Posts Made By: Donnie Bigers

Wow Kurt. You have provided us all with some great images of wildlife. I have never been to this section of the forums until today. Glad I took the time to check it out.

Keep on shooting!!

Donnie

Did you ask Victor from SkyCommander? He might possibly know. Other than that, you could probably join one of the Discovery groups and ask there.

Good luck.

Donnie

Looks like you beat me to it Herb. Had a response this morning for an ad I placed. I promptly turned it down. I thought something was strange about it.


The following message has been sent to you in response to your Astromart
classified ad #225878 - 'JMI DSC's for Ultima 9.25 with Lymax computer'.
This email was sent by registered Astromart user john daniels
(pembrokeshire, United Kingdom) via Astromart's email ad response system.
Should you choose to reply to this email message, your response will be
sent directly to the recipient and will not pass through or be associated
with Astromart in any way. Astromart does not condone or tolerate spam
(i.e., unsolicited commercial email) and is taking steps to protect
members from this abuse.
---------------------------------------------------------

We are interested in buying your above mentioned product (JMI DSC's for
Ultima 9.25 with Lymax computer) at advertised rate fo $430.00. Goods to
be shipped to London. Cost and modalities of shipping to be born by us.

Payment for the purchase is by check through a debtor in US. The debtor
owes us higher than our purchase. He will therefore be sending you a
check for $5,000 to cover the cost of our order, as well as the Shipping
costs.

On receipt of the check, you will cash and deduct the cost of our order
The balance you will send as we would instruct you to the Agency that
will ship the Goods to us. If this arrangement suites you fine, please
send us your address where to send the check, as well as the name to be on
it. Also send us your phone number for easy communication.

Looking forward to hearing from you through >[email protected]<.

Thank you.

Best Regards

MR. JOHN DANIELS.

Hi Vladimir. I enjoy reading yours and the many other posts here. I have learned a lot from it.

I was wondering though. With your knowledge of optics, what telescope(s) you own, and which one(s) you like the most.

Kind of a strange question, but I was curious.

Donnie

Ive seen that a hundred times, and it makes me laugh everytime.

Al, I have sent you a couple of e-mails recently regarding my scope. Your e-mail a few weeks ago said that it was being sent a bit late due to your company moving. I replied to that e-mail and asked for a tracking number.

I e-mailed you again two weeks ago. I still have not heard back. I do not have your phone number anymore, the last time I used the phone number was back in February when I originally sent the scope to you, I have since misplaced it.

I tried to get the number from your company site, but it says to click on the contact page for information regarding the new number and address. The contact page button is not active.

If you see this or if anyone else does that knows how to get in touch with Al, I would appreciate any assistance.

Thanks,

Donnie Bigers

Hi everyone. I want to draw off the knowledge of the group here if I may. My question concerns resolving power and magnification.

What I am curious about is this. Lets say you have a 4" scope. For the sake of the argument, lets assume it is a top quality APO. At what point does increasing magnification result in no gain in detail?

The reason I ask is that winter time around here means one thing. Lots of frustration when trying to observe the planets. The jetsream settles in right on top of us when it makes its turn to the East. This creates a lot of turbulence. Most nights in the winter I am limited to <200X. Unfortunately right now and for the past few years the gas giants are most favorably placed during the winter months. In a few years perhaps when they are better viewed in the summer, then this would be a moot point.

With that in mind and the fact that I am once again looking for something more portable and with quick cooldowns your responses would be most appreciated.

I have a N8GPS now that I really like. However, DSO's are not high on my list of objects to observe. Of course the extra aperture "should" allow for increased planetary detail. But if I am limited to the powers I mentioned above--is that benefit fully realised? Of course exit pupil and image brightness are another concern. But based purely on planetary detail, would an 8" scope provide more detail than a 4" scope when used at the exact same magnification--under 200x?

If 200x is not beyond the 4" APO's resolving ability, then I am strongly considering getting one. I like the wide field of view that small refractors provide. Of course we have maybe a few nights each year where I live where the extra aperture would be fully utilised. But in the past 5 years I can count on both hands how many nights we have had like that.

I hope this doesnt turn into a refractor vs reflector war. That is not my intention. I am just curious about performance at the powers I mentioned above. In fact, some of the best planetary detail I have seen in the past few years has been at or around 160x.

Thanks to all in advance.

Donnie

I have a somewhat difficult question. I just purchased a used Meade 127ED. However, I do not have a suitable mount at the moment. Also keep in mind that I have less than $1000 to spend at the moment.

At first thought I considered the Atlas (EQ6) as it looks more than capable of the task. But I am concerned about the weight of this mount. It is a monster.

I was wondering how the newer CG5's would do with this OTA. I had an older CG5 with a CR150 a few years ago. It was the kind with bearings and not the bushings of the first run's. I felt that the mount was up to the task of holding the OTA, but those silly aluminum legs were terrible. The newer CG5's and its GOTO brother look quite a bit more stable.

I am purely a visual observer. Any comments on the stability of a 5" F9 refractor on these mounts would be greatly appreciated. I certainly dont expect the "Rock of Gibraltor" but if it is acceptable visually I would rather go that route than get the heavier mount. I am afraid I would be less inclined to use it if the weight became an issue. Nothing wrong with my health, I am just lazy it seems.

Thanks in advance.

My 127ED came a day earlier than UPS was showing on their site. I was quite surprised when the big brown truck pulled up. Though it is not close to a premium APO in both color correction and mechanics, it is a far cry from the Synta scopes I have used in the past.

This thing is built like a tank. I actually found the focuser to be quite smooth and solid. Again, not the finest in the world, but compared to the Synta scopes I have used in the past, it is exceptional.

Scope is also a lot bigger than I imagined. Guess thats always the case. OTA is 140mm in diameter. It is also nicely baffled.

Now if my mount I ordered would just arrive, I could actually get some light into it. Funny thing is, the scope arrived today and I expected it to be clear, considering I dont have a mount for it yet. That would have been fitting. Guess the weather is confused.

Sorry for all the useless information, guess the kid in me still gets excited when a new scope arrives. My wife gets a kick out of it.

I know we are all guilty of impulse purchases from time to time, but if one is returning more than a couple of items a year that are unopened, something might be amiss. Maybe a little more research into the items before purchasing would save you some hassle in the long run.

I am curious why you would be returning unopened items. I probably over research things before buying, to the point of paralysis. But I have never returned any astro gear. I have received damaged goods and gotten returns on that, but if it is new in the box, I figure it is on me. I either keep it or take a loss and sell it here.