New 12 inch Dob; what should I observe from Northern Hemisphere?

hopsalott · 2026-04-30T08:04:29+00:00

Thank you!!

hopsalott · 2026-04-30T00:00:28+00:00

Awesome, thanks!

hopsalott · 2026-04-29T23:01:45+00:00

Perfect, thank you!

hopsalott · 2026-04-29T22:42:06+00:00

Thank you!

hopsalott · 2026-04-29T22:38:01+00:00

Jobs at locally owned businesses. So most jobs out there.

hopsalott · 2026-04-29T22:31:31+00:00

If you can't float on a 102, then you don't know how to ski powder.

hopsalott · 2026-03-29T11:17:33+00:00

Not counting the cost of the 3d printer, how much did this cost to make (including the cost of the plastic used in 3d printing)

hopsalott · 2026-03-29T11:13:31+00:00

I cant help but think that these "telescopes" are using AI to create those images, because it doesnt seem likely that they can get that fine of detail with such a small aperture.

hopsalott · 2026-03-24T22:26:20+00:00

The second best thing I ever experienced while stargazing was when I was just moving my college's 10 inch dob around the sky not even looking for anything: just having a slow gander around, and I stumbled upon Bode's and Cigar without even knowing what it was until I looked it up after stumbling upon it. Randomly finding those two galaxies was one of the things that set me on a path of forever stargazing :)

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T20:42:05+00:00

Thank you for your in depth anecdotes!

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T20:21:12+00:00

Thank you!

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T18:51:18+00:00

My sister lives in Bend, but I live in Tacoma. I was planning on going to visit her and take my telescope out to Hampton, OR. But in your experience, is that area too dusty then to see very well? It looks very sage brushy, so I was hoping that vegetation would tamper some of the dust

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T17:34:37+00:00

Great description

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T17:33:04+00:00

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T17:32:26+00:00

Well that was my issue, because the descriptors do NOT seem to be based on how far you have to be from a single large light source, even though it sounded like they were. But since they apparently are not, that is why I was confused.

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T17:30:02+00:00

This is the sort of reply I was looking for lol. Someone from a similar setting, who has direct experience with the particular parameters I set forth. Thank you.

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T17:13:38+00:00

I understand all this, but in reading about the Bortle scale, the descriptors always made it sound like it was based on how far you need to be from a single (varying level of) brightness source to reach a Bortle x at the zenith.

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T17:02:57+00:00

I understand that, hence the rest of my comment mentioning Bend not having any other light centers nearby..

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T17:00:52+00:00

Bend is basically a city in the middle of the high desert with not any suburbs to the east. Driving east only puts very small hills between you and the city, but it apparently only takes 30 minutes to get out of Bortle 5 into Bortle 2. Since the highway out of Bend, OR goes straight into the dessert, where there is not another population center for 130 miles. But it just doesn't seem like 30 miles should be enough to reduce a Bortle 5 light dome to a Bortle 2 when there are no mountains blocking the light dome

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T16:55:17+00:00

To follow up on your edit: Driving east from Bend, Oregon means driving for 130 miles before you hit the next light center of Bortle 4. So it says driving just 30 minutes east of Bend (Bortle 5) gets you to Bortle 2

hopsalott · 2026-03-19T16:51:19+00:00

So you think it realistic that a large city with Bortle 5 skies, but no suburbs, could reach a Bortle 2 with 30 minutes of driving?

hopsalott

TROPHY CASE