Posts Made By: Chris Brown

Has anyone else read the "Saturn Opposition" link on Celestron's home page? What concerns me are the claims for thier Nextar 60 GT, where they show a "simulated" image of Saturn at 175x with the 60GT using the supplied 4mm ocular.
The image shows the Cassini division clearly, along with definite banding on the ball itself. I'm no newbee, but my old Meade #285 refractor (60mm, f/15) just won't show me the cassini, and I aligned it's optics with a laser collimator! My ETX-90 has no problem with these tasks, but it's a stretch for my 60mm. Furthermore, the max mag I can realistically use on this 1980's 2.4 inch telescope is around 128.5x (7mm celestron/vixen ortho) Is Celestron selling a magic 60mm/f12 telescope, or is the supplied 4mm eyepiece exceptional? I feel that either I am in for a big surprise at this year's Saturn opposition, or Celestron is pushing thier outdated inventory! Chris Brown

Here's a new twist...after 5 years of stargazing, I realized that I get a bigger kick out of my smaller aperture telescopes! I have been rebuilding a 60mm f/15 Meade telescope for my young daughters, and I find myself going to extraordinary lengths to make that sucker perform! For example, Black velvet lining the entire inside tube, rebuilding the focuser 3 times, hogging out the focuser holes until a laser collimator comes out of the middle of the lens cell, turning over my prized vintage Meade RG and Celestron Ortho eyepieces so my daughters can get the max clairity, It's become an obsession! I now get more satisfaction out of seeing 4 components in the Trap with the "60", than I do finding the e and f components with my 8-inch Dob! My ETX-90 is fast becoming my favorite telescope!
I can really see where the 4-inch APO crowd is coming from now, when they say they are immune to aperture fever!
Maybe it's a labor of love for my daughters, but sometimes finding EVERYTHING you point your telescope to can get old... Chris Brown

I was lusting after the D&G 6 inch Refractor that is listed on the classifieds, and I was wondering, doesn't that looooog focal length practically eliminate any false color? Having never looked through one, I can only guesstimate due to the lack of false color on my old 60mm f/15. Is this correct? Chris Brown

I have been fighting the mirror alignment on my XT-8 since I purposely threw off the mirrors 4 years ago in an attempt to learn how to align the mirrors correctly...
As per the Orion manual, I made a tool out of a 35mm film container, punched a hole, and aligned the circles...
Later, I bought a laser collimator from an Astromart vendor, and tried to align the beams...
Somehow, I knew that the mirror alignment could be better, the images seemed to be missing something, Sure, there were moments of excellent clairity, but I now know that it was pure luck!
I read some threads on the forums, and I tried something that finally got my mirror problem corrected!
I used the laser on secondary alignment only, and the film can for primary alignment, the result was a razor-sharp Cassini division on Saturn that I have been so long striving for!
I realised that I had only one mirror aligned at a time, that is, the film can aligned only the primary. Later, I had the secondary aligned with the laser, but I rarely had both aligned at the same time!
I knew that all was right when the moon's outline was not round, but a series of jagged arcs, Very uneven, and I knew that my early XT-8 was indeed a keeper! The moral of this thread is, don't give up on your scope, keep trying different options, and read the Astromart forums!
Chris Brown

I have had very good luck with the recent Mars opposition by following these steps to ensure excellent planetary images in my lowly ETX-90.
Very simple, EVERY night, I put my ETX-90 RA on the porch about 2 hours before I go to bed. Just before I turn in,I take a quick look at what-ever is out there ( 6-months ago, Mars, now, Saturn) and a fully cooled telescope shows everything possible for that night!
We all know that every night is different, no matter how well you predict the outcome, so I decided to put the scope out every night, until the atmosphere cooperates!
The result? My wife and I saw a perfect Mars image days before the opposition, a fine look at Syrtis major, with a vivid south polar ice cap at 200-plus power (optica Ortho 6mm),all orange and blue, and white! When the hubble pictures came out in the local newspaper (again, Syrtis Major), my wife could say to her co-workers, " This is what Mars looked like in my husband's telescope"!
I now have my wonderful XT-8 trained on Saturn every night waiting for those unpredictable perfect conditions. I have tried to predict the perfect conditions for planetary viewing, to no avail, so finally I decided to try every night, and this greatly lowers the odds...Chris Brown

This may be comparing apples to oranges, but if a person is looking for a great planetary scope, which would be better?
Oh, yea...here's the catch, this will be mainly used in my backyard...Thoughts?...Chris Brown

Ed,
That's why we have motorhomes. That way, you can arrive early ,packing provisions, and leave when you want.
The best part is, a motorhome can swallow a big telescope!
Now, that's what I call camping!
Chris Brown

Has anyone out in Astromart land seen McNeil's Nebula first hand through an eyepiece?
What size scope did you use?
I know Mr. McNeil used a 3-inch refractor with CCD, but I was wondering if anyone has spotted it visually...
Chris Brown

Didn't the ancient Sumerians have something written about a 10th planet with a 10,000 year orbit, or was it the Egyptians?
(too much late night TV?)
Chris Brown