Posts Made By: Rod Mollise

Jeff Blazey said:

Having only recently been back in the hobby since 1990, I've found out just how RUSTY I'm at finding things in the sky. DSCs and GOTO are now looking very attractive indeed. What are the pro's and cons of each? It would seem to me that setting either of them up in the field would be similar but the DSCs would be more reliable as you don't have to deal with noisy high torque motors. Or is that not a problem?

There's a lot of experience & skill here and your comments and advice would be most appreciated. I own both the Losmandy 8 & 11.

Thanks.

Jeff

It depends on what you want to do with them. For imaging, it's go-to all the way. The go-to systems are usually considerably more accurate and are easier for an imager to work with IMHO. I'm not a huge fan of DSCs for equatorial mounts, period, but that's just me.

Now, Dobs? Somebody was asking me about my 12-inch truss tube job the other day, whether I'd consider a Stellarcat of similar go-to system for it. I had to answer "no." I am perfectly satisfied with the simple push-to/no drives paradigm _for my Dob_.

Which DSC? This is just me, but I have never liked the Tangent style DSCs with their levelling and "warp factors." The Sky Commander is amazingly accurate on my scope, and all it requires is alignment on two stars (oh, you can enter the date too, if you want to look at planets). I also hear good things about the Argo Navis.

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George Normandin said:

I have an Obsession 20 equipped with the old JMI NGC-MAX DSC unit. Following the practice I’ve seen others use I’ve always spent 10 minutes or so struggling to level the mirror box with a bubble level and little wood shims each time I’ve set up the scope under the assumption that this is needed for accurate pointing. However the manual does not discuss this at all. Has anyone tested to see if very accurate leveling is needed for DSC accuracy with a Dob?

George N

I have never levelled the scope or needed to with the Sky Commander.

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Craig Glaze said:

Hi I just resently divested my self of my 10" newt, really not enjoying the hassle of moving the thing and collimation.
I was thinking I was out of the hobby, but clear skies here lately have drawn me back in. I just purchased an Orion ST80(much lighter) and need a low cost diagonal and eyepieces which work well with this scope. I know you refractor Aficionatos have "been there and done that" and would much appreciate some suggestions on these items which work well and don't cost much. Thanks

Much depends on what you'll accept image quality wise almost any eyepiece will work OK with the good, ol' ST80. However, the paradox is that this short focal length scope is at its best with more expensive eyepieces.

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[QUOTE]Michael Teuton said:

Need to mount a Celestron 80ED-R to a Meade 10" SCT. I'm still looking for a mount/tripod for it all if anyone knows where I can get at least a medium and preferably a heavy mount/tripod. [QUOTE]

How much do you want to spend? You can start with the Orion Atlas on the low end and go up. The Atlas would be the minimum mount for this combo IMHO.

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Alan French said:

The web site has been updated.

See http://www.mag1instruments.com/

I am glad this very user friendly and fun telescope will be available again.

Clear skies, Alan

Good to hear. Now, they need to come up with a DSC system for it. It can be done--folks have homebrewed encoder setups for bowling ball scopes. That would really make me start dreamin' about one.

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David Colton said:

Just curious. Does anyone market a bracket for mounting two Orion 80mm ST together? Has anyone done that and if so what was your experience?

That would be hard enough to arrange (collimation, interpupillary distance adjustment), that it's not very practical. Especially with binoculars (and even binocular telescopes) in this aperture range so reasonably priced today.

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Glen Weldon said:

...On Friday! Probably won't get here on time, that's the way things usually work!

Suggestions on what to do the first night out (if clear). I'm in Central Alabama!

Clear in Alabam? Ha!

Seriously, my advice is that if you have not used the go-to CG5 before, setup inside first and do a few fake alignments to get familiar with the scope. Other than that, just set her up, sight Polaris through the polar bore, do a two star alignment, add at least two calibration stars, and prepare to be amazed at how well this mount can do.

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Dave Mitsky said:

There are some pretty wild looking galaxies out there, that's for certain.

http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0810.html

Dave Mitsky

They are amazing...thanks!

All I can do is quote Beavis and Butthead: "Huh-huh, huh-huh, Arps RULE!"

Greg Nowell said:

Recently purchased a Canon A580 for the missus who wanted a camera that could run on regular batteries as well as rechargeable. This is to be delivered mother's day. Too late to cancel purchase. This is an 8 mp camera.

thanks for any wisdom y'all may share.
Greg N

Depends on your expectations. Consumer cameras are actually robust and reliable these days. My little several year old 3 megapixel Canon point 'n shoot has been all over the UK and to countless star parties from the Atlantic to the Pacific and never missed a beat.

I don't have much experience with Nikon digicams, btw. I've used/tried em, but when the film age ended, I made the decision to switch to Canon both for point 'n shoot and DSLRs (for both terrestrial and astronomical use). I prefer 'em, but, again, that's just me (except, perhaps when it comes to DSLRs for prime focus imaging; I don't think there's much question but that Canons are better in that role).

;-)

Peter Glus said:

The answer should be obvious, but its not to me right now...I have a C14 and the secondary is loose. There's only 4 screws, and I think they are all for columation. How to I tighten the secondary housing on the corrector?

The corrector will need to be removed. For most Celestrons, the secondary housing can be tightened by the simple expedient of holding onto the outside of the secondary holder and tightening the baffle that surrounds the secondary. Unfortunately, some baffles are glued in place.

You might want to stop by the C14 group (Yahoogroup) and see if they have any tips. Whatever you do, don't loosen the central screw. The result will be _CRASH_!

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