Posts Made By: Tom Bourg

I received the album today (in record time) and I must say it is really something. I've just begun studying it but I can see I will spend a lot of time going through it learning about the sky. I can't imagine needing that kind of detail under the stars (I'm speaking about me personally here), but I know I am going to enjoy going through it again and again.

Once again, thanks to everyon who provided me with information on which album to buy.

Good luck and good skies.

Tom B.

Hello everyone,

I really enjoy using my new 16" truss dob, but I am having trouble with dew forming on the primary. Big surprise here in Louisiana when the humidity is usually around 110 percent. :S

Anyway, I haven't purchased a fan for the primary, yet and that is next on my card but I doubt that a fan alone will do the job. A heater for the primary runs about $300 all total and gets me into the battery business which I don't want to do. One reason I bought this scope is because it is simple and doesn't require electricity. The fan, using a small battery fits into my scheme, but a large battery doesn't and I don't want to plug stuff into my cars lighter, if possible.

What I have hit on is the possibility of using styrofoam poster board as sort of a dew shield for the main mirror. If I remember correctly it is available in black. If is isn't last I heard spray paint is available in flat black. It is super light weight and I can curve a couple of sheets around the mirror. I haven't tried it yet because Katrina has cut into my driving around this town.

Does anyone have any other ideas? I know some of you have come up with some really great solutions to some of your problems.

I believe I've learned more from reading you guy's posts here on Astromart than I have in all the books I've read on astronomy.

Thanks in advance and clear skies.

Tom B.
Baton Rouge, LA

One

Hello,

I've both read and heard from people who know a lot more than I do that certain scopes are optimized for visual use and others are designed for photography. I've especially heard that R-C scopes are great for imaging but just so-so for visual use.

Can someone explain how this is done? Is it the scope design, such as R-Cs, that is better for photos, or is it the figure on the mirror, etc. In other words, can a Newtonian or Cat be optimized for photography and not visual use or vice versa?

Last night I was using a 20" R-C on Mars and although I have heard repeatedly that it is better for imaging that visual photography the views of Mars were about the best I have seen, so this really got me thinking about this topic.

Thanks, any explanation will be an improvement on what I know now.

Good luck and clear skies.

Tom B.

Hello,

Last night I was at the observatory and a few of my students showed up to get extra points.(I teach Earth Science, Environmental Science, and Physical Science in high school).

Anyway, the sky wasn't very clear and with the excessive sky glow I needed averted vision to see the pleides. Three of my ninth graders, who don't know the difference between astronomy and astrology, looked up and asked me if those six stars that were very obvious to them were the big dipper. They could see the stars clearly.

This got me thinking about how much visual acuity I have lost in my 58 years. It has to be very significant. I wonder if anyone has estimates or can direct me to articles about the subject.

I know I have trouble splitting some double stars that were easy when I was a teenager and obviously I've lost a magnitude or so in seeing dim stars. I wonder if anyone has done research into this.

Thanks guys. I really like this site.

Tom B.

Hello,

I recently bought an Orion 8" Newt here on Astomart and it is a pretty good scope; not great, but good.

My frustrating problem with it is that I am kinda short at 5'7" and my Skyview Pro mount frequently puts the eyepiece height just beyond where I can comfortable view without using a small ladder. I guess I could make some sort of platform, but it would better for me if I could just get a shorter tripod.

I have two Skyview Pros and I have thought of cutting down the legs on one of them, but that would mean less stability. I've also though of grinding down the stops on the tripod so the legs would spread out farther. That might work, but I'm not too keen on doing it.

The ideal solution would be a shorter tripod. Just three or four inches would do it. Any suggestions???

Maybe I'll just take a shovel with me when I observe and dig a hole for the tripod. :S

Anyway, any suggestions, reasonable or not, will be appreciated.

I really like this site, btw. The accumulated knowledge here is enormous.

Clear skies and good luck everyone.

Tom Bourg,
Baton Rouge

Hello,

I just did about a 9.5 as I tripped over my observing chair and landed one my rear end. As I muttered a few choice words, I remembered that I have meant to buy a few of those neat little led thingies that one can place around tripod legs and observing chairs.

I can't seem to locate a dealer for them, though.

Would someone please give me info on where I can purchase them?

Thanks.

Tom B.

Hello again,

It looks like quality control is an issue with both the Meade and Celestron scopes.

I believe our club membership thinks fairly highly of Meade optics, though. In addition to 8" and 10" Meade cats the club owns an old spiral-wound paper equatorial 16" Meade Newtonian that looks old enough for Isaac himself to have used. The guys consider the optics on this one really good and maybe even exceptional.

My only problems with my 10"Meade are that the mount and scope weigh over 60#s and fitting it onto the tripod is a test of endurance as much as patience. (I just ordered a scope saver and that should make things a little easier.)

And, viewing the zenith in alt-azimuth mode is all but impossible in some instances. I am really not a fork mount fan, at all.

I've been observing for more than 40 years, but my knowledge about the hardware for observing is lacking. I've done a very good job of fighting the urge to buy new equipment although I recently purchased an Orion Skyview Pro 127 Mak. which I really like.

I've recently joined the local astronomy club, something I should have done years ago. The club, along with LSU and Southern Universities (I believe I am correct on this),have an observatory with a $500,000+ Richey-Cretien scope. On Friday nights the observatory is open to the public and we give information to the visitors and let them look through the various scopes including the RC. Sometimes more than 300 people visit and 100 is a good average.

Anyway, if the budget will stand it I would like to purchase a 14" TScope lightweight truss dob sometime this year. This is about the largest dob I can own as I can't climb a ladder although I have climbed one to gaze through a couple of the members 20" dobs!

The reason I wrote all this is to let you all know that I am trying to bring myself up to speed on the hardware that is out there right now, so if some of my questions seem kinda dumb or silly that is why.

See you guys and thanks for the responses. I wish I had found this site a long time ago.

Tom Bourg
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Hello,

Excuse me for butting in to this thread but which 1X finder would you recommend for my Meade 10" Schmidt-Cassagrain.

I've felt like I was breaking my neck with the finder supplied with the scope.

Thanks.

Tom B.

Hello Floyd,

I ride motorcycles and you should see the very expensive bikes with no mileage on them that are traded in.

I remember a $10K bike that the owner had custom painted and tweaked and then he traded it in with less than 300 miles on the odometer. He took a better than $5K loss in less than two months.

Sometimes a bike is traded in with fewer than 100 miles!!! I've never been able to figure that one out.

Right now the dealer must have 50 bikes with fewer that 2K on their odometers. I guess guys must fantasize about riding and then find out that it rains, gets hot, cold, and dark and figure that the old car with the a/c and heater was better after all.

Maybe would-be astronomers neglect the fact that the weather and mosquitoes don't always make astronomy such a pleasurable experience

Man, I agonize over a purchase so long that when I do finally get something, it gets used.

See you. I enjoy your posts, btw.

Tom B.
Baton Rouge, LA

I always thought Sam Brown was a pseudonym for ghostwriters at Edmund Scientific. I doubt that a real Sam Brown existed.

I had a number of Sam Brown books and they were great, but they read like editorial staff publications, sort of text booky, just what I expected from contributions of different authors at Edmund.

See you.

Tom B.