Posts Made By: Kim Colter

Steve
Look at the excellent diagram that Roger has posted and find the star labelled Mirak. Mentally draw a line from Mirak through the star on the other side of Andromeda (it is unlabelled on Roger's diagram but just above the word Andromeda on his diagram.) That line points directly to M31. If you follow that line in the opposite direction it will take you directly to M33 which is harder to find than M31. You will have moon in the sky when you try to find M31 tonight but with the binos it should definitely be visible even in moonlight.

How does one go about baffling a very long refractor tube, i.e. 6 inch f15? Forgive this innocent question from a rank amateur/newbie to the ATM process.

I am about to embark on construction of a tube for a 150/2250 refractor. Where should I buy a tube, backplate for focuser, etc? I see that D&G sells tubing, backplates, AP focusers. I have encountered some tales of woe on the web with regard to D&G taking a long time to deliver ordered products. Any advice on a source of tubing, etc? Anybody building tubes out there that would save me the embarrasment of butchering this job myself? I do not have the talents that most of the members of this forum have...
Thanks

The early AM hours last Wednesday were unique in that my home was in deep blue seeing on the Clear Sky Clock for the first time in a long time. At about 3 AM M15 was well placed near the meridian. I decided to try to see Pease 1 in M15 with a 20 inch Starmaster. I have seen it previously with a 40 inch f5 Dob. My experience has been that it requires very steady seeing that will allow magnification of 400 to 500X to be used in order to have a chance. On Monday the atmosphere was so steady that it was no problem to use mags in the neighborhood of 500X. With the help of the excellent finder charts at the blackskies web site, I was able to see Pease 1. An OIII filter is necessary to see this 1 arc second planetary. I used a TeleVue 2X Big Barlow and later went back inside for my TeleVue 2X Powermate. I found that the image using the same 11 mm Nagler was brighter and had better contrast with the Powermate than with the Big Barlow. For the heck of it, I tried putting a 1.25 inch OIII filter in the Nagler while I had a 2 inch OIII filter in the Powermate. This "stupid pet trick" reduced the transmission so drastically that all I could see through the stacked filters was the very center of the dense core of M15 and the speck that was Pease 1. The guide stars used to find Pease 1 with a single filter were not visible through the stacked filters but Pease 1 was exactly where I had seen it with the use of the guide stars and a single filter. I'm not sure there is ever any good reason to double stack OIII filters but I was impressed that Pease 1 was still visible through two of them.

An astronomy friend from abroad recently emailed with the news he might be able to come to the states in March or April of 2005. Are there any large well attended star parties in those months that would allow him to meet many of the folks he has corresponded with in these forums for years? I don't think he can come as early as February for WSP. Thanks for suggestions.

Forgive me if this has been discussed before. Has anyone directly compared the T6 13mm Nagler with the T1 13mm Nagler? Same question for the T6 9 Nagler and the T1 9mm Nagler? I have been quite happy with the T1's I own for years, kidney beaning hasn't bothered me. I have been very impressed with the 11,7, and 5mm T6 Naglers when I have observed through them. Wondering if there is any reason to consider acquiring the T6 Naglers in 13mm and 9mm focal lengths. Thanks

Anyone have any contact information regarding Charles Riddel of LightSpeed Telescopes? I have been waiting for a Wagon mount for 14 months, paid for it, many deadlines promised and past, now email comes back undeliverable, web site gone from the web, phone unanswered. I would appreciate hearing from others in the same circumstance.
Kim Colter
Washington Missouri

In the interest of jump starting some conversation on the Zeiss forum I'll say that I just received my Zeiss 150/2250 from D&G who made a nice tube for it and have had it out twice. I am very favorably impressed with it. I have not yet had the chance to observe Jupiter with it but have looked at Saturn, moon, open clusters, M42, and a smattering of other deep sky objects. I have a 2 inch "fringe killer" filter from Baader but find that I like the images without the fringe killer better so far. There is quite a bit of color to be seen on bright stars such as Rigel, Sirius, and Vega but in looking at planets and the moon I note essentially none. I was surprised to see essentially no color at the lunar edge. It is nice to use what are usually low power eyepieces with long eye relief and have them deliver 3mm and less exit pupils. Looks like a promising open cluster, planetary, lunar, and double star scope.

Does anyone else see scintillations across the solar disk when they are first acquiring the image of the sun through their Coronado filter? I see scintillating flashes, dozens of them, across the image of the solar disk. I find the phenomenon unnerving, because I wonder if it is a filter phenomenon or a retinal phenomenon. It seems to subside after I have tuned the filter and observed for a bit. As far as I know I am not burning holes in my retina. Anyone else see this or something like it?

I have been told that the original APQ objectives and tubes were configured for the use of a prism diagonal as opposed to a mirror diagonal. The more recently released APQ's have been suitable for use with a diagonal such as the AP Maxbright. Is there something about the APQ objective that "needs" the additional glass of the prism diagonal to give the optimal image? Is there a difference in length of light path when the prism diagonal is used compared to the reflective diagonal? Is there much additional refraction of light occurring in a prism diagonal? Can someone "shed some light" on this issue?