Jack will like this one....As some of you know I jumped back into my Astronomy hobby not to long ago and purchased a new 11" Schmidt Cassegrain scope. I also just upgraded to a set of 2" eyepieces and other accessories...

Ok, I'm getting off topic. Jack, and other Diana Krall fans, I wanted to let you know that one of my astronomy forum budies over at Cloudy Nights is Diana Krall's uncle. His name is Randall Krall, and lives up in Nanaimo, BC Canada. He is a great guy.

Anyway, I'm a huge Diana Krall fan and wanted to let you all know she will be coming out with a new release soon called "Quite Nights"....

Randy, what kind of investment is required to get started in Astronomy if you don't mind me asking? I wouldn't mind a t-scope in the back yard some day although I'm probably located too close to T.O and Mississauga to see anything properly.

The most affordable way to get started would be with a dobsonian type telescope. They are primarily for viewing only, don't ask about astrophotograpy...:) With a dobsonian, you get the biggest bang for the buck. Sounds kinda like Axiom speakers.

Aperture is king in telescope viewing, in other words the bigger the diameter, the more light gathering you will receive. People get all hung up on how they found a telescope at Costco with x575 power and say now I could see the flag on the moon, NOT.

You can get an 8-10" diam Dob for 300-1000 bucks depending on options.

With these you would be able to see galaxies, clusters, other deep space objects, as well as solar system objects planets, the moon, etc... The Orion Intelliscopes have a computer system with 1,000's of objects and the telescope will tell you where to point the scope so you don't have to spend valuable time finding it by yourself, well worth the extra cost.

Light polution from nearby cities is waging war on observers, but you would be shocked at what you can see, even in the city. They even make filters to block out the city lights, and only allow the beta light from objects you desire.

It can be a bad hobby like Audio, because you always want moreee..

Thanks for the link, those are some nice telescopes there...just what I need, another expensive hobby!

It just seems like a thread involving telescopes and Diana Krall will inevitably result in an invasion of privacy.

You bet your bippy I'm looking forward to this.



I stumbled across word about the new album over at Amazon the other day.

I'm just disappointed that an SACD version of her last album, From This Moment On , isn't available. I suspect this one won't make it to SACD either. Boo! Hiss!

Thanks for the heads up, Randy.

But what and invasion!