The Humble Homepage of Christopher Erickson

Astronomy

Curt MacDonald's 12" Newtonian monster on top of Bernard's Peak,
Northern Idaho, 1978.  Duane Black in the background, getting a
well-deserved rest after establishing our summit camp.

Astronomy has to be one of the most fantastic subjects under the stars (insert groan here) and I
have been addicted ever since my college friend Curt MacDonald invited my over to his place to
do some summer stargazing.  Soon after I arrived, he asked me to go into his garage and get
a wrench out of his toolbox, which was right next to his telescope.  Not wanting to expose my
evil desire to avoid manual labor in preference to raiding his munchies, I obediently went into
the garage to find the stupid wrench.  I couldn't even find his stupid telescope!  After poking
around a little, my keen powers of observation alerted me to the fact that Curt's hot water heater
was about ten feet tall and two feet in diameter.  Now my jaw drops as my brain slowly comes
to realization.  That's the damn telescope!!  After a moment I find the wrench and mosey back
out to Curt.   "Nice scope" I casually say.  Curt looks up, smiles and tells me to wipe my chin.

Curt MacDonald's Mountain Skies Observatory

My trip to the Mediterranean for the 2006 eclipse

My photo gallery

Astronomy in Alaska

Telescope making

Adding Autostar GOTO control to non-Meade telescopes

Fixing motor problems on Meade DS-Series telescopes.

Join me in the Yahoo discussion group AlaskanAstronomy

Join me in the Yahoo discussion group RoboScope

Join me in the Yahoo discussion group MeadeDS

Join me in the Yahoo discussion group NewtonianReflector