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Dual Clusters near Antares

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Posts Made By: Rod Mollise

April 30, 2009 12:56 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

what is a great solar imaging cam ?

Posted By Rod Mollise
You'll want a webcam-like imager...lots of frames and stack 'em with Registax. Best bets? Either one of the Imaging Source cameras or a Lumenera. Both are available from Adirondack Video Astronomy.

May 4, 2009 11:54 AM Forum: Celestron

Celestron SkyScout And 64-Bit Operating System

Posted By Rod Mollise
Eric Planalp said:

FYI, if you use a 64-bit computer operating system, you won't be able to download any software updates for the Celestron SkyScout and will just have to use it with whatever version it came with. They apparently don't have any immediate plans to make it 64-bit compatible, either.

Bummer, I guess. But how hard would it be to borrow a 32 bit PC and do the upgrade? It ain't like they are issuin' updates every month--or year.

May 13, 2009 12:05 PM Forum: Celestron

C130mm Mak

Posted By Rod Mollise
Cool. Given what I've seen, I do not believe this will ever yield ETX quality views, but it may be close with a little TLC.

May 17, 2009 04:43 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Celestron CGEM Dovetail System??

Posted By Rod Mollise
Dan Bush said:

I have various telescopes that I'm going to be mounting on a celestron CGEM mount. This is my first seriuos equatorial mount. What kind of dovetail system does the mount have? I don't have the mount with me yet so not sure what I'll need and the literature is vague. I'll be mounting a 6" mak/cas, TeleVue Pronto, Sky-Watcher Refractor etc. What dovetail bars etc. would you advise and where should I get them?

Thanks for any advice.

Dan

The CGEM uses Losmansy D style dovetails NOT the Vixen style. Depends on where you live. In the U.S. I suggest Losmandy or ADM.

May 19, 2009 10:51 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

Mars Email - Not Again!

Posted By Rod Mollise
Bill Possel said:

Well, it's going around again this year. The email/powerpoint presentation that Mars will be "spectacular" in August. Something about Mars appearing to be the size of the Moon. "Closest approach in recorded history!" Has anyone else seen this? Where does this originate?

Thanks
Bill

Yep. Every year. It's so ubiquitous now that I developed a PowerPoint "Debunking Mars" to show my astronomy students.

May 20, 2009 12:12 PM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Hoagland Ad Quotes Fictional Expert

Posted By Rod Mollise
Curt Renz said:

Check out the amazon.com page for Richard C. Hoagland’s book The Monuments of Mars: http://www.amazon.com/Monuments-Mars-City-Edge-Forever/dp/1583940545/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242794730&sr=1-1

Scroll down a short distance to the Editorial Reviews. The fourth one reads:

"I'm sure you're aware of the extremely grave potential for cultural shock and social disorientation contained in this present situation, if the facts were prematurely and suddenly made public without adequate preparation and conditioning."
—Heywood Floyd, Head, The National Council of Astronautics, 2001

Dr. Heywood Floyd is a fictional character in Arthur C. Clarke’s Space Odyssey canon. The quote is from the movie version of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I'm not surprised. Don't know if you've ever thumbed through the book, but the most amazing thing is that Hoagland manages to take such a sensational subject and make it just so damned...BORING.

May 20, 2009 12:19 PM Forum: Takahashi

Takahashi Schmidt-Cassegrain?

Posted By Rod Mollise
Hans Tucker said:


The only SCT Takahashi produced, over a very short time (between 1989 and 1991) was the TSC-225 and it seems that there were just over a hundred manufactured.
Rumour has it that the technician responsible for the fashioning/figuring of the corrector plate either retired or left the company and Takahashi subsequently discontinued production. I guess given Takahashi strive to provide a perfect product combined with the need to match the corrector plate with the optics meant that manufacturing a line of SCT wasn't economically viable.


I have heard that. My take? It had more to do with sales potential. There is no secret to producing a good SCT, and nothing that would have prevented Tak from keepin' on keepin' on. My opinion is they decided that M & C not only had that market covered, but that their customers and potential customers would prefer something more exotic and uppercrust than a PLEBIAN SCT, no matter how well done. LOL

The TSC-225's quality? It's hard to draw conclusions from such a small sample (I've used a grand total of _two_)...but based on those I've tried, their performance is very much in line with what I'd expect from a good Meade or Celestron.

May 22, 2009 01:34 PM Forum: Digital SLR AstroPhotography

M3 with a Nikon D40 and LX200 8" Classic

Posted By Rod Mollise
Phillip Ostroff said:

Hi All,

Been reading your posts here with great interest, taking notes etc. Anyway, last night I captured M3 through a hole in the local clouds. Transparency was maybe 4/5 overall. First attempt at this Globular. Comments, suggestions welcome!


Very nice indeed. Me? I'd do a little fiddlin' with the histogram and curves to bring out some more stars and bring up the background (the sky is too black for my taste), but the data is there, the color is good, and so is the guiding. Congratulations.

May 22, 2009 01:44 PM Forum: SCI-FI

Terminator 4

Posted By Rod Mollise
Andre Coleman said:

Just saw Terminator 4...
Go See It!!!!

I intend to...I thought this franchise was moribund...till I saw the previews and read the prequel novel. I'll be seein' it this weekend.

May 26, 2009 12:01 PM Forum: ASTRONOMY

Link request

Posted By Rod Mollise
Mark Norby said:

At one time I had a link to a web page that had the ngc catalog with pics and descriptions. I thought it was www.ngcic.org but that does not seem to work. Does anyone know what it is? I think it was associated with work done by an astronomy club. Thanks, Mark

That was the NGC/IC project. It is gone due to uhh..."internal dissension."

I think some folks are tryin' to revive it. Until then? There is the SEDS interactive NGC, and also numerous professional resources that may be of interest.

On Edit: I see NGC/IC _is_ now back at http://www.ngcicproject.org/

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