First Christmas star in 400 years tonight

[DILLARD000]

It's been cloudy and a raining drizzle here pretty much all day. Southwestern PA has never really been known for it's clear skies any way.

What you talking about, PA is the BANANA BELT of the northeast, like living in FL!

 

[Curious Hound]

What you talking about, PA is the BANANA BELT of the northeast, like living in FL!

I’ll l have what he’s smoking.

 

[adsm08]

With binoculars could see Saturns rings
& at least a couple of the moons. Cool stuff.

That must have been very strong binoculars. Mine could just show a hint of rings around Saturn.

Really good binoculars, and clear skys. On a clear night my 70mm telescope with a 10mm eye piece shows an oblong blob. The 20mm eyepiece shows the rings clearly, but the moons are hard to find.

Jupiter's moons are easy to see, but the bands and red spot are hard to make out.

 

[DILLARD000]

I’ll l have what he’s smoking.

Thinking about having a good strong SMOKE today;
what's your preference, PorkRibs or BeefTriTip or Sockeye?

 

[Dirtman]

Thinking about having a good strong SMOKE today;
what's your preference, PorkRibs or BeefTriTip or Sockeye?

 

[Uncle Gump]

Thinking about having a good strong SMOKE today;
what's your preference, PorkRibs or BeefTriTip or Sockeye?

All of the above please... what time is dinner?

 

[DILLARD000]

All of the above please... what time is dinner?

An hour after sunset,
just the right time for good star gazin' & good eatin' !

 

[Curious Hound]

Those land based foods look good.

 

[Curious Hound]

With the wind blowing. I had trouble keeping the binoculars steady. My eyesight isn't the greatest either. Using the binoculars with my glasses isn't great. Without the glasses, I can focus the binoculars better. But they don't correct for my astigmatism. Maybe I'll try with my camera setup tomorrow night. I can set up with a 400mm lens and a doubler, so effectively 800mm focal length. With my tripod, that should get pretty decent results.

I went back out last night with the camera. They were closer to the horizon. I had trouble getting focused. Because of the lens I was using, everything had to be set manually. My results were almost as good as @85_Ranger4x4 's. I did get some good shots of the moon, though.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I hoped to go for a round 2 last night but I had clouds.

I was running everything manual (why I had to google what to do lol) My autofocus was helpless at focusing on the stars, I need to research how to do that better.
I was basically running "live view" on the back screen and focusing until I could see two individual stars and I would also try a little on each side of that to try to get it better yet (to compensate for any accuracy issues between the lens and the screen)

 

[Dirtman]

Those land based foods look good.

You got a problem with aquatic based foods?

 

[Curious Hound]

You got a problem with aquatic based foods?

No. Fish just ain't my favoritest of things.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

No. Fish just ain't my favoritest of things.

There is more to aquatic than fish...

 

[Curious Hound]

There is more to aquatic than fish...

Cook those properly and I'll eat them.

 

[DILLARD000]

There is more to aquatic than fish...

Mmm, mmm; smell like fish, taste like chicken!