No not with astronauts… some images I took with the LogitechQuickCam Pro 4000 while my sister and brother-in-law where here.

Took the new scope (Meade ETX90AT) out into the back yard tonight for some manually pointed viewing of the near full moon, Saturn which lay about 20º east, and what I think was the Orion Nebula. The moon was super bright at waning gibbous. When I backed up from the eyepiece I was temporarily blind in that eye. I do recall reading about some kind of filter for cutting some of the moon-glare.

I definitely need to get the Meade #825 8x25mm right angle viewfinder I’ve read about as the stock, straight sight-scope is useless above 30º alt. I took a couple of shots thru the eyepiece (Meade 26mm Super Plössl) with my Olympus D-460 digital camera for kicks and giggles..

I obtained less than stellar results but remember how I did it. I’m super excited to get a Barlow and the QuickCam hooked up! I picked up an Apple iBook tonight… not specifically for this application but I will be able to use it outside for some digital imaging with the Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000 I already own. Kind of exciting.

I’m not sure why I got the astronomy bug all of a sudden but it feels good. Until tonight I hadn’t actually laid eyes on Saturn’s rings in over 20 years…it’s still there!