,when nine months later my second son died. We wrote extensively about our shared grief,and I also reached out to him when his grandson died.

But those are facts and we all know  you do not deal in those or reality.

spam code:LOW VG

Everyone else..thanks for the comments.

Light pollution can be effectively reduced ,and it should be. Many areas in Kern are touted for star gazing and the light from cities is impacting their views.Low cost easy measures can be used to help keep these economic tourism pluses alive and well. There are lenses to help reduce light pollution for telescopes an these measures will help some in the city and surrounding hills. But spots in the Kern Valley are being impacted by light pollution~ this measure is a sound one and good for business.

If anyone plans to travel to the southern hemisphere, by any means bring a telescope.

The far southern skies have amazing sights.

You can also access the professional equipment from the comfort of your own computer on the Microsoft World Wide Telescope. http://www.worldwidetelesco...