Posts Made By: Ryan O'Grady

The GEM versions are cheaper only because of the specific GEM that is being included with the 8" and 9.25" OTA's - the CG5. It does not have GPS or goto like the Nexstar scopes do.

Avid astronomers would prefer a top notch GEM for two reasons -

1. You can put virtually any scope on them, given the right hardware (and these folks will own a lot of scopes over time).

2. A fork mount without an equatorial wedge will create field rotation in long-exposure astrophotography. Even if the center of the photo is perfectly guided, the stars on the outside will appear to rotate around the middle.

I have an LX10 with a wedge that is great, but if I want to get a 10" OTA the whole setup is no good - with a GEM I would not have that problem, assuming the mount could handle the weight.

Ryan O

Great list - I had never heard of NGC1365 but popped it into my planetarium program and sure enough the notes say "Best example of spiral arms". I am surprised NGC7331 is not there and M33 is - I can't see M33 at all unless the skies are really dark, but NGC7331 has evident shape even from my terribly LP backyard - perhaps because I can jack up the power on it and get the background darker. Should M33 be so difficult? It was invisible to me in mag 4 skies last night with a 10" Dob at 50X.

Ryan O

Ron -

Got up early this AM to try for the Venus-Mars-Mercury trifecta. Got hit in the face with freezing cold (46 degrees! Well, it's California, that is damn cold). Usually that is a bad sign for seeing, at least where I live. Here is my report:

Venus - bright, hopelessly turbulent, glowing ball. Only through careful observation can I even tell which side is illuminated.

Mercury - see Venus.

Mars - this was actually high enough to see without much turbulence, basically a small reddish ball at 120X. Any higher power yielded a less pleasing view.

It was fun to see some old friends for the first time in a while, though (M57, M51)...

Are you kidding? These are the best pictures I have seen with a digital camera. And when did Ron become Simon from American Idol? I think he posts so frequently here to help people, nothing more...

The people at Surplus Shed are very nice. The eyepieces though are not very good. When you consider that Meade Super Plossls can be had for mid $30's used, I don't think they're even a good eyepiece "for the money". I bought several from them at once and returned all of them. The AFOV claims on the Erfle were not accurate.

I have played around with a Coolpix 995, but there are problems associated with digital cameras, mainly cooling. Paul Hyndman has a novel solution (pack the camera with ice), but otherwise you would be well served getting a dedicated CCD, unless you want the Coolpix for normal use anyway and the astrophotos are a bonus. That being said, there are pretty amazing things being posted with Canon D60's, well amazing for a digital camera, anyway.

The best approach is to buy a Digi-T or similar adapter (Scopetronix makes the Digi-T, but they charge too much, there might be other makers of camera adapters). Then you can hook the camera right to the telescope in minutes.

Try the planets first, since that is where digital cameras and webcams work the best. Or try the moon. Piggyback shots can't collect enough light to be interesting before noise problems creep up. Plus, moon and planet work is completely unaffected by light pollution.

I had not used it in ~5 years, and prior to this use, it never had a problem.

I replaced the fuse, but the old fuse did not look burned out.  And given that white whispy smoke literally came out through gaps in the switches, I don't think it was the fuse since the fuse was not physically broken.

Now of course it will not turn on.  Any advice?  I have done some research and people talk about replacing capacitors, etc., I am not presently experienced/knowledgeable enough to do something like that.  Does anyone still fix these scopes?

Thanks -
Ryan

btw in case anyone searches/reads this - I had it successfully repaired by George Dudash.  Simply search his name for more info.

Originally Posted by Kevin Barker

Ryan<br>get scope collimated.  Then re startest.<br><br>If the images reappear I would guess that it is astigmatism caused by the mirror cooling.  Perhaps the mirror is thin and not annealed??<br><br>It could also be astigmatism in your eye with the large exit pupil.<br><br>Kevin B

Totally random reply, 18 years later.  I was looking at old posts and saw this one.  You told me that the problem might be my eye.  It was.  I was 29 at the time and had never been to an eye doctor - my first visit was not until 2009, 7 years after this post.

I use the dioptrx 150 now to deal with this issue.

So - thanks!

Yeah totally - kind of a bummer these forums are hardly used.  

When I saw the old post and my drawings, I showed my wife and said "hey look at this, someone diagnosed my astigmatism 5 years before an eye doctor did!"

I remember the first day I wore glasses after that visit - it was like the world had become High Def.

Anyway, agreed, hope this helps someone.