Posts Made By: Mark Holden

I think Armorall is silicone based.

The things I've seen suggested are alcohol, with lots of paper towels, dish washing soap, and lots of patience.

Years ago I made the mistake of putting it on the boot of a ragtop. It looked great for about 2 days. Then it looked worse than it did before I used the stuff. So I'd put it on again. After about a week I decided it's sort of like Heroin for Vinyl.

I spent the better part of a day cleaning the stuff off.

Mike Alexander said:

Hi,

Trying to get a consensus of opinions on this one : do you find that planetary filters are helpful in enhancing details or not? If so, which ones for which planets?

Thanks.......Mike

Hi

A filter I've found that works great to bring out detail on Jupiter, Saturn and Mars is the FLD photographers use when shooting with daylight film under fluorescent light.

It's sort of a pale magenta.

I don't know where you'd find one for a 1.25" eyepiece, but a 48mm photographic filter is the same size as a 2" astronomical filter.

Hi

AFAIK, Meade doesn't repair old eyepieces. They don't even offer replacement eyecups.

I doubt this will be your problem, but know of someone who had a similar experience with that eyepiece when they took off the "1.25" adapter" because they were going to use it in a 2" diagonal. It's not an adapter - some of the elements are inside that part.

I don't other likely causes of that problem, but hope you can get it figured out. The 14mm UWA is one of my favorite eyepieces.

If you haven't contacted the seller yet, you should let him know there's a problem. Hopefully you haven't rated him yet.

Vernonscope quartz diagonals are individually tested. I don't think I got a copy of the test, but I did get the test results. Mine was 1/26 wave.

Richard Galeski said:

Could someone tell me which is better for photographing deep sky objects or moon and planets, a camera such as the Meade LPI or a good slr film camera such as a Nikon?

Neither?

Film cameras are being used less often because the DSLRs don't suffer from reciprocity failure.

And with a digital camera, you get instant feedback so you can decide if you want to take another shot.

The LPI is geared for the Moon and Planets. It'll get brighter DSO, but odds are you won't be happy with the results.

To do it right, you need to think in terms of a camera for the Moon and Planets, and a different camera for DSO.

Meade does make a camera intended for DSO - the Deep Sky Imager.

It's probably less expensive to start with shooting planets. The cameras aren't as expensive, and the shorter exposures mean you can get by with just about any mount that's good enough for visual use.

In any case, I encourage you to scour this site, and the web to find out what other people are using, and what they think of it, and what kind of results they get. You'll notice most folks who are into imaging dso have relatively massive mounts for the size scopes they're using.

You might also ask around at your local astronomical society to see if any of their members do imaging, and ask if you can tag along some night when they're shooting.

The time you spend researching before you buy will make it easier and ultimately less expensive for you to end up with a setup you'll enjoy.

Maurice Clark said:

Hi all,

Just came across this and I am wondering if this is really legit. Anyone from down Texas way that might be able to comment on it? I would just dismiss it as a joke, but the date is wrong!

http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues_2006/2006-04-07/feature1p/index.html

Cheers,

Maurice

Sadly, the story is not a hoax or joke.

I've had no personal dealings with Woden, but I've heard generally favorable comments about him.

My impression is he's a one man shop.

He should have kept in contact with you, but the skills needed to make a good telescope or mirror are different than those needed to run a successful business.

It's possible he greatly underestimated the time it would take to get re established in his new location.

I would expect paying customers get taken care of before ones he's doing a free service for. He may have gotten some orders. The $8 service charge sounds insignificant.

I'm not sure of the time line on this, when did he receive your mirror?

Otherwise, my advice is to try to take things down a notch.

In his eyes, he's doing you a favor by testing it for free. (and other than the delay, it's a nice favor)

It might not hurt to let him know you appreciate his efforts.

A message along the lines of "Sorry if I've seemed impatient" along with a thanks for providing this service, and a friendly reminder you're anxious to use your scope might help.

Good luck with it.

Jeffrey Kurtz said:

Was looking over the NEAF vendor list and Burgess Optical is not listed...anyone else find this surprising?

Bill will apparently be at the Highpoint booth.

Shortwave radio listening
Photography (I also collect Alpa cameras)
Canoe sailing
walking the beach when we can get to Naples or Stone Harbor.
Cat herding. (We bought bird feeders so our indoor kittys would have a hobby too.)
Brewing my own beer and mead. (egads, how could I forget that one!)

Actually, at times, Tony Snow has been critical of President Bush.