Last night I had planned on taking advantage of an opportune time to observe Pluto. Yet, as the hour drew near so did the realization that hauling the 12.5 inch dobsonian about three miles for a marginally dark enough spot which would possibly produce the planet to my eyes was just too much of a gamble. A dark sky spot on Mt. Pilchuck where I once nabbed the planet years ago is an hour trek each way and I didn’t feel like messing with that either. This isn’t so bad though. It made me aware again of one of the great things about this hobby/obsession. . .for most things there are more than plenty of times ahead to try for them again. The night wasn’t wasted, however, and an attempt although one I knew would fail, was made to see Pluto. Enter “Sneaky,” my 114mm reflector. Scopes of this size have captured the planet before, but only under the best and darkest of skies. I didn’t have nearly these conditions. What I had was a desire to look exactly where the spot where Pluto was laying in wait for me yet knowing all along that he was placed 4 magnitudes beyond my capabilities for the night. I looked and looked, jiggled the scope, used an eyepatch, went to a 6mm and then a 3.8mm EP to attempt to darken the sky sufficiently (which I knew was not gonna snatch the missing 4 magniudes). . .in short I tried all the tricks knowing that none would work. Not surprisingly, my doomed efforts were very satisifying. After all, it was a GOOD time at the telescope and that to me is what is important.
Question? Am I the only one who occasionally goes after objects that all logic says are unobtainable?
the concept of “good enough?” “Good enough” is good enough. “Good enough” will get you to the eyepiece more often and without perfection goals that will never be completely squelched. A well-maintained scope with no more than decent optics (by perhaps surprisingly low criteria) on a fairly stable mount will bring much happiness. It will also bring something else. . .peace of mind.
One of the objects shown on the PBS show “Find!” tonight was an eighteenth century pocket globe. At an estate of a woman in the northeastern part of the United States, was a baseball-sized, genuine sharkskin case. This case separated into two halves which enclosed a nicely rendered globe of the Earth. On the inside of the globe-enclosing sharkskin case was the night sky. . .much like a mini planetarium. The object was appraised by the two blond-haired twins Leigh and Leslie Keno (stars of the show and originally from “Antiques Roadshow”) for thousands of dollars.
