Later this winter I’ll be doing some training for my part-time job, and that training will be held in close proximity to some of the darkest skies left in the USA — western Texas.  In order to avoid some of the typical side-effects (spending a little bit too much, treating a work trip like a vacation), of these sorts of missions, I have decided to devote the majority of my out of class time towards fully immersing myself in my chosen hobby.

No, not political or apocalyptic writing, but photography and astronomy.

That is my main telescope, a 6″ Celestron Evolution SCT.  It’s a cool little toy, with the ability to generate a wi-fi network and allow a smart phone or tablet to control the telescope and it’s tracking.  It is fairly stable and capable of acceptable tracking for beginning astrophotography.  

That was one of my first attempts with it last winter, of the Orion nebula.

In addition to the Evolution, I also own a 90mm Celestron, which is great for solar viewing.  During the 2014 partial solar eclipse that was visible here in North Dakota, I snapped this photo:

I also own a gizmo made by iOptron called a Skytracker. You mount a DSLR directly to.  It tracks the sky at the same rate as the stars rotate overhead, allowing long exposure photography without streaking.

I am not sure which items I will bring to Texas, but I’ll bring at least two out of three, and I’ll use the dark winter skies to practice my craft.  I’ll be taking some free online astronomy and photography courses, and teaching myself to use some photo editing software.  For the most part, I’ll stay local to the area and snap away photos late into the night after class.

Not saying I won’t travel anywhere.  I will be only a few hours away from the McDonald Observatory, pictured above.  (http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/visitors)  A world class research observatory with numerous telescopes, they have “special viewing nights” throughout the year, that allow average joes like me a chance to look through some of their big dog scopes, an 82″ and 107″.    The observatory also has a lodging facility on site.  If I take a recreational trip during this Texas visit, it will likely be to McDonald.

Bottom line, I love astronomy, space and all things science.  It’s past time to go a little more in depth and improve my skills.  This trip presents a chance to do just that.  So I might as well take that chance.