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Posts Made By: David Colton

October 5, 2009 03:15 PM Forum: Celestron

Sky Scout question

Posted By David Colton
Is there any way to mount a Sky Scout to a telescope, so that it can be SHIELDED from the metal OTA and used as an object finder? I have a TV102 (and that's a lot of metal) on a Gibraltor mount. With the price reduction, it would be an economical accessory if it would work.

July 22, 2002 11:51 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Orion ED oculars

Posted By David Colton
Ditto. I'd be very interested in hearing about how these eyepieces perform. The sales literature certainly suggests that they have slightly better properties than Orion's Plossls at a reasonable price.

Dave C

August 23, 2002 11:35 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

What is the most aperature I can carry?

Posted By David Colton
A while back Sky and Telescope had a piece about a guy who mounted his scope on a car trailer. That way you can keep your large aperture and have portability as well. It might need to be recollimated each time, but that probably wouldn't take much longer than setting up an SCT on an equatorial mount.

October 23, 2002 12:27 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Alt-Az Mount

Posted By David Colton
I have several small scopes including an Orion 80mm short tube which I have mounted on a camera tripod. I was looking for something portable but sturdier for that scope. Also, at some point I'd like to try my hand mounting DSC on a alt-az mount. I've seen the plans for the one that Michael is referring to, but was hoping to find plans for something a little smaller and made of metal versus wood.

March 2, 2003 09:27 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Filters for ETX

Posted By David Colton
To get more use out of your ETX90, think about purchasing a solar filter. I use Orion red and yellow filters with my Orion solar filter. By itself, the view through the solar filter is a pale yellow. The eyepiece filters produce a good, darker and warmer contrast for viewing sunspots.

April 20, 2003 06:22 PM Forum: TeleVue

Televue 102/which mount to buy

Posted By David Colton
Alexander:

After much thought, I've also decided to buy a TV102 (in another month or two). In the mean time, since I plan it solely for visual use, I've purchased a Televue Gibraltor mount. ($600 here in the states.) Eventually, I plan to buy the Skytour digital setting circles. So, if you're thinking of using it primarily for visual use, the Losmandy or Vixon mounts might be overkill.

August 2, 2003 09:08 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Experience with Orion Epic ED-2?

Posted By David Colton
The reviews on the Excelsis site mention that when you hold you eye up close to the Orion Epic ED-2 eyepiece (which appears to be the same eyepiece as Celestron's X-Cel series) it will "blacken out". What does this mean?

Would it be better to get a long focal length eyepiece (in the 5mm to 2.5mm range) that has a small lens? I wear glasses but take them off when I view, so an eyepiece with long eye relief is not that critical.

August 27, 2003 01:33 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Orion APO vs Achro

Posted By David Colton
It's interesting that no one has commented on the fact that Orion is also selling an F11 80mm achromatic for just $120. The longer focal length should do much to reduce color fringing and it's a lot cheaper than the APO.

As regards a larger achro, from what I've read on this site, I think everyone is waiting and praying that Orion will offer a larger, competitively priced APO later this year!

September 2, 2003 03:39 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

polarizer filter

Posted By David Colton
What you are describing is a variable polarizing filter. Orion sells one for about $30 and I'm sure you can find one on the Anacortes site as well. The ones you can buy will be a lot more compact than one you would make using two filters (and will probably cost less).

You can adjust the amount of light coming into the eyepiece using a variable polarizing eyepiece from almost no filtering to essentially totally black. They're very useful when viewing the moon, but I don't find them that helpful for viewing planets (except perhaps Venus). Even though you can blacken out the image, NEVER use one for viewing the Sun.

September 10, 2003 06:48 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Equipment you most regretted selling.....

Posted By David Colton
Although I don't regret selling it, this discussion has made me nostalgic for my first telescope, a Criterion 4" dynascope. I saved quarters from my lunch money when I was in junior high school to buy it. The 'semi-equatorial" mount was an interesting concept. What I remember most about it though was the unique smell of the bakelite tube.

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