Starting on the night of May 20th, the International Space Station will begin evening flybys again! Hurray! It's still been flying by almost everyday, but between 2:00 and 4:00 am. Yuck.

My old telescope really sucks. It does bring things up close, if you can find them. It's so big and clumsy. Takes a half hour to drag it out and set it up. And the tripod is so crappy. All the mechanisms and adjusters are sloppy/loose, yet hard to turn. I just hate using the thing, because it's a pain in the butt for what it's worth. I would much rather use my old binoculars. Grab them and out the door. Easy to find things, easy to hold, simple. I might someday buy a nice little spotting scope too. They mount to a standard tripod, are smaller, lighter, and simpler than my old dinosaur telescope. And they probably gather light about as good, or better. I know a spotting scope would gather light even better than my binoculars, so that would be plenty good for me.


The Moon with Saturn and Regulus right next to it. (Along with many other stars and the green/yellow lens flare.)
ISO speed rating: 200
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
Zoom (Focal length): 33mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 640 x 480 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Monday, May 12, 2008
Time taken: 9:09 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS


A jet streak in the upper right corner.
ISO speed rating: 800
Shutter speed: 8.0 sec
Aperture: f/4.0
Zoom (Focal length): 139mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 640 x 480 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Monday, May 12, 2008
Time taken: 9:17 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS


A waxing gibbous first quarter Moon (is what Ashley told me).
ISO speed rating: 80
Shutter speed: 1/50 sec
Aperture: f/8.0
Zoom (Focal length): 330mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 640 x 480 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Monday, May 12, 2008
Time taken: 9:19 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS


I goofed! I took this dark sky picture of a satellite streak at only ISO 80. But, the streak showed up pretty good anyway!
ISO speed rating: 80
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
Zoom (Focal length): 33mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 640 x 480 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Monday, May 12, 2008
Time taken: 9:24 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS


Bright orange Arcturus and it's many neighbors in the eastern sky.
ISO speed rating: 400
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
Zoom (Focal length): 33mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 640 x 480 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Monday, May 12, 2008
Time taken: 9:31 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS


Another satellite streaking across the sky. This time at a more appropriate ISO 400.
ISO speed rating: 400
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
Zoom (Focal length): 33mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 640 x 480 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Monday, May 12, 2008
Time taken: 9:35 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS