re: The ISS will fly over BTR in an hour from now

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Are you going to replace it?

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At the time, I lived in the country with a great night sky, and saw some amazing shite. I could see colored bands on Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, crescent phases of Venus, the northern ice cap on Mars, and watch the moons of many of those planets. It was incredible.

Around that time, I visited the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ, the big telescope that discovered Pluto. The night I visited, they had it pointed at Saturn. When I looked through, it was barely better than my home telescope. So, I was kind of disappointed.

At home, I had been exploring the Orion nebula. In Arizona, I happened to be the last viewer on the tour. I regret to this day that I didn't ask them to change the view to point it at Orion's belt. I'm sure those guys wouldn't have objected, given the opportunity.

That said, it showed me one thing... ground-based telescopes, even the best of them, are limited. Soon after, I moved closer to the city, and the night sky lost its appeal. Not to mention, the Hubble and computer-based telescopes started sending in images that blew away anything I could see from home.

I was fortunate enough to show several of my friends and family some views that rocked their world.

If I ever live in a place with a great night sky again, and people to share it with, I'll replace it.

It was a Tasco refracting telescope, about $700 at the time. Worth every penny, in my book.