By: KerryLH
After checking the satellite and a few forecast profiles for YHM (hamilton airport) I figured that there would be a brief clear break in the late evening before the cloud from the approaching front arrives. Because I wasn’t expecting prolonged stargazing conditions I set my c6 up on the camera tripod (These kind of nights I wish I had a dob on wheels) for some quick viewing. The plan was to check out the binoviewers that Mike loaned me. After the initial set up I was a little disappointed because I couldn’t reach focus with them but then realized if I took the focal reducer off the C6 I might have better luck. Sure enough I did and spent a good hour touring the night sky with no star charts, no finder and two eyes. I managed to stumble across many open clusters… what beautiful sites. The stars weren’t as sharp as I was hoping but that could have been due to the shake from the tripod and the high upper winds. Overall though it was extremely comfortable and enjoyable to view with them. On my next clear night I will have to do further testing but on my steady cg5 mount.

Side note: I couldn’t believe that I completely ran into M57 by just scanning the sky… unfortunately the binoviewers weren’t on at the time. Anyway that’s it for me….