We went to my sister’s, then the next day we all drove over to Osoyoos, BC, Canada, where the Trains are! We stayed at the Observatory B&B, a very nice place and aptly named. The host, Jack Newton, has a 16″ telescope on his roof in a dome, and gives presentations.
(Canon Powershot SX100IS)
While I would like to say this is the telescope by the moonlight that streamed into the dome, my iPod camera is not nearly sensitive enough for that. This is lit by the light on the stairs…
(Apple iPod)
We got to see many things: clusters and nebula and stars and planets and the Moon. The neatest thing, or at least the one I expected least, was to “see” Pluto. He showed us photos he had taken recently of Pluto, where you flicker two photos taken a few days apart back and forth and you can see if anything moved. If it did it isn’t a star, but in this case, Pluto! Human eyes are not nearly good enough to accurately observe Pluto, even through a 16″ telescope. But I did see the stars around it, as shown here on Sky Safari on the Daily Wife’s iPad.
(Apple iPod photo of an Apple iPad screen…)
The next morning we had a fairly elegant breakfast with a fantastic view of Osoyoos and it’s lake. You will see a better view of them in the nest post.
(Apple iPod)
Then it was back to the dome for a little daytime viewing! Here is a better view of the telescopes (there are several mounted in parallel, the big one, one with a camera, one for viewing the Sun, etc). He also has a larger telescope in the southern US that he can operate over the Internet…
(Three photos from my Apple iPod stitched together in MS ICE. I did not crop because I didn’t want to cut Dad’s head off!!!)
This is my Sister looking Jupiter, which this telescope is powerful enough to see in the daytime! We also saw a couple of stars, none of which you can see in the day with your naked eye. One of the cameras Jack uses to photograph with is a Canon 40D, just like the Daily Daughter #2 has.
(Apple iPod)
Another view of the telescope.
(Three photos from my Apple iPod stitched together in MS ICE)
The telescope we looked at the Sun with.
DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN WITH TELESCOPES OR BINOCULARS! IT IS DANGEROUS!
This is a special setup on this telescope.
(Apple iPod)
Dad looking out over Osoyoos with a small telescope.
(Apple iPod)
Jack Newton and his wife run a very nice B&B, and he gives a pretty good show. He likes to discover super nova as a hobby, and has found a lot of them! He has gotten time at the big observatory in Hawaii, and even on the Hubble Space Telescope! He has had photos published in Life, and has a disk available of some of his Space photos. Not bad for an “Amateur”…
~Curtis in British Columbia! {!-{>
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