On Wed, March 26, 2014 16:56, Joe Bauman wrote:
You should consider joining the Salt Lake Astronomical Society, whose membership isn't restricted to the Salt Lake area.
Thank you for the welcome and the tip, Joe. I signed up for a SLAS membership a few days ago and read through quite a bit of the information on the site. I look forward to meeting other SLAS members and my first "advanced training" session. Richard Tenney suggested that I get "The Stars" by H. A. Rey. The next purchase I'm looking at is a good pair of binoculars to begin learning the sky. It is really hard for me to make an informed choice with essentially zero experience. Is a $250 model better than a $50 pair, or can only experts tell the difference? One thing that photography has taught me about optics is that extra stop of light often hits you right in the wallet, and you don't always need it. I'm also looking for a good way to record my results and to track my progress as I learn. Is there a website or system where you can keep an observation log or diary? -Ryan