Posts Made By: Thomas Holst

Linton,

Thanks for the update. I spoke with Dorothy only last month when trying to set up another guest speaker date with Richard for our club. That was when I found out he wasn't doing well and Dorothy was nearly in tears.

We enjoyed O. Richard Norton, accompanied by dorothy, as our guest speaker several times at the Boise Astronomical Society meetings and the Idaho Star Party. He was most knowledgeable, friendly and easy to talk to. I'm glad my daughter got to meet him when he autographed her copy of "Rocks from Space". He will be sorely missed.

Lee Spain said:

Where do you guys normally go shooting?

In the winter, I go to a local private rifle/pistol club indoor range, which is lighted, heated and has hand-crank overhead cable retrieved target holders and 10 firing lanes. The maximum range is 25 yards and only .22 rimfire rifles and non-magnum handguns with unjacketed bullets (.22 to .45 cal.) are allowed. It costs me $5 a session but it's comfortable, secure and friendly. If I was a member it would be cheaper but I've never bothered to join. This place is nice when it's cold, snowy or rainy outside.

During the summer months I just go out into the desert south of town. I live in an area where there is lots of wide open BLM land and it's easy to find a spot where I can't see anyone or anything for miles; only whistle pigs for targets. Took my wife out there last month and she had a blast blowing away tin cans. In the attached photo you can see the wide open space in the background.

BTW, I never shoot bottles and always pack out everything I brought in. I can't stand the trash and broken glass other people leave out there.

During my brief visits to Georgia and North Carolina in 1969 while I was in the service, it appeared that your wide open spaces are covered with trees, trees and more trees. I imagine this makes it difficult to find a safe and appropriate place to shoot. I'd suggest talking in person with local law enforcement officers. They usually know where it's safe and legal to shoot and where it's not.

Duane,

Before you go any further, does the Losmandy dovetail plate you now have actually fit into the clamp at the top of your GM8 head?

Losmandy has used two different size dovetail plate clamps (saddle clamps) on the GM8. The early versions use one specifically made for the GM8 which is 2.5" wide. The later GM8's came with a D-series saddle clamp which is wider. You need the right plate for the right saddle clamp.

If you have the wider plate and it will not fit into the saddle clamp on your GM8, then you need the "GM 8 UV" plate.

Also, one problem I've encountered with the Losmandy plates is that they come already drilled with many holes for mounting different types of scopes. This presents two problems when mounting a TeleVue ring;

1. You can mount it in only one place on the plate.

2. You can only put screws into two of the three holes in the bottom of the TeleVue ring.

For these reasons, I ended up making my own dovetail plates and drilling the holes where I wanted them. It was also cheaper.

Lee, you missed the obvious. The owners take their dogs with them to Florida.

John,

I went right to the eyepieces you mentioned on the Scopetronix web site by using their Digital Camera Adapter Wizard. The 14mm sells for $109.00 and the 18mm for $99.00.

BTW, I use the Scopetronix Digi-T adapter to mount my Nikon CP995 on an eyepiece and it works fine. Much cheaper than buying a dedicated eyepiece.

Lee Spain said:

Would you have a beer with Obama after he called an arrest you made stupid?

Uh, no. I wouldn't want to have a beer with him even if he wanted to pin a medal on my chest. (The same would go for Bill Clinton.)

It looks to me like the professor was power tripping when he tried to call the police chief and throw the power and prestige of being a professor around. If any of us were that much of a jack-arse with the police, we'd probably get tased.

After reading both Gates' biography and the Cambridge Police report, I have only two questions;

1. How could someone who is supposed to be so smart be so stupid?

2. Who is the racist here?

Rex Cox said:

This is a question for you astronomers who wear bifocals. Do you prefer line or no-line bifocals?

I much prefer the lined bifocals. The line itself takes a little getting used to but the "sweet spot" for reading is much bigger and easier to find with the line demarcation. The progressive (no line) lenses tend to introduce peripheral distortion which is particularly annoying to me. They also cost more. Personally, I think the only advantage to no line bifocals is purely cosmetic and not in the eyes of the wearer.

How does one or the other get in the way of your observing, either at the eyepiece or naked eye observing, if at all?

I prefer to observe without my glasses, through both my scopes and binoculars. Since I can fine tune the focus, that works best for me. I am far-sighted and can actually see the stars naked eye better without my glasses. I have a little astigmatism but not enough to make me want to tolerate my glasses when looking through a scope. I absolutely must wear my glasses to read or use a star chart.

I've gotten around the hassle of putting glasses on and off by making my own eyeglass keepers which consist of a thin leather craft cord (1.5mm to 2.0mm dia.) with little rubber O-rings to connect to the eyeglass temples. The cord hangs around my neck with my glasses at my chest where I can grab them and put them on in 2 seconds. I may look like a forgetful old fart but my glasses are always handy and never get lost or stepped on.

Also, trying to use a computer with bifocals was a real pain, having to tilt my head up and down. My solution was to measure my normal eye-to-screen distance and have my optometrist come up with a prescription for computer glasses at that actual distance. My computer glasses are one strength over the entire lens, so I can easily see both the screen and keyboard without my head bobbing around.

At the telescope, I usually take my glasses off, but on occasion, I leave them on when other folks who have good vision are using my scope so that I don't have to make changes in focus when trading off at the eyepiece.

I've done that in the past but it didn't always work as well as I thought. A better solution is to show the guest observers where the focus knob is and let them fine tune it themselves. (This doesn't work well with little kids.) It also keeps them from trying to focus the scope by twisting the eyepiece or unscrewing the diagonal lock screw.

I'm nearsighted. In the past, I've always been able to see fine at close and distant ranges with my glasses on, but now, I have to take my glasses off to see things that are close. It has become a real hassle.

Your vision problem is the opposite of mine so you may have to fiddle around a little to get it right. Just don't be bashful about going back to your optometrist if he doesn't get the prescription right the first time.

Terry Sweet said:

Does anyone know of a source for some small RED LED lights I can mount on my scope mount.

Terry,

Although you can make your own LED light system from scratch, be aware that you have to wire a current limiting resistor of the correct value in series with the LED it order to get it to work. An LED alone, connected to a battery will not work.

The big advantages of LED lights are:

1. Almost no heat.

2. Uses very little current.

3. LED's last almost forever.

If you want a semi ready-made LED light system, just go to Wal-Mart and shop around in the automotive and sporting goods sections. For an LED light you can connect to a 12 volt battery pack system, Wall-Mart sells small red LED truck clearance lights which can be cut down and modified to most any use. I modified a two-LED unit to replace the bulb in my truck's dome light to provide dim red light when I open the truck door at star parties. I also made a star chart reading light by taking the guts out of a 120 volt clamp-on headboard reading lamp and replaced the bulb with an 8 LED red truck clearance light. I just clamp the lamp to the top handle of a 12 volt battery pack and have an instant table top red reading lamp.

Another item I found at Wal-Mart the other day was in the automotive accessory section. It's a 12" long self-adhesive strip with an embedded row of tiny red LED's, designed to be attached most anyplace on a car; under the dash, in the glove box, etc. This LED system would be easy to adapt to astro use.

If you want a completely self contained small red LED light, go to the bicycle section at Wal-Mart and buy a battery operated red LED bicycle tail light. These are made to attach to the back of a bike or clip onto a back-pack, and are usually powered by two AAA batteries. Most have multiple LED's and are designed to blink but they usually have a single-LED-on-constantly setting. You can attach it to almost anything with some self stick Velcro and/or a home made holder bracket.

You can also modify one of those single red LED keychain lights for astro use by replacing the coin cell power supply with a larger battery system of equal voltage and installing an on-off switch.

If you can't find an LED light with either a built in red lens or an actual red LED, you can buy a roll of red "tail light repair tape" at Wal-Mart and make most any light red. I also use this red tape to cover the annoyingly bright status lights on my laptop for night use. I can still see the status lights but they are red and very dim.

AS they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

In a perfect world, that would be a nice gesture. However, I would never allow my dog to drink water from an unknown source, left by a stranger. I value my dog enough to carry water for him when needed. That's probably the reason you never find that water jug empty.

Losmandy GM8.