JoePeartree's Blog

First observing session of 2011! Wow, it has been almost a year since I have taken the telescope out for some night-time viewing! I happen...

Second observing session of 2010. I didn't observe much in the summer last year, so this is an opportunity to see some summer objects. ...

If you look west tonight, you will be able to see Saturn, Mars, Regulus and Venus in a rough line. Saturn is highest in the sky and farthe...

First observing session of 2010. I've now had the telescope a little over a year, so it is back to observing the winter constellations ...

I've been pulling a few classic games from the closet and playing them with my 6-year old son, Isaac. Turns out they hold up well! We...

Near a new moon tonight (2% waxing according to my iPhone Moon Atlas app), and the sky was clear, so I took out the scope tonight. One othe...

It rained for a few minutes in the early evening, so I thought it might be a good time to go out and finally take a look at Jupiter. I have...

Shortly after our son was born, I purchased a 30-year term life insurance policy for myself, and a 20-year term policy for my wife. My wife...

Today, Isaac graduated from Pre-K school. Pretty special day for him.

I happened to be channel surfing tonight and came across the series finale of ER . I had seen articles about the finale over the past week o...

No moon visible, so the sky only washed out from normal Austin light pollution. The book I have been using to determine which Messier object...

Moon is 5/6 full, so there was a lot of wash-out due to moonlight. Observed these objects tonight: M93 - First sighting. Star-hopped from ...

One final new eyepiece arrived today, a 35mm Orion Ultrascopic (gives 34x with my scope). Observed these objects tonight: M42 , M43 (Orion ...

New eyepieces arrived today! Orion 8mm Stratus (gives 150x with my scope) and Orion 5mm Stratus (gives 240x with my scope). The Sky & Te...

New variable polarizing moon filter arrived today. I also installed the free Cartes du Ciel software program a few days ago and used it to...