Posts Made By: Rod Mollise

Kevin VerMerris said:

Can a user of the newer computerized scopes point and shoot without using the hand control, or do you have to slew it with controller so it doesnt lose its alignment. Thanks!

Kevin

You have to use the HC. If you undo the locks, your alignment will be lost and you will have to realign the scope. You can, of course, use the buttons on the hand paddle to move the scope "manually" via the motors.

If you are interested in starhopping, you'd probably be happier with a non-go-to GEM or a dob, at least as a supplement.

Keith Lawson said:

Maybe someone with ties to the "industry" can answer a question for me. Why are there no SCT's designed for high resolution/high contrast observing?

I disagree with your premise. A modern well-collimated SCT is quite capable of high power performance--assuming you consider 500x and above "high power." The catch? Many folks _still_ don't collimate their SCTs correctrly.

Jeff Willson said:

Just getting back into this wonderful hobby after a few decades and would like to buy a newer 'scope. Here are some criteria so my choices can be narrowed down.

1. My main interests are DSO and just browsing star fields such as in Cygnus - Milky Way stuff. Occasionally some planet shots.
2. Budget ~ $4,000, would have to include a couple eyepieces
3. Astrophotography is something I'd like to at least dabble in
4. I live in a light-polluted suburb of Seattle where mag 3.5 - 4.0 is about what I can see with the naked eye.
5. For now it has to be somewhat portable. Maybe when the kids all leave I can move to AZ or NM and build something permanent. Any given section of the equipment should top out at 30-40 pounds for me to comfortably handle.

Eyepiece advice also welcome. I was thinking a 10-12" Meade/Celestron on an EQ, but don't really know everything that is available.

That wouldn't be a bad choice...if you mean by "EQ" a GEM mount, a German Equatorial mount. Either a 10 or 12 fork mount scope would be way over your 40 pound limit.

My most important suggestion? JOIN YOUR LOCAL CLUB. Get out to a couple of their star parties, try a few of their scopes. See what seems RIGHT to you.

Gary McKenzie said:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24036602-5000117,00.html

cheers
Gary

One thing to remember: Most of the folks have only a very limited understanding of science. Their goal? Sell newspapers and keep their jobs.

Darian Rachal said:

FWIW, I noticed on the Orion site that these are on sale for $234.00. Not a bad price if someone wants one just to play around with.
http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=optical_tube/~pcategory=telescopes/~product_id=09768

This was an interesting experiment on Orion's part. One that failed...I would guess they are clearing out the remaining inventory. This could have gone if:

1. They had sold it for this price or close to it initially.

2. They had come up with a smaller OTA design.

3. They had come out with a 5 - 6-inch version for a reasonable price.

tim wetherell said:

Hi everyone,

hope this is the right forum to ask this. Does anyone know of a book they could recommend on double stars? What I'm after is a book that lists the doubles in each constellation with their magnitudes and separations? Lots of books contain bits of this info but I've never seen one that had it all?

all the best

Tim

In addition to books, do you know about this:

http://www.jdso.org/

A wonderful project that I had a hand in birthing, at least. ;-)

Magnus Ahrling said:

Has anyone here upgraded a CG-5 manual mount with SynScans GoTo kit, if so: any good? Happy for your opinions and thoughts Or would it be better to buy a complete new CG-5GT? Not very much expensive!

//Magnus

The Synscan is fine...BUT...the NexStar firmware/HC is better. More accurate go-to wise, more features. I love my Atlas, but the CG5's wonderful NexStar controller keeps it around.

8)

Bill Meyers said:

Hi, all,
I am thinking of getting a 16.5 Dob for observing from my driveway in the city. I have mag 3 skies. My favorite objects are globular clusters. I do have OIII filters for planetaries and galactic nebulae. I often use an 11 inch Dob from my driveway and sometimes from a dark sky site, but the 165.5 is too large to transport often.
Is 16.5 too large for city observing?
Any advice will be appreciated.
Bill Meyers

NO...if you must observe in light polluted areas, THE MORE APERTURE THE BETTER. The limit for the city is what you can move/store.

Roo Phillips said:

I have both a Digital Rebel XTi and a Celestron CPC 11". I want to start doing astrophotography but I don't know what (specific) accessories I need and how to set it up. Any suggestions??

Roo

Well, you'll need...

1. A remote shutter release for your camera (Canon). This will allow you to hold the shutter open in manual mode for as long as you wish.

2. A T adapter for the camera (Orion). This goes on the lens mount in place of a lens and allows you to screw various camera adapters onto your camera.

3. Prime focus adapter (SCT model). This allows you to attach camera to scope (Orion).

4. Reducer for scope. An f/6.3 is suitable for a DSLR, but still leaves you with a lot of focal length.

5. Wedge. If you're going to do exposures longer than 30 seconds, you will need a big, sturdy wedge that will allow you to setup the scope in EQ mode. Celestron's heavy duty wedge is useable, but not really heavy duty enough...

6. Guide scope and guide camera. At these focal lengths, you won't be able to expose long unguided, so some kind of a guide camera (Meade DSI, Orion Starshoot guider) will be needed. So will a guidescope and mounting rings. I use an Orion Short Tube 80 for this purpose.

7. The above will require a laptop. So you might as well get some software to run the camera too. My fave is Stark Labs' Nebulosity.

B-U-T...

7. In the BEGINNING, THOUGH, just get a piggyback camera mount that will allow you to attach camera to scope and allow it to shoot the sky through its lens. You'll need #1 to do longer exposures, too, of course. Experiment with this before you try the HARDER prime focus imaging game. :-)

8. Image processing software. Photoshop is optimum, but something like Paint Shop Pro is very useable and a lot cheaper.

Gary Calobrisi said:

Can anybody give me some feedback on the OrionColor Deep Space II Camera?

Would this be a good camera to get started with?

Thanks

Gary

Maybe. The biggest drawback is the small chip--that makes EVERYTHING harder. I'd think about either the StarShoot Pro or the DSI III instead if possible.