ASTRONOMICAL LIGHT RELIEF
Best I ever dealt
with was the result of a know-it-all that was trying
to impress his girlfriend. I
had piggybacked my old 2" refractor on my
4.5" refractor as a high power
finderscope and was waiting for a cloud
to pass when I overheard this
twit. "Oh yeah I had two (scopes) like the
big one he's got there.(why
would he have two identical scopes?) I used
to spot Pluto and it's moon
no problem.(with a 4.5"?!?!) Look at that!
He's got the scopes pointed
in different directions! He's stupid, you
can only see though one at a
time like that!(really?)" At this point I
quietly used the refractor to
line up on Saturn, walked to the
reflector's eyepiece and checked
my alignment. As they walked over he
was still mouthing off about
seeing stuff like 25+ moons around saturn
and the rings of Jupiter with
his 4.5". She asked quietly if she could
take a look and I showed her
the view throught the reflector AND
refractor. (without having to
turn the scope around<g>) She was
impressed with the view and
asked me if I could show her Pluto. "No, a
scope like this does not have
the ability to collect enough light from
Pluto."
"How about the rings of Jupiter?"
"Same problem"
"My boyfriend is a bit of an
idiot don't you think?"
"Well...I don't like to make
judgements like that from what little I
know of him."
"I would, what a peckerhead!
He'll be lucky if I'll ever talk to him
again! Thanks for the look!"
She goes over to where he's sitting
and the biggest fight since WWII
breaks out, and as best I know
he left the park alone. Yes... there is
some justice in this world.
I love it when the big ones tumble. BTW I
didn't get much observing done,
I was draped over the scope laughing my
ass off!!!!
Remus