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M20 Trifid Nebula in LRGBHa

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Posts Made By: Tom Hole

July 3, 2003 04:16 PM Forum: Binoviewers

Which Binoviewer?

Posted By Tom Hole
Chad,

Welcome to the nutty world of binoviewer groups. There seems to be a great deal of passion amongst binoviewers (people). There also seems to be a great deal of brand loyalty as well. Not an indictment, just my impression.

Good luck with your quest. Whatever you decide to buy, you will enjoy the binoviewing experience immensely. I know I have.

Clear skies,

Tom


July 9, 2003 01:12 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

CG5 Advanced Series for 127mm f/8 Achromat

Posted By Tom Hole
Pernel,

Good info. Does Apogee (or anyone) sell drives that fit the HD?

Tom

July 10, 2003 01:00 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

I can dream

Posted By Tom Hole
ROTFLOL!

Rob, that was great.

My ideal "telescope" is to snap my fingers and put myself in orbit around any celestial object with a superman suit on. Talk about GOTO...

Clear skies,

Tom

July 11, 2003 02:44 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

CG5 Advanced Series for 127mm f/8 Achromat

Posted By Tom Hole
Everyone,

Many thanks for the advise and recommendations. I have ended up ordering a custom eq mount from John Davis (you can get more info on this mount in the Yahoo group scopemounts). The darn thing looks like a tank and John seems like a right nice fellow. Price is right at $350 with an RA drive and he thiks he can make me a full Meade Autostar mount for $500 (doesn't include tripod, still haven't decided on the pier vs tripod issue). He said it will hold up to 30 lbs for photographic work. THat should suffice for a 1278.

Might have to get an Apogee HD just to tide me over.

Clear skies,

Tom

July 14, 2003 04:34 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Flocking an Orion XT 8

Posted By Tom Hole
David,

I did my XT10 with flocking paper from Protostar. $.40/inch, 30" wide.

I flocked the first 15" and last 15" of the tube. That was the 30" wide roll cut in half. I also flocked the upper part of the secondary and the focuser draw tube. The results are noticeable, especially for my light polluted driveway. Maybe not so much at a dark site.

The flocked paper is easy to apply and has been on for 3 months. Nothing is peeling away.

It's easier with a naked OTA, but removing the primary is all that's really required.

This is a great mod that doesn't cost a lot.

Clear skies,

Tom

July 20, 2003 07:53 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Large Focus Wheel for Celstron SCT

Posted By Tom Hole
AstroSky makes them.

http://astrosky.homestead.com/Astrosky.html

The page takes a while to load. The contact info is towards the bottom.

Clear skies,

Tom

July 23, 2003 04:58 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Mars, details, scope...

Posted By Tom Hole
10 inch dob, f/4.7, excellent seeing #3, average seeing #4-#5

CGE1400, average seeing, #1, best view I have seen of Mars

Clear skies,

Tom

August 3, 2003 04:30 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

any opinions on...

Posted By Tom Hole
Buy it. You'd be hard pressed to find another scope that can provide the views that this one will provide for $300. There are many folks on the Skyquest group that have taken advantage of this deal on the 6", 8" and 10" and their scopes look to be every bit as good as my Orion XT10. I wish this deal was around when I bought mine. No doubt which one I would buy.

Clear skies,

Tom

August 4, 2003 12:14 AM Forum: Chinese Optics Imports

Re: Any News?

Posted By Tom Hole
Well, if it's not here by Aug 2004, I'm gonna have to start looking for an additional scope to satiate my GAS. I can't go too long without getting a new telescope. There was an Intes MK67 that popped up in the classifieds for about 15 minutes today. Never owned one of them, so I thought about buying it. That just ain't right.

When Bill pulls this off, and with the backing of Anacortes, this will be a major boon for amatuer astronomers. The biggest complaint about the Synta gear is the darn tinkering required to get them working well. I like tinkering, but it takes a while to learn how to do it properly and can be very frustrating.

This is fun to be a part of, that's for certain.

Clear skies,

Tom

August 7, 2003 03:44 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Which refractor?

Posted By Tom Hole
How about something completely different?

http://users.erols.com/dgmoptics/

A 6.5" unobstructed, perfectly color corrected telescope. If you get the OTA, you have $500 left over to go towards a binoviewer. That's my dream planetary setup.

Tom

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