I'm starting to get volunteer assignments for my time at McDonald Observatory. Among other things, I will be responsible for keeping a telescope pointed at Messier 35 during Star Parties, while explaining to visitors what they are looking at. Although this beautiful open star cluster in the constellation Gemini was discovered in 1745, I've never seen it yet. This isn't surprising, since you can't see much in Dallas. I do know where the constellation Gemini is though. Gemini is high in the sky on clear evenings and I often see it when I take out the trash.
Now that I have been assigned a telescope and tour guide duties, it seems even more important that I get a refresher course on the night sky. I talked to the astronomer who owns the little observatory north of town and made an appointment to visit in the next week or so. All we need is a clear night. Maybe he can show me how to set up and align a Losmandy German Equatorial Mount as well. I know how to do this in theory, but once again, I could use a refresher.
Not a lot happened today, but the day went quickly. My routine has changed a bit since we are walking Dawn now. Janet and I take a two mile walk with Dawn after she gets back from the gym in the morning and then later in the day I take another three mile walk by myself. Dawn loves going on her walks and I think they are good for her. We try to take a different route every day to give her a little variety. Basically, Dawn just eats, sleeps, and goes on walks. That's all Dot and Dash did most of the time too. A dog's life is simple, but it seems honest and enjoyable to me. I've always thought that dogs make good role models.
I'm beginning to see signs of Spring. A few of the trees in the park are already starting to bud. The start of the wildflower season is still over a month away, but I'm starting to see new flowers every day. Most of the flowers I saw today were quite small. It was still encouraging to see a little color in the park. Winter can be pretty dark and grey.
I ordered the wide angle lens I've been thinking about. I was disappointed to see that even B&H charges sales tax now. When did this happen? Will this lens make it easy to take great deep sky pictures. Probably not. I've been reading that the best pictures of the Milky Way often involve stacking dozens of identical images in Photoshop to eliminate background noise. It's kind of a technical process that doesn't really appeal to me, but maybe I'll learn how to do it. Modern, full frame sensors eliminate a lot of this noise, but of course I don't own one of these cameras. I'd love to have a Sony Alpha a7R IV, but I'd have to win the lottery to get one. A new camera like this means all new lenses and that's just not going to happen.
I wasn't pleased to see the stock market drop almost 2,000 points in two days. If the coronavirus ever starts to spread within the United States, things will get much worse. Hopefully, that won't happen. I'm enjoying life now. The last thing I need is an apocalyptic pandemic.
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