Taking advantage of what seem to be rare clear skies, last night (September 1, 2023) I ran first light trials on the Celestron C11 I was given, in combination with my ZWO ASI color astronomy camera. The results were largely disappointing with no good deep sky results, terrible results from Saturn, and not-so-good images of Jupiter. Even Earth’s Moon, usually an easy target, was barely in focus. I hope to try again this coming week when mild, clear nights are forecast.

On the positive side, polar alignment was excellent as was goto control alignment so telescope sky tracking was very good during my efforts — until something caused an unexpected reboot of the telescope controller. I don’t know if dew short circuited a connector or if something pulled loose from the hand control but it was disconcerting!

The images shown here are simply interesting to look at, though not the quality I’d normally want to show. The first is youngish Crater Tycho showing off its extensive web of ejecta rays. The second picture includes several lunar “seas” including the “C” shaped Sea of Crisis. Two craters are seen near the left edge of the circle; the lower of those craters is named Picard. No, Star Trekkers, not THAT Picard. Still, a fun fact.