Posts Made By: Bill Barrett

After months of clouds & rain, we are finally starting to see clear skies in the Northwest. As I was observing Saturn the other night, it seemed like the Cassini Division has been thinner & more difficult
to observe than in the past few years.
I'm wondering if it is just me or if the ring tilt is not as favorable as it has been in years past. thank you, Bill

I would like to mount a Pronto on a Polaris mount. All the dovetails & adapters I find are for the SP or GP mounts but nothing for the Polaris. Do I need to convert to rings?
thank you, Bill

I'm not an an equipment junkie but over the years one thing led to another and I now have a Pronto, a non-sdf Genesis, a 4"F15 Jaegers, and a 6" F8 Jaegers & chromacor. Too many scopes/too many mounts...not to mention eyepieces.
I like all of the scopes for different reasons, but I would like to reduce the baggage. I'm willing to sell some/all just to have one perfect all around scope.
Maybe a 5" Apo? thank you, Bill

I'm headed to TMSP in a few days. I want to travel light so I'll bring a Televue Genesis,an SP mount.
I know there will be a lot of dobs, Maks, etc out there, but I was wondering what refractors (not including finder scopes) others bring to a star party.

thanks, Bill

I have always owned refractors & never thought of using anything else until recently. My current favorite is a 6" F8 Jaegers with an AP focuser that I've had for several years. I have several smaller scopes but it seems like 6" is the point where globs, open clusters, and the brighter galaxies come alive. When I use it with a chromacor it produces breathtaking views of the moon, Jupiter, Saturn & Mars.
But I find myself wanting more i.e. being able to (conditions permitting) see the Encke gap, and resolve the arms in M51 & M33.
Can somebody recommend a scope which would retain the sharpness of a refractor, be mountable on a GEM, & have the light grasp I'm looking for. thank you,
Bill

I was recently talking about doing a trade with someone who had a 12.5" F7 homemade mirror. But there is no way that I can manage a 7+ foot scope. So I was wondering if it would be possible or reasonable to have the mirror refigured to f4 or F5? thank you, Bill

As I was driving home from work last night I saw a Rolling Rock billboard with their logo projected onto the face of a full moon & telling the public to watch for the next full moon...What next?

I've always been the lone backyard astro geek. I've never been much for joining clubs & had never been to a star party. So last year, I thought I'd give it a go. I didn't know what to expect but what I ended up getting was far more than I could have imagined.
Shortly after pulling in & setting up camp, I got to meet my neighbors. On one side there was an extended family who made their way up from Oregon, a nice group of folks. One of them, Derrick, had just taken delivery of his first scope, an Orion 8" dob. On my other side was a retired couple, who came to relax & learn.
We talked as a group for a bit about what we wanted to do while we were there. Derrick was very interested in testing out his scope and wanted to learn how to find objects. Larry (from
the retired couple) said he wanted to see a comet. I told the group my plan had been to go through the observing list TMSP had published. We all agreed that would be a good group effort & we would all observe together.
We were a day early, so before getting started on the list, I thought I'd take the group through some of my summer favorites. With Larry as my able assistant reading off RA & Dec we went from one object to the next.
Derrick stuggled that first night, but was clearly a quick learner & very deterined.
Derrick spent the next day going over the observing list & star chart. As night fell he was going from one oject to the next like seasoned veteran. We spent the next two nights going through the list.
While in line for dinner I met a mom who drove down with her two young children so she could show them the milky way. I
invited them to drop by later that evening & it was such a thrill to hear their "...oohs...ahs...." that alone would have made worthwhile for me.
So after the second night I had bagged the objects for the observing list & would be leaving the next morning.
Derrick needed one more object & Larry still wanted to see a comet.
Larry attended a lecture and found there was indeed a comet out there, between canes venatici and ursa major. So I pulled out a set of binocs & there was there was that unmistakeable thrill of discovery. There it is! Giddy as children,we looked at the fuzzy little ball through the binocs and the scopes,
That was the whole reason Larry came. He told me in 1986 he took his family to Hawaii to see Halley's comet & he wanted to see another comet.
So it was about 2:00 a.m. I was beat & Derrick still needed one more object...
I went over his list & said...look over there above the trailer...see that group ing of stars? "Yes, I see it," he said.
Congratulations. That is M45. "You've completed your list."
We turned in our lists & got our pins. Our names are posted on the TMSP site.
The views were great, the challenge was fun, but the best part was sharing it with others.
Thank you all so much & hope to see you again.

Can anybody help me identify this lens? The previous owner bought it for a project several years ago, but never got around to putting it together. He thought it was a Jaegers. It is a 5" lens and around F6. The lens is coated. The lens cell is very well made,collimtable, and threaded to 132mm (5 3/16"). I can't tell if it is 2 or 3 elements. I can't see any spacers between them but it does look like there may be a gasket that they fit into. Any help would be appreciated. Bill

I have a 6" F8 refractor which is about 20 lbs. I am not into photography but need a good, strong, stable eq mount with analog setting circles (I'm old school). I want this to be my mount for the next 10 years. I can spend up to $1500. I'd appreciate your recommendations. Thank you, Bill