I like to look. A telescope, binoculars, or naked eye in the dark sky, that's for me(: I read in a book once about: "Night, the only time we can see where we are"(: I've been through the Messier list, except still sorting out the M's from the NGC's on "Heartbreak Hill", otherwise known as the Virgo Cluster. So many galaxy's it's hard to know which one's which. There are even 4 there that form two eyes, a nose and a mouth, lol, in the round eyepiece, you look in and suddenly there's a face staring back at ya, it frames perfectly in the eyepiece, all you can see is the face...funny as hell:<br>
<br>(i didn't make this photo)(oh yeah Micro, I didn't make the one of Marvin either, my girlfriend found that one, lol).<br>I like events too like comet crashes, conjunctions for photography, and meteor storms, (anyone catch the Leonid storm a few years back?). There's so much to do in the sky. Timing has been golden lately because of the Jupiter comet crash and Hale Bopp..two "once in 10 lifetime events in the same lifetime. I like to look, and I like to photograph(:<br>
<br>Above, Hale Bopp. 10 minute time exposure @ F2 on Gold 400. The camera was mounted on the scope to track the sky, then power was removed from the drive 8 minutes in to stop the camera motion and burn in definition for the tree branches so they wouldn't be all blurred. <br><br>This one below I remember well, it was 0 F and a 28 mph wind at 2am, froze my tits off, (wind chill was something like minus 28 ). (-17C /45kph wind). It was part of a series which I dont have handy on my computer right now.<br>
<br>Hale Bopp in Cygnus<br><br>Sometimes photos arent' pretty, just very rare like the one below. This one was available for 2 nights about 6 months before Hale Bopp got here. it lined up with globular cluster M14. Besides the line up, it's also special because M14 is up out of the plane of our galaxy's disk, meaning our view is not obscured by matter in the disk, allowing us to see it at a distance of possibly 60,000 light years. Although it's not uncommon to see objects millions of ly away in deep space (my current record is 74 million light years away), it is uncommon to see objects that belong to our milky way far away, (most things we see are less than 1000 ly). So, below is not that pretty a photo but it's a very, very rare line up, a telescopic vision that only occured once for two nights, never to repeat(:<br>It was taken on Halloween, about 6 months before Hale Bopp "got here".<br>
<br>Hale Bopp and Globular cluster M14<br><br>I got lots more photos around here, i'll have to dig some up(:<br><br>It ain't all fun and games though...lol, here's my car getting winched out of the field I used for the top photo. Lol, I got stuck and called a wrecker. I told him, "stop 60' from me and winch me out, don't go in or you'll sink". Well, this swamp yankee was bull headed and had 4wd...bad combination...he went in and got stuck. After some cussing, he radio'd the shop and got another truck who got the same warning...but being another swamp yankee, HE ALSO went in anyway and got stuck...so he radio'd a THIRD truck who came up and hooked on to the train. 3 - 4 wheel drives and two of them winching during the tow, and 3 hours later I was out!<br>
<br><br>Stargazing, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!<br><br>
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[/center][/quote]<br><br>It gives "vertige". Now, the scientists have found that Space is expanding, contrary to their belief. If we reverse it to the "infinitely small"... Humm... Expansion in both directions ? No beginning and no end, except for us ? It ain't fair. 
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Dont know much about dancin'.... 
<br><br>(And if that doesn't work, try the link 
<br><br>It's brightness is visual magnatude 17.3. I've seen (Pluto), down to 13.8, but it was near the edge of my scope's ability, so (shoot), I'm not going to be able to find/see/photo Zappafrank.<br><br>(more on magnitude scale:<br><br>http://www.theman.themoon.co.uk/Beginners/MagnitudeScale.htm )<br><br>