Posts Made By: Paul Leuba

Is anyone planning to attend?

Here are some pictures from a recent (Nov 2011) vacation to Arizona. In the past, I've tried to get to Sedona every other year or so to visit my astronomer friend Milt Wilcox - who unfortunatley passed away back in the Spring of 2010. I came to love the area and the very dry climate. I grew up in rural Maryland, and now live in southern PA with my two young sons. I envy those that live in Colorado and the desert southwest.

For this visit, I wanted to take my two sons and do a little sight seeing. They have never been to the southwest nor seen the Grand Canyon. It was kinda neat - it was early November and Sedona got an inch of snow while we were there and the Gran Canyon got about 8".

All photos were taken with my trusty Nikon D70 set to Auto or in some cases Landscape mode.

Kurt King said:

Since Novak is no longer in business, how do the UO mirror cells perform, specifically a full thickness Pyrex 12.5" mirror with a 12.5" UO cell?

I went through this same painful exercise with a UO cell for an 8" mirror. Run, do not walk from the UO cells... My UO cell was o.k. at room temperature, but when outside in 20* temps at night the UO cell contracted and pinched the mirror. I replaced the UO cell with one from DAR in Canada.

http://www.oneilphoto.on.ca/oneilatm.htm

The DAR cell is superior in every way.


Paul

Joe Heafner said:

Can anyone comment on how well the Dioptrix works? I have several of the compatible eyepieces.

Hi Joe,

The Dioptrix works and extremeley well at that. There is not much more I can say.

Paul

Floyd Blue said:

Well, I thought I would post a picture of the new Meade 127 ED that I just bought.

Floyd,

The telescope is a beauty. Those Meade ED scopes have a timeless classic look to them. I look forward to hearing the first light report.

Get the Glatter model. It's everything Geoff said. I have a drawer full of old laser collimators and the Howie Glatter 2" model is superior in every way. It is *very* precisley machined. The results are repeatable and there is no slop from the focuser tube.

I liked the 2" model so much with my SM 14.5 that I bought the 1.25" collimator from Howie as well. I use this one with a Portaball-8 and an Oak Classic.

Phil De Rosa said:

I am looking for input from past attendees of the MDSP in York, PA. Any constructive suggestions would be appreciated for 2007.

Hello Phil:

Here are my thoughts on the MDSP...

It was a nice star party. Its too bad that vendors were not interested in attending. I understand the owner of the private air strip was charging VERY high fees to vendors. In my opinion, there should not be any fees for the vendors. The vendors are one of the reasons that I attend a star party.

Overall, I liked the location. Its easy to get to and the skies were quite decent. Anyway, I have been to a lot of star parties over the years and the really successful ones have these things in common:

1. Good skies/observing conditions. I think the current location (private air strip) is about as good as it can get and still remain close by. Its flat and reasonably dark.

2. No fees for the vendors. The vendors will attract attendees.

3. You need a well known keynote speaker who will speak on a RELEVANT subject. All too often, keynote speakers discuss the minutia and mundane aspects of Astronomy.

4. Door Prizes. You need good ones. This should not be a big deal if the vendors show up.

Good Luck for 2007.

Floyd Blue said:
Cost, $0 for old power supply and $1.50 for a cigarette lighter socket. So $1.50 for a great power supply that is even fan cooled!

Floyd,

Ingenious! So is this next accessory for Blue Sky?

Paul

Thanks guys for all of the kind words... And Linton - that set of TV Plossls you sold me has gotten lots of use during the apparitions if Jupiter and Saturn. I find that TV plossls provide some of the best planetary views of any eyepiece. I put the Oak Classic on one of my Tom O. platforms and I am good to go.

Here is the OTA after it came back from the auto body shop where it was stripped, sanded and painted. Dewshield was redone too.