Posts Made By: Gordon Gower

In two weeks I will be reporting to begin my duties as Astronomy Ranger at Natural Bridges National Monument in SE Utah. I will be the primary user of a new C11 fork-mounted SCT with GPS, which I have not seen. The scope appears to come with only a 1.25 diagonal, but I will want some wider views for deep sky viewing. Years ago I used a focal reducer for my SCT to get wider FOVs. Last week I made some inquires at a big online astro shop and they told me that focal reducers are for photo use only. That's not how I remember it. So, two questions:
1. Are focal reducers good for visual use?
2. If so, are they useable for 2" EPs or only for 1.25s?

BTW, Natural Bridges has the darkest skies that the NPS has recorded so far in the lower 48. Come and visit us! We have a small campground of only a dozen sites, but are in the midst of some wonderful hiking country in SE Utah. Love to meet some of you there!

Gordon Gower

Not sure if this is the right forum for the question, but...

I am looking for a realistic model of the planet Saturn that we can use in a national park astronomy display. The model would need to be approx a foot in diameter or less and would be used to draw attention to our dark sky programs at Natural Bridges National Monument in SE Utah. I have not been able to find anything, and I am not artistic enough to make something. Any ideas??

Thanks!

Gordon Gower

We have a new Celestron CPC 11 here at Natural Bridges National Monument in SE Utah. I have been having trouble with pointing issues. I just upgraded the HC and Motor control software to the latest version. Last night when I rolled it out, the GPS showed me the wrong time by one hour but also the wrong date by one day. I suspect the one hour time issue relates to resetting the time zone, but I have not had any luck changing that yet. I have no clue why the GPS would be one day off. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas? If I can't figure this out I will call tech support next week, but I would like to get it up and running before then.

Thanks,

Gordon G
"Sky Ranger" Natural Bridges National Monument

We have a new Celestron CPC 11 here at Natural Bridges National Monument in SE Utah. I have been having trouble with pointing issues. I just upgraded the HC and Motor control software to the latest version. Last night when I rolled it out, the GPS showed me the wrong time by one hour but also the wrong date by one day. I suspect the one hour time issue relates to resetting the time zone, but I have not had any luck changing that yet. I have no clue why the GPS would be one day off. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas? If I can't figure this out I will call tech support next week, but I would like to get it up and running before then. (I have also posted this query on the Celestron group.)

Thanks,

Gordon G
"Sky Ranger" Natural Bridges National Monument

I am the astronomy ranger at Natural Bridges National Monument in SE UT, one of the darkest places in the 48 states.

We are planning to add a 14-16" goto dob to our astronomy program in the near future.

The boss surprised me this morning and asked me to draw up some rough plans for a roll-off roof observatory. It would need to be big enough for groups of a dozen or so folks to use. Whatever we decide to do, we will build ourselves. Some grant money may be available and I have about 10 days to get something roughed out.

Does anyone know if the book Building a Roll Off Roof Observatory by Hicks (Patick Moore series) is a good resource? Any must see resources that I should know about?

THANKS!

Gordon

Robert: Thanks for the links. I look forward to some busy and exciting times! We leave for Canyonlands next weekend.

Gordon G
Tucson