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Posts Made By: David Colton

May 29, 2007 05:40 PM Forum: Refractors

Who built this scope

Posted By David Colton
Thanks for the information. I figured this dated from the mid to late 1970's. There was also a small tag on the bottom of the OTA that I had to remove to refinish it, which indicated that is was manufactured in Japan. That made me wonder if the scope might be an early Vixen product.

I can't wait to get it up to the advertised 456x!

August 9, 2007 08:30 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

1 scope vs 3 scopes

Posted By David Colton
As Sue French and Ron Bee have clearly demonstrated, you can spend a lifetime of viewing with a good 4” refractor, which is at the upper level of portability. So you may want to think about keeping the SV105. A good compliment to that would be a 10” or 12” Dob, which would give you more objective than the Schmidt-Cassegrains you have and you might have enough money left over for accessories.


September 4, 2007 04:47 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

So what's the next "big thing"

Posted By David Colton
The next "big thing" for me would be a small, object locator, like the Sky Scout, that can be mounted in place of an optical finderscope. This would facilitate locating objects in light polluted skies. And based on current prices could be cheaper than digital setting circles ($600 and above for the box and encoders).

As I understand it, the Celestron and Meade object locators cannot be mounted on or near a metal telescope tube as the metal affects the GPS, so we're talking 2nd or 3rd generation object locator.

September 27, 2007 06:24 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Celestron SkyScout

Posted By David Colton
I had hoped the SkyScout could be used in lieu of digital setting circles, but we now know that they can't because they are influenced by metal. Still I think in two or three years another vendor will market such a device as I think there would be a large market for it, especially among us visual only observers who eschew motor drives.

October 11, 2007 08:47 PM Forum: Refractors

What's a good refractor on a budget?

Posted By David Colton
Astro-Tech has been advertising an 80mm APO triplet for $650 and a 90mm for around $1,050 I believe. There have been few reviews of AT products, but from what little I've read they appear to be on par in build quality with the WO scopes.

March 26, 2009 07:47 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Collimating Orion Skyview Deluxe 8" Newtonian

Posted By David Colton
I'm surprised no one has responded to you yet. The first step is to go to the Search Forums on the right hand side of the web page. Go back 4 to 5 years and you'll find a wealth of threads on this topic. Also do a Google search as there are a number of sites that address collimating a newtonian. (Or do what I did - buy a refractor!)

For hands on assistance, find a local astronomy club; when people get together to share a common interest they tend to be cordial and helpful.

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