Tried to send pics but upload crashed. Trying again: Sony A7 II attached to my 3.5-inch Questar telescope.

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Interesting topic, helpful replies. I'm a nitpicker--not about photography, still just an amateur after 65 years of picture taking--but about our English language. Misspellings are understandable in the rush to respond, but malapropisms and mangling Latin phrases bug me. So in the spirit of helping...

"ad nosim" not a word: "ad nauseum" (to the point of making me sick) is the proper spelling of the Latin phrase.

"sacreligious" not a word: "sacrilegious" (dishonoring sacred things or customs) is the appropriate spelling.

There are a couple off risks that should be obvious: the length of the pole and camera combination allows opportunity for banging the camera against a nearby object while moving, and the risk that the weight of the camera will swing it into the ground unless you are holding the camera itself (which then allows the monopod to catch on nearby objects while you are focused on where to put your next step.

-As I have discovered, a Canon 70-200 mm lens is a weighty fulcrum on a camera and needs to be countered consciously. So if you do want to ignore the brochure's caveat, keep your hand(s) on the camera!

I can tell you "why is there a D in ‘fridge’ but not in refrigerator". No one knows how to pronounce "frige". "Fridge" was initially a shortcut word for "Frigidaire", the brand name of a refrigerator, hence to retain the soft G, spelling includes the "D".

In olden days the stupid were usually the first to die, keeping the more intelligent to thrive. Nowadays it seems, for the last few generations raised with political correctness, pointing out stupidity is considered cruel, heartless, bigoted, racist, and unconstitutional. Hence the ranks of the stupid are swelling. Consider all the "woke" youth killing themselves with drugs and impaired driving.

I think the caption should have read "thirty years ago".

Where are the last three? I could only see eight.

It was a busy time that year. Gabriel was needed elsewhere; Melvin was the stand-in.

"Melvin"

If I want to see something at a distance, I really want to SEE it. My first binoculars (teenager)were Zeiss 8x40. Next, Weiss 20x60. Plane-spotting, birding, sailing - extremely useful, bright images. It took practice and hand-eye co-ordination to keep them steady, but soon I was able to get on target within one second. My favorite pair now (age 78), Spalding 30x80; rings of Saturn & moons of Jupiter clearly visible!

Regarding steadiness, my philosophy: don't give in to aging; fight it with exercise and determination!