A quiet little spot where Rod Mollise shares his adventures and misadventures...
How’s one of my favorite telescopes of all time, Charity Hope Valentine, my ETX125 PE Maksutov Cassegrain, doing? Muchachos, the reason you haven’t heard much about her in long while is because the answer to that has been, “Not good, not good at all .” For all practical purposes my long-time companion was dead . I’d tried to take good care of her…but… Charity, you see, is no spring chicken; she is…
Before we get to the subject(s) of this month’s blog, muchachos, I want to acknowledge an anniversary: This month marks twenty years—yes, twenty—of Uncle Rod’s AstroBlog. In that long-ago summer of 2006, did I have an inkling we’d still be here two decades down the line? Hell , no! I’d have laughed if somebody had suggested such an absurdity. Not that there haven’t been changes as we’ve rolled…
Here we are, muchachos, we have walked through that door into summer . What does that mean for your aged correspondent at Chaos Manor South? Rain, rain, and more rain . Thunderstorms. The possibility of hurricanes in the Gulf (though with an El Niño coming, that may not be as likely this year). In other words, just about no observing . Astronomy weather apps like Scope Nights are predicting “not…
Well, muchachos, down the Messier Road we go. Again. I’ll have some different articles for you in the coming months so the Messiers don’t get old (could they, really?), but tonight we are in for some Messier Masterpieces . Though, by midmonth, I began to wonder if I would bag a single M for you. Our formerly dry spring is a thing of the past down here in the ‘Swamp; as that old Moon waned, the…
Little Debbie's new light shroud/dew shield has made a big difference! As I have often said, “In spring, a young (or not so young) astronomer’s mind turns to thoughts of galaxies.” It’s difficult to believe spring is suddenly rolling along, and the summer star pictures are making their presence felt in the east, but here we are. Time to get after those island universes, muchachos. If only it were…
What? No Messier Project this time?! Well, muchachos, who wants “ the same ” every month? Month after month? I thought we’d take a semi -break for this installment and talk about a book that’s not only one of my favorites, but one I don’t believe I’ve mentioned in all the years the little old blog from Chaos Manor South has been on the air. As you might have gleaned from the title, that book is…
Muchachos, this will be a short one. Those of you who are Facebook friends of mine already know my wife, the dear Miss Dorothy, fell and broke a hip. I am grateful to those of you who asked after her and expressed your concern. After multiple hours of surgery, she is on the mend and has been transferred to a rehabilitation facility. I didn’t have much time to work on the blog, but I did want to…
Christmas Eve has once again come to Chaos Manor South . It snuck up on your aged correspondent. Wasn’t it just yesterday that Unk celebrated his summertime birthday with a POTA activation and margaritas at El Giro’s? Enough of that . It is what it is; Christmastime is here! We’ll get to the Yuletide doings ‘round the manse in due course, but first let’s talk about the next bunch of Messiers……
Thomas Wolfe said, among many other things, “You can’t go home again.” Is that true? Mostly , muchachos, but not always and not completely. If you’re a long-time reader of the Little Old Blog from Possum Swamp, you know our local star party, originally the Deep South Regional Star Gaze , and now the Deep South Star Gaze , was an every-year tradition with me and Miss Dorothy for over two decades.…
Before we hit the leading edge of the autumn Messiers, muchachos, let’s get one thing out of the way: Yes, I did see comet Lemon (c/2025 A6). I didn’t observe the visitor in any kind of elaborate fashion, though. I didn’t even give my Richest Field Telescope, Miss Tanya, a shot at it. Weather and my health (I’ve been down with a bad cold/some kind of bronchial infection) impelled me to keep it…
What’s ol' Unk goin’ on about now? I was thinking the other day—yes, I do that occasionally—about a nice observing project to do (mostly) from my backyard, and figgered it might be a good idea if it were something y’all have at least asked for for a change. What is that something? Why, the good old Messiers, of course . While they are not always the best of the best in the way of deep sky objects,…
Muchachos, down here on the borders of the Great Possum Swamp it sure has been that proverbial long, hot summer . I’ve been able to do some astronomy here and there, but not much, campers, not much. I hope conditions will begin to change as August takes its place in the rearview mirror, but I am not counting on that. In September and October, we here in the ‘Swamp really begin watching the stormy…
“Well, I made it and made it before July ran out. Just barely , but I did!” “Hell, sounds like Unk’s been hittin’ the dang Yell again.” Not at all, Skeeter. Well, maybe I have had a drop or two of the Rebel Yell, but I ain’t any more addled this morning than any other morning. What did I make? My yearly portrait of the Great Globular in Hercules . It’s one of my little yearly rituals, like my…
I’ll fess up right from the get- go, muchachos... No, I didn’t get a telescope into the backyard this month. I am old and lazy and, frankly, there weren’t many even partially clear nights in June. This week? This week brings ARRL Field Day and y’all know Unk is gonna be up to his ears in that. I have been ruminating about amateur astronomy, though. A day rarely goes by that I don’t. My ruminations…
What’s been going on here at good old Chaos Manor South out on the borders of the Great Possum Swamp? Well, muchachos, it’s been wet . I mean thunderstorm after thunderstorm. Sure did put a damper on my latest (ham radio) contest, the CQ WPX CW. The antennas spent more time disconnected than connected. As for any astronomical endeavors? Hell, there was no chance of observing anything but…
Near-about a year down the line, this is something I haven’t had much to say about, muchachos. Quite a few of y’all have asked my opinion on it, though. Why haven’t I dished on this earth-shattering (in a small amateur astronomy sort of way) subject? It just didn’t seem possible, I reckon, not till I did some ruminatin’ on it, anyhow. “ Unk, what in the hail are you goin’ on about now ?” I’d be…
I know, Muchachos, I know , thisun was ostensibly going to be about me getting my 6-inch refractor, Big Ethel , and my Losmandy GEM into the backyard. My intentions were good, but between stormy late-winter weather and your dilapidated old Uncle being under the weather for a while, that didn’t happen. I still intend to get Ethel and the mount back up and running, and I definitely want to try the…
Project Burnham, wherein I plan to visit all the deep sky objects highlighted by Robert Burnham in his famous handbook, will continue, muchachos . But I thought you might like something new; that you might like to hear about a fun challenge NASA is running this year, “ Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge .” Wut’s they-at? NASA says: Do you have a telescope? Would you like to see some of the same night…
M3 with Intelligent Denoise and cropping... I don’t mean “where” as in “location.” I know where they are, they are in the backyards of a lot of imagers old and new. No, muchachos, I’m a-talking about where I stand with smartscopes and what their manufacturers are up to… Oh, before I forget—easy for me to do these days— happy new year, y’all! I decided to forego the summing-up of last year I’ve…
Last season's SeeStar shot... Muchachos, your old Uncle had been keeping a weather eye peeled—literally . The forecasts for Christmas Eve had been gyrating wildly: “clear” to “partly cloudy” to “mostly cloudy.” Then, back to “clear,” but segueing to “RAIN” as the 24 th of December approached. So what? If you’re a veteran reader of the Little Old Blog from Possum Swamp, you’ll recall one of my…
We preempt your regularly scheduled program … Originally, thisun was gonna be about me, your Old Uncle, turning my SeeStar S50, Suzie , and 10-inch Dob, Zelda, loose on the fall globulars chapter in UAG (“ The Urban Astronomer’s Guide ,” for the uninitiated). Then, as it sometimes does, everything—well, a couple of things— changed . Thanks to the kindness of a friend of mine, Jack Estes , who is…
Well, well, well, muchachos… November is almost here, and it looks as if we in Possum Swamp may have dodged a bullet hurricane-wise this season. The skies had been improving since the thunderstorms of summer diminished, and that had got me to thinking it might be time to do some visual deep sky observing in the ol’ backyard. Maybe even with my “big” telescope in these latter days, Zelda , a…
What’s up this month, muchachos? What’s goin’ down at Chaos Manor South? Well, I thought I’d get out and “do” one of the late-summer chapters from The Urban Astronomer’s Guide , maybe one of my favorites, “The Friendly Stars.” Yeah… no . I’ve revisited that one more than once in the years since the book was published. What then? Howsabout a chapter from somebody else’s observing book? One far more…
I had just finished last month’s AstroBlog, muchachos, when I was moved to begin the next one . The way the weather’s been this summer, and the knowledge it will likely get worse as September and October approach, impelled me to get back to work rather than take a break. One late July evening it ‘peared the sky might be good enough for the SeeStar, Suzie , to take a few of her little celestial…
Chalk up another one, muchachos. Another orbit of our friendly G2V star by your aged Uncle. That makes 71 . A few years ago, I wouldn’t have told you that. Like many of my fellow Boomers, I’ve wrestled with old age—we just didn’t believe it could happen to us . But I think I’ve finally come to terms with it, at least to the extent of being able to say, “It is what it is.” Of course, I didn’t let…