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Posts Made By: Jim Carpenter

October 26, 2004 01:51 PM Forum: Mounts

Hercules Alt-Az mount

Posted By Jim Carpenter
Tom,

I used my Unistar Light on the Skyview Deluxe tripod for a while. Larry at UA provided an adapter when I bought the mount. You could easily accomplish the same thing with a couple of large fender washers and a 3/8 x 16 bolt of suitable length, though.

I eventually replaced the SVD tripod with a Bogen tripod because I liked the elevating center post of the photo tripod, which makes viewing at or near zenith much more enjoyable. If you go with a Bogen tripod, get at least a 3036 or 3046 (Manfrotto equiv 075 and 028), or better yet a Bogen 3068. I'm not sure of the Manfrotto equivalent of the 3068 is, but I think it's 117x. All have 3/8 x 16 studs at their hub for attachment of whatever mount you decide on.

Jim

November 22, 2004 05:08 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Digital Setting Circle Interface

Posted By Jim Carpenter
You might look here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~david.ek/digicircles/
Assembly required. I don't have one yet, but have been thinking about getting one. Perhaps others will comment?

Jim

December 8, 2004 08:59 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Suitable mount head for 102 f5 spotting scope?

Posted By Jim Carpenter
If you plan to use the scope for astronomy, I'd not bother with a photo-style mount. If you are looking for terrestrial only then something like the Bogen 3063 pan head would probably work for you, but you'd probably need some sort of adapter to mate with your tripod unless it has a 1/4x20 stud at the hub. Bogen/Manfrotto makes a 14x20 adapter for tripods with 3/8x16 studs.

For dual terrestrial/astro use, take a look at the Unistar series of alt-az mounts from Universal Astronomics. If he doesn't already have one, Larry could probably machine an adapter for your tripod.

Jim


December 16, 2004 08:49 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Stable Mount for TV 76

Posted By Jim Carpenter
Chuck,
Have you tried the vibration dampening pads sold by Celestron, Orion, etc. They help dampen the jitters, particularly if you're set up on a hard surface.

Jim

February 16, 2005 02:46 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Unistar/DSC vs Nexstar GPS

Posted By Jim Carpenter
Dave,
I don't have a Nexstar but I've set up next to a Nexstar or other goto mount several times with my Unistar/DSC so I have somewhat of a comparative experience. The noise of the motors and grinding gears of the goto mounts is, of course, absent with the Unistar/DSC. I find that 90% of the time when both the goto and I decide to slew to an object, I get there faster. I'm not dependent on an external power source, either AC or DC. If the battery in my DSC goes dead, I simply star hop the old fshioned way. I don't find the DSC alignment to be much of a hassle, but admittedly it's not as easy as punching a button on a GPS-equipped goto mount and having it all done automatically. I only level the mount, confirm the vertical orientation of the telescope, and align on a couple of stars and I'm ready to go. It takes a couple of minutes at most.

Jim

February 21, 2005 08:53 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

c5 used on space shuttle?

Posted By Jim Carpenter
I remember seeing some old ads with this notation, but couldn't put my hands on them. I also have an old 1998 Celestron catalog that contains the following statement in the C5+ description:
"The reputation for excellence of this telescope is such that it was chosen by NASA, over all other competitive models, for several recent space shuttle missions."

In addition, the 1997 Celestron Binoculars and Spotting Scopes catalog says of the C5 spotting scope (same OTA, no wedge mount), "Its optical excellence is the reason it was chosen by NASAfor many space shuttle missions."

Hope this helps. I can photocopy the pages and mail them to you if you send your mailing address to me in a private e-mail.

Jim

March 18, 2005 09:00 PM Forum: Landscape Photography

Colorado Sunrise

Posted By Jim Carpenter
And here's one from this morning...

April 11, 2005 11:46 PM Forum: Refractors

80mm Refractor Recommendation

Posted By Jim Carpenter
If you can find a used Stellarvue SV85S that would be another option. This 85mm doublet apo is no longer made (seems like everyone wants a triplet, so that's what Vic is offering now). You probably would pay more than $1k, though. If price is a big concern and airline portability is not an issue, the Stellarvue 80/9D is another one to consider. It uses an objective with a higher Abbe rating than the typical achro, and combined with the F9 f/l, it has very good color correction.

Jim

April 15, 2005 01:27 AM Forum: Birding Optics and Photos

Rebel XT and Digiscoping

Posted By Jim Carpenter
Hi Dave,

Nice shots with the Digital Rebel XT and Sigma 70-300 APO. I got the same lens (Nikon version) for my D70, and have been impressed with the performance as well. Not bad, as you say, for a sub-$200 lens.

Jim

April 18, 2005 03:49 PM Forum: Landscape Photography

Skitrain 1 - Yellow Schoolhouse

Posted By Jim Carpenter
Same info as above.

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