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Posts Made By: Thomas Dey

November 19, 2015 02:00 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

California nebula

Posted By Thomas Dey
Spectacular! I am able to see it at 1x with my 12nm Ha Night Vision. I LOVE the 16803 chip. We used them in FLI cameras at work for optical metrology. Tom

November 19, 2015 04:23 PM Forum: Politics

A Moment Of Silence: Not

Posted By Thomas Dey
And we have at least another Year of Complete Denial here in the U.S. Our Emperor has no clothes yet He and his lemmings see robe, scepter and crown. [My comment is intended for Novelty purposes only, just in case some 3rd party academics take offense and get all offended, irate and weepy.]

November 20, 2015 03:36 PM Forum: A Day in the Life of the Administrator

Forgot to enter number of stars in rating

Posted By Thomas Dey
I thought it defaults to 5 unless you change it? Not sure. Tom

November 27, 2015 03:39 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Challenging Winter Targets...

Posted By Thomas Dey
Thanks for the tips! I'll go after when the moon slips out of the way. Just got my encoders working again (it was a loose connector) but upgraded from the old 4,000-count to 10,000 and zeroed out the Alt Vert and squared up Alt to Az and Optical to Alt. The pointing should now be excellent ... I HOPE! Tom

November 28, 2015 02:12 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

NGC1499

Posted By Thomas Dey
Thanks! I'm getting to appreciate how Big these objects are since I do mostly visual. Only the "bright" regions show up, even with Night Vision. Tom

December 5, 2015 03:47 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

The Giant Scope In Chile

Posted By Thomas Dey
I read the press-release and video a while back with great interest. It was (appropriately) program marketing-ish --- no complaint there. But I can't help but question the claimed resolution that will be achieved punching thru the atmosphere (even with adaptive optics). Something like 10X Hubble (which is claimed at 0.05 arc-sec and more often around 0.10). So that would be an unbelievable 0.005 arc-sec-ish?! All I can say is yes, it is theoretically-possible --- but so are Laser Fusion Power plants. I hope I'm proven wrong. Tom

December 8, 2015 04:22 AM Forum: Astro Binoculars

What are these?

Posted By Thomas Dey
Yep - they list for $2000 on bigbinoculars.com. If I really want something used to sell, I put at ~60% list ... some "hot items" of course will attract a lot more. Tom

December 17, 2015 03:16 AM Forum: A Day in the Life of the Administrator

Major loss of ads upon renewal

Posted By Thomas Dey
Oh yeah --- same thing on mine and I just renewed. Hmmm ... well, I personally don't use more than that anyway and always figured the basic membership to be quite a bargain. When they bumped up to 100 I took it as a temporary bonus. One can "buy" more ads, right? Tom

December 22, 2015 02:50 AM Forum: After Dark

Pittsburgh... Mostly cloudy to rain ETERNITY

Posted By Thomas Dey
Last year here (Springwater, ~Upatate~ NY) we had a winter's worth of snow by this date. It's cloudy now but still placid. The moon's "in the way" anyway so I'm hoping for clear in a couple of weeks! I built some dicey optics and can't wait to try it out!

December 22, 2015 07:43 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

2015... lessons learned.

Posted By Thomas Dey
Hi Matthew, and welcome to the hobby! I like your reviewing the year idea. That’s something I have done in my journal for pretty much my whole life. A few philosophical reminders here to myself and others:
>there are few wrong ways to do things, just a LOT of alternative ways
>try lots of things and settle on the ones you like
>recycle equipment to others and honestly disclose what you like/dislike about it
>spend most time OBSERVING and the remainder acquiring, researching, reading, building
>when unsure, ask others (ALL others); then decide for yourself
>there is no perfect telescope, camera, etc.; enjoy what you have
>try at least one new or different thing each year

Your comment regarding Deep Sky, yes indeed, it takes very dark, moonless sky to see that stuff well. Then the difference is Amazing!

My 2015 summary is good: We did major excavation and landscaping including demolishing an abandoned dome that had served well since 1975 and replacing it with an “observing shed” with ramps to roll out the scopes --- under DARK skies! Doing Night Vision astronomy, which is a whole new world. Refurbished my big scope and using it with friends. Collected a lot of solar images and a few lunar --- including that wonderful eclipse! It was a Very Good Year! Tom Dey

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