You forget - I was an astronomy nerd once, too. 10" Coulter Optical with Telrad, a couple plossls and a handful of planetary filters. Sketchbook full of Messier objects, the whole nine yards. Then I moved to Puget Sound and suddenly there were five (5) Plieades. I'm guessing you need 170FPS because of the stacking? Now explain to me the differences between your twitchy little security camera and Monsters of the Deep like this. I mean yeah. The sensor is eight times as big. The resolution is half, though. And holy fuck you can now buy adaptive optics for under a grand. Somewhere I've got a picture of me next to a 25" Obsession. Once I started living near the ocean, though, that became a serious waste of money even to dream about. I pointed this place out to my wife once. She said "eh."
Yeah unfortunately the Seattle guys go south an hour of me before they go east an hour from me thereby making it impractical... and their normal viewing conditions are shit. I mean, at least I was hauling my shit out to Gold Bar. Meanwhile, closer at hand... Date: (weather permitting) Location of Star Party tbd - March? Star party at Ron Tam's (when clear weather returns)Upcoming Star Parties