Hello Friend,

I'm curious.

How many times in a year would you say you actually use your telescope, Friend?

Everyone is busy these days it seems, so getting the actual time to observe also seems to be a problem.

And when you do observe or image, the window of time might be limited.

I have the same problem myself,  and some nights will take a look out over the deck to see if it's clear
and if it is, consider whether or not I'm going to observe or not.

If I get out about 12-20 times a year, that's a pretty good year for me.
I'm talking actual observing sessions. (I don't do imaging).

Sometimes I talk myself right out of it.  "It's too cold."  or "I've got to wash the dishes" .

Lame excuses I know.

Now a few smart cookies have "push button" observatories in their backyard.

In my case that is not practical due to too many tall trees.

The weird thing is that when I do take advantage of those great night sky opportunities, I got all excited
and enthralled about the hobby.  

It becomes a great memory. 

So that's why I'm curious to know if you have come up with any tricks to deal with this yourself.

One thing I know discourages people from using their computerized telescopes is the bother of having to do
an alignment.

Solutions have been created by manufacturers to get around this problem.

Here are a couple:

1) Celestron StarSense Device

• Align your telescope in three minutes or less without the need to locate or identify even one star in the sky, and then start observing the best objects of the night right away by pushing a simple button!
• The Celestron StarSense accessory module is compatible with all of Celestron's current computerized telescopes, and is even backward compatible with many models…see a full list of StarSense compatible telescopes at the link above.
•  He small digital camera in the StarSense starts the alignment procedure as soon as you hit the "Align" button, and three minutes later (or less!), you start observing.

2) Meade LightSwitch Self-aligning telescope

So easy to use - switch it on and leave it to align for five minutes and it's ready to go. 



Clear Skies,

Ray Khan

PS Ok, so tell me what is it that prevents you from getting out on a clear night?  Hit reply and lemme know.