Last night was the first star party of July for the Shasta Astronomy Club. The
next is Sat. 25th.

Last December I recommended that a friend buy a Orion 6" StarBlast tabletop dob
for his young boys. He's been really pleased with it, so I wanted to take it out
myself. They are now retailing at $280. It comes with two eyepieces, 25mm & 10mm
(giving 30X and 75X magnification), and a red dot finder. I also wanted to get
some star hopping in, since I've been using an LX-90 for the last few years.

It was hazy in Redding yesterday so I guessed it wasn't going to be a great sky.
The scope was very easy to pick up and set in my van. The accessories fit in a
small cardboard box. I also brought along an end table. I was the first to
arrive right before sunset. The scope has no set up. Just set it on the endtable
and put in the eyepiece. I did spend some time trying to align the red dot. It
was off by a couple of degrees, and I got it closer. Eventually the regulars
showed up: Tom with his 17" dob, Gary with his nice refractor, Bob Thompson. Rob
showed up with his 10" LX-200. Later a group of Rob's friends showed up. Two
couples came, also, so it was a good night for outreach.

As it was beginning to get dark I found Saturn. It was too washed up for any
details. I couldn't see the rings in the 6". I could split Mizar and Albireo
once it darkened up some more. It was easy to split the quad into two in Eps
Lyra, but the close pairs might have been my astigmatism and imagination. I
poked around the Milky Way in Sag. M8 & 20 were nice sights. I'm not sure what
the FOV is. Not enough info is given on the eyepieces. It is an f/5 tube so
there is a fairly rich field. I was pleased with how easy it was to move the
scope and find things with the red dot finder. By 10:00 it was fairly dark.
Because of the haze, the light dome from Redding washed out the SE sky. I was
able to see M81-82 and M51 fairly well. No spiral arms in 51, of course, in the
6". M57, the Ring nebula, was very clear. At 75X the hole was very distinct. I
added the Dumbell, and several globulars. It was hard to see more than 10 or so
stars in the globulars M4, 13, 22. I had trouble finding the Swan, but
eventually figured out where it was. I always enjoy looking at it. Jupiter
finally got high enough to get a look at. It was washed out by the light done
and messy air. I could very faintly see some striping. Io popped out right
before midnight. I couldn't see it in the 6" but it was easy in Gary's apo. We
also caught the space station flyover low in the the northern sky.

Midnight came very fast. I was tired and sore from rebuilding my deck, so I
packed up and was at home by 12:30.

I highly recommend the StarBlast 6" for beginners and children. It is a very
sturdy mount. It could be put on the ground for children and you could let them
move it without being afraid of them breaking it. On a sturdy table it is at a
comfortable height for an adult. The optics are good. It has enough aperture to
see the brightest of the gray fuzzies and enough resolution to get good views of
Jupiter & Saturn and split easy doubles. I won't be able to look at the moon for
a few days, but I'm sure that with sunglasses it would be spectacular.

Carpe Noctem,

Michael Huster, Ph. D.
Associate Professor of Science
Simpson University
2211 College View Dr.
Redding, CA 96003