Posts Made By: David Pope

See what you started! :-) I knew this was going to happen.

Clear Skies,
David Pope

Try Sky Tools: http://www.skyhound.com/

I use it and I'm happy with the photorealistic charts and planning tools.

Clear Skies,
David

In a word, NO! Don't waste your money on a laser collimator for a SCT.

Clear Skies,
David

Hi Gregg,

I can speak from personal experience as I have had a Celestron (8” SCT) and now have a Meade (12” LX200GPS w/ UHTC). And I can say that I have been satisfied with both products. You can search a number of forums on Celestron and Meade and find a number of happy and disgruntled customers. I think that’s true for any company in business today. I don’t think that you could go wrong with either selection. I’ve personally dealt with Celestron’s and Meade’s customer service department and both have been great to me. And that’s what counts the most; if there happens to be a problem, you want to know if it’s going to get taken care of.

Now, with that said there are a few things about the LX200GPS you should know. Be prepared to upgrade the scope when you receive it, for example the bolts that are in the tube are not stainless steel (they will rust in less than a few months of normal use), there is a stainless steel kit available to remedee this problem. You will probably need to upgrade the DEC Lock mechanism with the kit that’s available. Also, there is an upgrade for the plastic gears that drive the DEC and RA drives, the upgrade kit has stainless steel gear which are must better. There are a few other minor upgrades but you get the point.

Just remember, there is no such thing as the perfect scope. What ever you decide, I’m sure you’ll always find something that’s in need of improvement.

Clear Skies
David Pope

Hi Gregg,

I can speak from personal experience as I have had a Celestron (8” SCT) and now have a Meade (12” LX200GPS w/ UHTC). And I can say that I have been satisfied with both products. You can search a number of forums on Celestron and Meade and find a number of happy and disgruntled customers. I think that’s true for any company in business today. I don’t think that you could go wrong with either selection. I’ve personally dealt with Celestron’s and Meade’s customer service department and both have been great to me. And that’s what counts the most; if there happens to be a problem, you want to know if it’s going to get taken care of.

Now, with that said there are a few things about the LX200GPS you should know. Be prepared to upgrade the scope when you receive it, for example the bolts that are in the tube are not stainless steel (they will rust in less than a few months of normal use), there is a stainless steel kit available to remedee this problem. You will probably need to upgrade the DEC Lock mechanism with the kit that’s available. Also, there is an upgrade for the plastic gears that drive the DEC and RA drives, the upgrade kit has stainless steel gear which are must better. There are a few other minor upgrades but you get the point.

Just remember, there is no such thing as the perfect scope. What ever you decide, I’m sure you’ll always find something that’s in need of improvement.

Clear Skies
David Pope

I thought about that James, but the problem is that the circuit is quite complex requiring several splicings. It’s not just a simple straight line between to points. If I were to attempt such a task it probably would be better for me to build another board from scratch.

Thanks for the suggestion :-)
David

Hi Dave,

I don't have an Eye Opener II yet, but have done my homework. Yes the Eye Opener II does work but only on lower power 2" eye-pieces (31mm Nagler, 35mm panoptic, 41mm panoptic, 55mm plossel, etc.) In fact I talked to Peter of Sky Division and he doesn't recommend the Eye Opener unless you have one of the listed eye-pieces. If you do decide to get an Eye Opener II it threads to the scope and the micro-focuser goes on to it with no problem. If you have a 2" diagonal it will have a 2" clear path all the way to the eye-piece.

Clear Skies,
David Pope

I’ve been to MASP 4 years running and planning to go this year. It has grown in attendance by a good margin over the last 2 years. The town of Robbins has now adopted the MASP as their own and are promoting it pretty well (even trying to turn Robbins into a dark park), not to mention the folks that put the MASP on for us each year are doing an exactly job at providing services and maintaining a well organized event.

I’ve gone to other star parties and I’ve never seen one that is as well organized than the MASP. But I’ve seen darker sites. I just got back from the Black Forest Star Party in PA and was impressed at how dark the skies were there (I think they advertise mag. 7), nothing that dark here but still a good site.

Oh, don’t forget to bring warm clothes, it does get cold here also this time of year. Last year we woke up to heavy frost Saturday morning. So be prepared!

Looking forward to seeing you there,
David Pope

Well, I hate to tell you this but, I'm bring a new 15" Obsession this week and I guess that means clouds also ;-). Hopefully the new telescope curse won't follow.

Clear Skies,
David Pope

I have the Nagler T6's and never ran into a problem with this, the Naglers has eye cups and I never push down too far. I would suggest not trying to take in the entire field of view. You can't see from field stop to field stop anyway without moving you head or trying to push up near the len.

Or, on a lighter note you could cut your eyelashes, but then you would look funny :-) Sorry! I couldn't resist.

Clear Skies,
David Pope