Tim's Astronomy Page

<BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> <CENTER> <IMG SRC="Images/asthead.gif" width="430" height="130"> <H4>No-Frames Version</H4> For best viewing this site requires a browser with Frames support. <A HREF="#frames">Click here</A> to find out about browsers that have this support. </CENTER> <HR> <H2 ALIGN="CENTER">Me & My Scope</H2> I began an interest in astronomy in about 6th grade and got my first small telescope back then which I sat up all night using many times. In 7th grade I built a 4.5" Newtonian reflector with a mount made of 2x4's and pipe fittings and a tube of heating duct. It actually performed quite well and kept me busy for several years. I spent most of my time then observing the planets and logging drawings of them. Then in about 11th grade I stopped using my scope regularily and sort of gave it up. <P>Recently a friend bought a small Meade ETX and we used it one night while camping at Smith Rock State Park on a climbing trip. This got me interested again and ready to buy a telescope for observing and starting in astrophotography. Within a month I had researched telescopes and bought my first decent scope, a Celestron C5+ described below. I have spent as many clear nights as Seattle allows since then hunting Messier objects, observing planets, and starting out in astrophotography. <P>My main interests right now are deep sky observing and astrophotography. This prompted my <A HREF="messier.html">Messier Hunt</A> to commence as a good intro to deep sky observing. I am very interested in gaining more experience with photography and learning about CCD imaging since it combines my interest with computers and astronomy. I recently joined the <A HREF="http://www.scn.org/ip/sastro/sas.html">Seattle Astronomical Society</A> also to get more involved and learn more from the group. <HR> <H3 ALIGN="CENTER">My Telescope</H3> <CENTER> <IMG SRC="Images/c50.gif" width="130" height="226"> </CENTER> For my scope I purchased a Celestron C5+ telescope, my first "real" telescope to get me back into astronomy. <P> I chose the C5+ because my requirements were: <UL> <LI>Portability <LI>Quality optics <LI>Good mount for astrophotography </UL> The C5+ was the only scope that really met these criteria fully, winning over the Meade ETX and over getting a C8 or Meade LX10 which were just too bulky to fit in with the camping gear. Here's a <A HREF=http://www.skypub.com/testrept/c5.html#top">review of the C5+</A> from the <A HREF="http://www.skypub.com/">Sky Publications</A> WWW Site. <P>I'm really happy with the C5+ for my use now. Spending much of my time in backyard observing I find the C5 easy to move around in order to get views around trees, houses, etc... For its small aperture it seems to bring in objects pretty well, especially when paired with a light pollution filter. I have viewed the Little Dumbbell Nebula which is only mag. 11 in my driveway using the C5+, a 35mm eyepiece and an Orion Skyglow filter. <HR> <H2 ALIGN="CENTER">More of the Site</H2> Some of this site is accessible without a frames supported browser. You should be able to check out the following areas without trouble though some of the pages they link to may require VBScript or JavaScript support in your browser, warnings are usually posted. <UL> <LI><B><A HREF="astnew.html">What's New</A>: </B>What is new on my site</LI> <LI><B><A HREF="astphoto.html">My Astrophotopgraphy</A>: </B>Now contains my first lunar photos.</LI> <LI><B><A HREF="messier.html">My Messier Hunt</A>: </B>Updates on my Messier progress and drawings of many objects</LI> <LI><B><A HREF="astlinks.html">Astronomy Links</A>: </B>Links ot other astronomy sites</LI> <HR> <A HREF="http://www.oz.net/~tharris/" TARGET="_top">Visit my Home Page</A><BR>Or<BR>Mail me at <a href="mailto:tharris@oz.net">tharris@oz.net</a> <HR> <A NAME="frames"> For best viewing this page now requires a browser with Frames support and support for VBScript and JavaScript for best viewing. I recommend Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. Click on the link below to set up Internet Explorer, then come back to really see the site. <HR> <CENTER> <FONT FACE="ARIAL,HELVETICA" SIZE="1"> <B>Best experienced with<BR> </a> <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie.htm" TARGET="_top"> <IMG SRC="ie_logo.gif" WIDTH="88" HEIGHT="31" BORDER="0" ALT="Microsoft Internet Explorer" VSPACE="7"> </A><BR>CLick Here to start. </FONT> <B> <FONT FACE="ARIAL,HELVETICA" SIZE="1"> <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie.htm" TARGET="_top"> <IMG SRC="Images/ie_logo.gif" WIDTH="88" HEIGHT="31" BORDER="0" ALT="Microsoft Internet Explorer" VSPACE="7"> </A><BR>CLick Here to start. </FONT></CENTER><BR> </ul> </b></b> <CENTER> <IMG SRC="asthead.gif"> <H4>No-Frames Version</H4> For best viewing this site requires a browser with Frames support. <A HREF="#frames">Click here</A> to find out about browsers that have this support. </CENTER> <HR> <H2 ALIGN="CENTER">Me & My Scope</H2> I began an interest in astronomy in about 6th grade and got my first small telescope back then which I sat up all night using many times. In 7th grade I built a 4.5" Newtonian reflector with a mount made of 2x4's and pipe fittings and a tube of heating duct. It actually performed quite well and kept me busy for several years. I spent most of my time then observing the planets and logging drawings of them. Then in about 11th grade I stopped using my scope regularily and sort of gave it up. <P>Recently a friend bought a small Meade ETX and we used it one night while camping at Smith Rock State Park on a climbing trip. This got me interested again and ready to buy a telescope for observing and starting in astrophotography. Within a month I had researched telescopes and bought my first decent scope, a Celestron C5+ described below. I have spent as many clear nights as Seattle allows since then hunting Messier objects, observing planets, and starting out in astrophotography. <P>My main interests right now are deep sky observing and astrophotography. This prompted my <A HREF="messier.html">Messier Hunt</A> to commence as a good intro to deep sky observing. I am very interested in gaining more experience with photography and learning about CCD imaging since it combines my interest with computers and astronomy. I recently joined the <A HREF="http://www.scn.org/ip/sastro/sas.html">Seattle Astronomical Society</A> also to get more involved and learn more from the group. <HR> <H3 ALIGN="CENTER">My Telescope</H3> <CENTER> <IMG SRC="c50.gif"> </CENTER> For my scope I purchased a Celestron C5+ telescope, my first "real" telescope to get me back into astronomy. <P> I chose the C5+ because my requirements were: <UL> <LI>Portability <LI>Quality optics <LI>Good mount for astrophotography </UL> The C5+ was the only scope that really met these criteria fully, winning over the Meade ETX and over getting a C8 or Meade LX10 which were just too bulky to fit in with the camping gear. Here's a <A HREF=http://www.skypub.com/testrept/c5.html#top">review of the C5+</A> from the <A HREF="http://www.skypub.com/">Sky Publications</A> WWW Site. <P>I'm really happy with the C5+ for my use now. Spending much of my time in backyard observing I find the C5 easy to move around in order to get views around trees, houses, etc... For its small aperture it seems to bring in objects pretty well, especially when paired with a light pollution filter. I have viewed the Little Dumbbell Nebula which is only mag. 11 in my driveway using the C5+, a 35mm eyepiece and an Orion Skyglow filter. <HR> <H2 ALIGN="CENTER">More of the Site</H2> Some of this site is accessible without a frames supported browser. You should be able to check out the following areas without trouble though some of the pages they link to may require VBScript or JavaScript support in your browser, warnings are usually posted. <UL> <LI><B><A HREF="astnew.html">What's New</A>: </B>What is new on my site</LI> <LI><B><A HREF="astphoto.html">My Astrophotopgraphy</A>: </B>Now contains my first lunar photos.</LI> <LI><B><A HREF="messier.html">My Messier Hunt</A>: </B>Updates on my Messier progress and drawings of many objects</LI> <LI><B><A HREF="astlinks.html">Astronomy Links</A>: </B>Links ot other astronomy sites</LI> <HR> <A HREF="http://www.oz.net/~tharris/" TARGET="_top">Visit my Home Page</A><BR>Or<BR>Mail me at <a href="mailto:tharris@oz.net">tharris@oz.net</a> <HR> <A NAME="frames"> For best viewing this page now requires a browser with Frames support and support for VBScript and JavaScript for best viewing. I recommend Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. Click on the link below to set up Internet Explorer, then come back to really see the site. <HR> <CENTER> <FONT FACE="ARIAL,HELVETICA" SIZE="1"> <B>Best experienced with<BR> </a> <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie.htm" TARGET="_top"> <IMG SRC="ie_logo.gif" WIDTH="88" HEIGHT="31" BORDER="0" ALT="Microsoft Internet Explorer" VSPACE="7"> </A><BR>CLick Here to start. </FONT></CENTER><BR> </BODY>