transit
we set up the telescope to watch the beginning of the transit of venus 2012. i re-purposed one of the boys' science project poster boards as a screen. it worked okay. took some pictures which i haven't unloaded from the camera yet. nothing spectacular. did learn a couple of things about using a telescope to view the sun. you can't leave it sit unattended. cause the sun will move. the focus will move off the optical axis. and the telescope will pretty much set itself on fire. which is kinda bad. second kids are stupid. g stuck his face into the end of the tube to see where the smoke was coming from. i said, uh g...? should you look directly at the sun? no of course not. la la la. uh g... ? should you look directly at a mirror that's pointed directly at the sun? oh duh. fortunately i was standing between the sun and the telescope. and noticed the lack of sense unfolding in front of me. and i kept shading him until he got a clue.