Massive, kilometer-sized asteroid was just found orbiting the Sun

Ha! Beat you by a few seconds! :)

Now try to imagine a boulder 10 times as wide (~6 miles across) slamming into the Caribbean (or NYC). That is the estimated size of the asteroid that helped to wipe out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. This would be like half the length of Manhattan island. And keep in mind that these things are traveling at 10s of thousands of miles per hour when they strike. It's no wonder that they would cause such devastation around the entire world.

Sorry to be less than accurate...

I was agreeing with your comment that you thought all Newtonian scopes are reflectors. You were correct. Newtonian is the name for that type scope, made with a dish shaped reflecting primary mirror and a flat secondary one to direct the image out the side to an eyelens.

I’m pretty familiar with all this for two reasons. I’ve owned both Reflector and Refractor scopes, and my job in the military was repairing optical instruments, including their hand held telescopes, which are a little different than astronomical varieties in that they have an extra lens that corrects the image. A simple two lens telescope gives you an image that is upside down and backward, extra optics are used to erect and reverse the image. I had to learn all the optical theory, how to cement compound lenses, clean oil and collimate everything, something like 4 months in school.

After a certain magnification range, the image is degraded to the point it’s basically useless, so most scopes only have 10 and 25mm eyelenses, magnification depends on focal length of the scope itself considered with each lens. I Can’t remember the formula, but it’s basic division.

Yes, I know some Dobson mount scopes do have tracking mechanisms, but it’s more difficult and expensive to do than with tripod mounted scopes, so it’s less common. The motors have to be properly timed to the diameter of the Dobson mount base and whatever diameter the hubs are it sits on.

Many Newtonian scopes are also made in tripod versions. I really like the Dobson mounts, they are very stable and easy to operate, my 6 inch and all the 8 and 12 inch models I’ve used were just a matter of give it a soft bump and it moves just enough to keep up with the movement of deep space objects or planets. I’ve compared them side by side, a tripod mounted scope that’s otherwise identical will vibrate at least twice as long if you bump it.

A tip for those who have Dobson mounted types, if it gets more difficult to move, use a #2 pencil to scribble on the teflon/plastic pads it’s mounted on, the graphite will act as a lubricant and let it move easier. Mine got “sticky” after a few years and were more difficult to move.

I have a 12 inch Meade that is also a Dob, but plenty heavy and a cheaper model, I wanted to get a truss tube kit for it but it turns out they are really expensive. More than the scope cost new...and I’d have to get a better focuser too. All the info I’ve seen about this scope says it has typical good quality Meade optics, but the tube and focuser are cheap as they get. The only way I can use the thing is to haul it outside with a 2 wheel dolly during daylight, then cover it with a tarp and bring it in the next day. I’ve only used it once, but it did a good job.

“whizzing past around the star every 151 days,”
Orbiting is, in fact, going around.

“Sheesh!”

Yes, crafting a sentence should be taken seriously.
At least the word “passed” didn’t sneak into the mix.