The 2010 Season Up at PMO
Wednesday, 08/04/2010 
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The season up at Pine Mountain Observatory is now half over. Time sure does fly when I'm having fun [or have a deadline].
At first, becoming a star guide was daunting. Although I've done a lot of research on spacey topics and have always had an interest, I didn't know a whole lot about the actual sky. I knew the Big Dipper, how to find the North Star and Orion. That was it. And, since Orion is not up in the summer, that bit of knowledge did me no good.
Since then I've learned to navigate the skies, purchased my own telescope and have made many thrilling discoveries on my own. It doesn't matter that millions of other people discovered M3 before me. If it's the first time I've found it and seen it, it's an exciting thrill.
I went from only being able to show Jupiter and the Moon to having a large repertoire of celestial objects I can show the public. I point out the constellations and teach folks how to use a telescope. I explain the galactic directions and why we see what we see, and how our whole idea of the universe might be different if our position in the galaxy were different.
Seeing Mercury this summer was fantastic. I have now seen all eight planets plus Pluto. We were looking at it a few weeks ago. It's a tiny, dim dot and it's hard to say which dim dot it was, but it was there and I saw it.
I've learned to operate the 24 and its goto system, but I really enjoy the raw purity of no computer. I love making the discovery for myself. I must learn the sky to do so and learning is joy.
There have been many wonderful visitors this season. I enjoy imparting what I know and learning from other people. We've had good weather for the most part this year. A massive improvement over last year when we had very few clear nights.
If you're ever out this way, come up and see us some Friday or Saturday night. We put on a good show.
For photos and more detail about my weekends at the observatory, visit my blog: http://mpaxauthor.blogspot.com
