| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Dec | Feb » | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
- Astro-Palooza (11)
- astronomy miscellany (3)
- Looking up (97)
- oddities & curiosities (28)
- Pinhole (4)
- Space Junk (21)
- 2. March 2010: ISS flys by Orion
- 16. February 2010: Vesta moving right along...
- 16. February 2010: Venus moves to evening "star" status
- 7. February 2010: Mars in the Beehive open star cluster
- 4. February 2010: Mars...live
- 26. January 2010: big dish
- 25. January 2010: it's time to get your Mars on.....
- 21. January 2010: Stars in the sky
- 19. January 2010: the sky is falling..............
- 17. January 2010: Moon and Jupiter
Follow Me
24 inch Alvan Clark Refractor
This is the looking in end of the 24 inch Alvan Clark Refractor. I had the extreme thrill of looking through this historic telescope during a recent trip to visit my friend Brian Skiff of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona over the holidays. Brian gave me a look through this behemoth of a scope and I must say I had chills…. and not because it was freezing outside and ice covered the walkways, but simply because of all the history of the prestigious astronomers who have shared this fine instrument before me.
I could blabber on for hours about it, and mention how simply stunning M37 looked in the night sky, and how the wooden floor and exposed rafters made me wish to be able to stay there all night and consume the heavens, but I’ll simply close and say if you ever get a chance to view through the Clark, it’s a must!
11. January 2010 at 11:55
So, didja look at Mars through it? This is the scope that Percival Lowell “discovered” the canals on Mars with. There is a photo essay of our family\’s pilgrimage to this telescope on my personal web page (we didn’t spot any canals, unfortunately ;-). Did you get a shot of you or Shane in Percy’s observing chair, I hope?
11. January 2010 at 21:09
A fine picture of this remarkable instrument. It was distinct pleasure to read of your experiences there! That is quite a complex “business end” of the telescope.
25. January 2010 at 17:15
What an incredible experience this must have been for you. one more great astronomer views the heavens through the Alvan Clark Refractor.
My beloved 5″ refractor pales in comparison. The Lowell Observatory is on my list of must see spots.