Updates

23 August 2020: Finally, a new observing report for the two largest planets in our solar system.

18 February 2015: Added an observing report covering Jupiter, Sirius (and Sirius B, maybe), and the Trapezium.

15 February 2010: Added two observing reports, one at Griffith Observatory on Jupiter and the Moon, and one at home on Mars.

25 October 2009: Added an observing report in which Cutter John (a 10-inch dob) joins Opus in Lockwood.

7 August 2009: Added an observing report on a few objects that aren't too deeply affected by light pollution.

23 July 2009: Added an observing report on Jupiter's recent impact mark.

25 March 2009: Added an observing report on Saturn, a few DSOs old and new, and the light pollution.

24 February 2009: Added an observing report on Saturn, Comet Lulin, and a few DSOs.

18 February 2009: Added an observing report on a couple of winter DSOs: an emission nebula and an open cluster.

21 July 2008: Added mention of the Celestron Omni XLT 127 to the history section.

12 January 2008: Added a Mars observing report.

5 September 2007: Added an observing report, mostly about open clusters in the northern sky.

23 August 2007: Added an observing report from my first trip to Lockwood in a long time.

18 January 2007: Added an observing report on a whole slew of open clusters.

25 August 2006: Added an observing report on M11, R Scuti, and NGC 6712.

3 July 2006: Added a pair of observing reports—the first one on Jupiter and an abortive attempt to see the GRS/Oval BA pairing, and the second one on a partial success in observing the near-Earth asteroid, 2004 XP14.

25 June 2006: Added a new observing report on Jupiter and M13.

24 June 2006: Substantially revised all of the C5+ pages in order to update them. Includes a new historical account on the front page, superseding the history page, which is now removed. The seeing scale page has also been removed, and several old links discarded.

11 June 2006: Added a nice observing session on Jupiter, M53, the Moon, and a few doubles.

5 April 2006: Added a few observing reports from last summer, including one on my first public star party in some time.

18 June 2005: Added a new observing report on Jupiter and a few clusters—open and globulars.

5 June 2005: Added a couple of observing reports on the gas giants and a pair of double galaxies.

23 April 2005: Added a new observing report on Jupiter and a few double stars.

19 January 2005: Added a new observing report on a couple of open clusters and the Leo galaxy duo (would be trio, if NGC 3628 were visible).

9 December 2004: Added a new observing report on Comet Machholz and a few open clusters.

14 November 2004: Finally typed in a couple of old observing reports from April and May.

26 April 2004: Added a few more observing reports, including a trio of reports after a six-month layoff from using Opus. (I did use him as a base for mounting the Wocket with the hydrogen-alpha filter, but only for tracking purposes.)

18 April 2003: Added a whole slew of observing reports, mostly short, mostly not experiencing very good seeing.

7 July 2002: Added an observing report on a joint session between Opus and Snuffy (so look it up).

1 July 2002: Added another observing report on two harder objects (from the city, at least): NGC 6819 and NGC 6826, the Blinking Planetary.

13 June 2002: Added another observing report on M53, M64, IC 4665, M13, Collinder 399, the Double Double, and epsilon Bootis.

14 May 2002: Added a new observing report on some late spring objects.

27 November 2001: Added a new observing report on Comet Linear and M78.

10 November 2001: Added a set of old and new observing reports.

4 June 2001: Added another Mars observing report.

21 May 2001: Added the May observing report for Lockwood.

6 May 2001: Added an observing report, a quick one on the red planet.

25 April 2001: Added another observing report for the late-April trip to Lockwood.

27 March 2001: Added a couple of new observing reports, including an entertaining trip to Lockwood.

25 February 2001: Added an observing report for Opus's trip to a friend's house.

21 February 2001: Added a few new observing reports, including the end of Opus's Messier survey.

28 January 2001: Added a new observing report with some old objects (and a couple of new ones: lambda Orionis and Algieba).

9 January 2001: Added a whole slew of new observing reports. These include a second round of the Opus/Wocket shootout and a couple of planet-observing reports.

1 October 2000: Added an observing report on a handful more Messier objects, leaving me only four more to go (which are unfortunately all lost in the empire of the sun right now).

29 September 2000: Added an observing report on a duel between Opus and the Wocket (Tele Vue 70 mm Ranger), covering a wide variety of well-known objects.

28 September 2000: Added two observing reports on four more Messier objects—three globulars and a galaxy—leaving me just eight more to go.

5 September 2000: Added an observing report on yet six more Messier objects.

4 September 2000: Added an observing report on eight more Messier objects.

13 August 2000: Added a question about Celestron's CG-5 mount to the Tips page.

10 August 2000: Added an observing report of various Ophiuchus and Scorpius globulars.

4 August 2000: Added observing reports of M63, M94, and M92.

17 July 2000: Added photos from my first photography session, covering the 20 January 2000 lunar eclipse.

15 July 2000: Updated the imaging and links pages.

5 July 2000: Added an observing report on the ever shrinking binary, gamma Virginis (or Porrima).

3 July 2000: Added an observing report on M56 and other tasty treats.

27 June 2000: Added a couple of observing reports. Fixed a couple of bugs in the history section. Added a way to make your own counterweight section (courtesy Stephen Tonkin) in the tips section. Added Stephen Tonkin and Pietro Carboni's pages to the links section.

3 March 2000: Added new observing session report for a slew of Virgo and other galaxies.

12 March 2000: Updated the seeing page to address kind comments from Brian Skiff.

11 March 2000: Added new observing session report for M81, M82, M65, and M66.

23 February 2000: Updated goto.c for additional bounds checking and clearer comments.

16 February 2000: Added new seeing page, and updated my last few observing log entries to reflect it.

15 February 2000: Added photos of old and new C5/C5+ to the history page.

14 February 2000: Added sketch of Mercury from an old October 1999 observing session.

10 February 2000: Updated the optical quality page (which can be found off the contrast page).

6 February 2000: Added observing log entries for M48, M50, M93 (all open clusters), and Mercury.

1 February 2000: Added observing log entry for some old objects and a few new ones: M47, M46, and M46's attendant planetary nebula, NGC 2438.

30 January 2000: Added observing log entry for Jupiter: in particular for the GRS.

28 January 2000: Added observing log entry for Jupiter, Saturn, and the Trapezium.

12 January 2000: Added observing log entry for deep sky site.

4 January 2000: Corrected error about Meade DS scopes having Autostar as standard equipment (did they ever?). Also added new comment about difference between G5 and C5+ OTAs (thanks to Walter Knapp for pointing this out). Added observing log entry, including a review of the C5+ tripod and the 6 mm Tele Vue Radian. Finally, added tenth imaging session results.

7 October 1999: Added observing log entry for Mercury.

6 October 1999: Updated links and imaging pages.

5 October 1999: Added two observing log entries, one of them on the setting circle pointing program.

1 October 1999: Added page on C5+ optical quality.

29 September 1999: Added observing log entry.

26 September 1999: Added equations and text to the contrast page. Added diagrams to the collimation page (see the tips page). Added a new history page.

21 September 1999: Added two observing log entries.

20 September 1999: Fixed axial error bug in goto.c.

12 September 1999: Added observing log entry.

10 September 1999: Added results of ninth imaging session.

8 September 1999: Added some text about the CG3 mount variant that comes with the G5 scope. Added a tip to look at getting declination motors for the C5+ ('cause they might be selling out and never coming back!).

4 September 1999: Worked some bugs out of the goto.c code. Also posted results of brief performance evaluation.

1 September 1999: Uploaded new and improved version of goto.c to the Tips page. Now uses simpler algorithm with greater reliability.

26 August 1999: Added minor text to the contrast page. Added minor text to imaging page. Added eyepiece selection section to tips page.

25 August 1999: Updated observing log.

15 August 1999: Updated observing log.

31 July 1999: Added more information about the Nexstar 5-inch GOTO scope from Celestron. Added text about the G5 GEM-mounted 5-inch OTA. Fixed bug in goto.c.

29 July 1999: Updated observing log.

22 July 1999: Updated observing log.

26 May 1999: Updated observing log. Added news of the second passing of the C5+, and rumors of a possible new Ultima 2000 5-inch scope using the C5 OTA.

12 April 1999: Added seventh imaging session (M42 with QuickCam).

27 March 1999: Updated observing log and added finder charts for NGC 1647 and the dim E and F Trapezium components (link in the log).

24 March 1999: Updated observing log. Added an interesting link to the contrast page.

22 March 1999: Added a tip on how to focus your 6x30 finder.

21 March 1999: Added some minor text to the contrast section.

14 March 1999: Fixed small (non-dangerous) error in pinout for C5+/C8 hand controller.

6 March 1999: Updated observing log.

4 March 1999: Added instructions on how to make your finder a true 6x30 scope (rather than an internally stopped 6x22).

2 March 1999: Added a few comments about the ETX-90/EC. Added instructions on building a C5+ (and C8, too!) hand controller.

24 February 1999: Added collimation instructions for C5+.

20 February 1999: Added preliminary pinout for C5+ hand controller. I will experiment and report back later.

Copyright (c) 1998–2006 Brian Tung