Hi Vin, and welcome! We have a solid community of regular dark-site visual observers and imagers, of all levels of experience and education. Also the Salt Lake club has solid ties to the Astronomy department at the University of Utah. So I think you'll find a welcoming community of people with similar interests, as well as an academic environment befitting your professional vitae. I know many of them personally and all are amazing people. I'm sure the suggestions on sites will come pouring in. I hope you and your wife thoroughly enjoy living, working, and having fun here! Chuck On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 2:28 PM, Vincent Catanzaro < vincent.catanzaro@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello all,
I recently joined the listserv as I will be moving to Utah mid-August from Buffalo, NY. My wife got a job at Weber State. I do technology architecture and consulting. We will be living in Ogden to start, but are looking for a home in SLC.
My name is Vincent, I'm in my mid 40's, and I have degrees in Physics and Astronomy. I've done some research ages ago in Radio Astronomy on 37-meter Haystack radio telescope, but have been out of the professional game for almost 20 years.
I can't wait to get out to some dark, steady sky Utah sites! Been a while since I've done much observing (maybe once every few months), and my primary scope has been a 12" Dob, which is one of the reasons it's been a while. Too heavy to take out often. I've ordered a CPC 800 HD to use as my main visual scope, and hope the smaller form factor will motivate me to get out to dark skies frequently. Plan on picking up a GEM and APO at some point in the future for AP.
Any tips on good observation locations would be greatly appreciated. Given the arid climate, is it safe to assume a dew shield is unnecessary? Thanks for any and all advice.
Vin