Tim received a new telescope from his uncle Dean! He thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread and is very excited about it.

Let the sky gazing begin!!
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Very cool! My telescope is in need of repair but I had a ton of fun with mine. Interesting to see rings of Saturn and moons of Jupiter with that thing. With that wide open sky Tim should have a ton of fun with it as well! Awesome!

Right now Mars may be able to be seen just after sundown in the west. Jupiter should come out around midnight and be seen until dawn. Saturn and Venus are hiding right now.

Yes, thank you, I think It will be fun. The telescope is a Galileo fs-120 reflector, gives a sweet, clear image. It does seem big compared to the on I hade before, it felt like a one eye binocular. when using this one I say ZOOM. hopefully wind speed will die down. What do you mean by repair?

Awesome Skygazer! That is a nice reflector scope you have there. Mine is the same basic design made by Bushnell but it is like 10 years old. Mine is smaller and less powerful. You have a larger mirror (120mm) which should help everything show up brighter and clearer than mine ever did. When I said repair I meant mirror cleaning and lens replacement. My telescope sat for a while in a uninsulated shed in south park. The moisture and temp changes caused the eye lenses to fog up inside, and the dusty and windy nature of the area caused the mirror to get dirty.

Maybe we should plan to have a "star party" in the future here at our place in the valley.
Sure would be a good time!!

The Perseids on Aug 12 anywhere that it's dark would be cool to gather for (one of the better showers during the year). There will only be a small crescent moon, so if weather cooperates, we would just need a dark patch of sky.

Dark Sky Finder can help with that...

Quadrantids in Jan and Eta Aquarids in May are usually good, but will be masked quite a bit by the moon. Lyrids in April is another good possibility.

Other options:
Jupiter at opposition on Feb 6
Venus and Mars conjunction on Feb 22
Neptune at opposition on Sept 1 (if someone has a really powerful scope)
Venus and Jupiter conjunction on Oct 26
Venus, Mars and Jupiter conjunction on Oct 28
The sun....pretty much most days if you have a scope with the proper filters (i.e. H-alpha).

I just love how your chuck full of great information Eric! Tim was outside looking at the moon last night at 7 and it had already dropped down to 28........but the sky was open!