Cocoon Nebula in Cygnus: Very faint and difficult, but with patience and a “reasonably” dark-sky it’s possible. Look for the tiny star chain, just to the NE and you know, you’re close to the Cocoon.

Comet Hale-Bopp With All Three Tails Being Sketched: The Gas Tail, The Dust Tail and The Anti-Tail. Chalk sketch on black card stock. (March 1997)

10-inch EQ f/4.5 Newtonian Telescope: Nine Galaxies in a 1/2º Field-of-View, around M84 and M86

I’ve been having to reset the time or clock on my Celestron CGE-Pro equatorial mount before observing. I just recently found out from others, there is a CR2025 battery that requires changing from time to time.

Celestron calls for a CR2025 as a replacement battery.

Re: Replacing the internal battery in a Celestron CGE-Pro Equartorial Mount from Celestron online, as following:

The battery is located under a clip on the PC > Autoguide > Power Cord board inside the pier. Replace with a 3-volt CR2025, available at many drug, photo, and hardware stores.

It’s actually a fairly straight forward process, but “can be” time consuming.

There are a lot of electronics surrounding this battery…so you don’t want to damage your mount electronics due to an inexpensive leaking battery.

The bolts that hold this top cap are Allen heads requiring a 5.5 mm wrench. Seldom do I find any application, involving telescopes, high-end precision bicycles or other that require half sizes, but this is no problem.

The following plate was a bit difficult to remove. It was “stuck” and required attempting with several techniques before finally getting it out. It had drops of silicon in several places along the edge, which had to be removed and cleared before removing the aluminum plate.

I found that using Allen wrenches “to hook under the two larger holes” in conjunction, and then pulling up was successful.

Use care as not to damage the plate, or some of the ribbon wires, located just underneath the plate.

When installing the new battery, I used “nitrile powder-free gloves” to avoid getting finger oil or grease on the battery.

Remove the old battery, insert the new one, and then reassemble the mount, connect the Dec and RA cables and you’re all finished.

However, everything related to time and dates will have to be changed via the hand controller.

Storage:

I had set the clock, and checked all other specifications during this afternoon. However, last night when performing the alignment process, the mount couldn’t even find Vega, just overhead. And could not perform any two or three star alignment.

So finally, after at least an hour of frustration…I did a “complete factory reset” and reentered all necessary information which resolved the problem.

Note: After the battery change, the time is perfect, each and every time.

The story how a very small mountain town in western North Carolina became very important to the world of professional astronomy, with it’s contribution to the making of the first 200-inch Palomar Telescope Mirror. And most importantly, as of current all electronic devices use chips made from the ultra-pure quartz from Spruce Pine. Roger Ivester

I’m posting the following “brief excerpt” from a published article by David Biddix of Spruce Pine:

Description: Spruce Pine, North Carolina, a small town in the western part of the state, has a storied history related to astronomy instruments. The Spruce Pine Mining District, a geographical area that features significant deposits of mica, feldspar, and quartz, has played a significant role in astronomy for the past 80 years. The mirror in the 200 inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Mountain is made from quartz mined in the District in the 1930s. Today, all electronic devices including computers, televisions, cell phones, mp3 players, and other gadgets owe their existence to ultra-pure quartz mined near Spruce Pine. In this podcast, you’ll learn how this down-to-earth small town helps astronomers reach for the stars.

Bios: David Biddix is a local historian who has published two books in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series with co-author Chris Hollifield: one on Spruce Pine, North Carolina and one on Little Switzerland, North Carolina. He was born and currently lives in Spruce Pine. David’s interests include amateur radio, astronomy, and history.

Alex Glover…is the Director of Mining and Environment for Active Minerals International, LLC. He is a licensed professional geologist in nine southeastern states in the United States and has lived in the Spruce Pine area since 1997. He is interested both in the geology of the Spruce Pine Mining District and in its history, which goes back some 170 years.

….I’ve always wondered why ore from the Chestnut Flats Mine near Spruce Pine was chosen for the telescope’s mirror. Recently, I had a discussion with Alex Glover, a local geologist and mining historian who is very familiar with what is known as the Spruce Pine Mining District, a 10 mile-long, 5 mile-wide outcropping of rock from early in earth’s history that contains some of the purest minerals in the world and is the economic lifeblood of this region. This purity was the reason Corning Glass came to this region to find materials for the mirror. Alex speaks about what types of minerals are found in the district….

David Biddix: Spruce Pine, North Carolina

Note: The following photo of the (Chestnut Flats Mine) where the quartz for the 200-inch Palomar mirror was mined, is now closed and privately owned.  Roger Ivester

My personal quartz specimens as following from the Spruce Pine mining district:

Historic photo of the mine from days past. Photo credit: Mitchell County Historical Society

 

Kenneth was one of the most talented people I have ever known. He previously worked at the hospital as a pulmonary technologist, former music shop owner, a master carpenter and was a perfectionist in everything he did.

Ken could play musical instruments and write songs. He was a combat veteran in Vietnam, a battlefield medic…surviving explosions, bombs and bullets. He never told me what wounds he attended to, but I figured if he wanted me to know, he would have told me.

He will be missed by his family and all of his friends, and I’m so fortunate and privileged to have been able to call Ken, my friend.

We spent many Sunday’s in church together and afterwards shared lunch at KFC/Taco Bell, Ken & Mary’s, or Shelby Cafe with his wife, Bonnie and my wife, Debbie.

I’m also including a YouTube video of the Battle of Cam Lo, by Ken to honor Larry Maxam who was killed during this battle. 

Kenneth wrote and sings the song in the video.

Again, Kenneth wrote and sings in the following video.