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M-20 Trifid Nebula

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Posts Made By: Jim Mahon

June 12, 2003 08:36 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Scope recommendation

Posted By Jim Mahon
Well, George, I don't have any experience in N.O., but an online friend of mine who uses the screen name Qazaq is a resident of your town and a dedicated sidewalk astronomer. I'm sure you would find his insights valuable. I'm going to ask him to post here, but just in case, he can also be found hanging out at a couple of other boards where I use the name Skyjim - google that and you'll find us.

Clear Skies!

Jim

September 24, 2003 10:28 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

SP & GP - What's the difference

Posted By Jim Mahon
The GP uses a dovetail mounting system where the SP used a flat plate you bolted rings to. That's the fundamental difference that I'm aware of.

September 25, 2003 07:19 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Solar Finder

Posted By Jim Mahon
I just bought a Televue Sol-Searcher - works great, tiny, and the cheapest thing I've ever gotten from TV. Check Anacortes...

Jim

October 19, 2003 10:55 PM Forum: After Dark

AstroMart After Dark

Posted By Jim Mahon
Nice idea! Thanks, Herb.

April 6, 2004 04:32 PM Forum: Coronado-Lunt-DayStar Solar Filters

My setup and a Question for the group

Posted By Jim Mahon
I'm running a GM-8 carrying my Genesis Sdf and Solarmax 60. I use a Kendrick 18AH battery pack and am quite happy thus far. The steel case is quite rugged, if a tad heavier than plastic. You pay for the nice powder-coated case and voltmeter, though. If you are just running basic drives you probably don't need that much battery capacity; I bought mine to also run my Nexstar 11 and accessory dew heaters if needed, and it runs both instruments quite nicely for a few nights without discharging too deeply.

A cheap and somewhat lighter alternative might be the Celestron Power tank, which is a bit less professional-looking, but incorporates some lights and multiple-voltage outputs IIRC.

Jim

April 27, 2004 06:12 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Why are 30mm to 35mm eps always the most costly?

Posted By Jim Mahon
Err - generally larger lens elements? More area to figure on each. For a given optical configuration, it always made sense to me that more glass area might equate to higher cost.

As far as the margins, they might be substantial for manufacturers - but I know the profit margins for dealers aren't huge in most cases. If they were truly huge for manufacturers, I'd expect somebody a little hungrier to enter the market and correct that. Not certain that prices for non-exotic eyepieces are so out of line. Start buying extremely wide, flat apparent fields or very long eye reliefs and you're entering diminishing returns land and you have to decide whether the added cost is worth it to you personally.

Jim

April 30, 2004 11:06 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Weird questions

Posted By Jim Mahon
Ron, I want to hear you free-associate at a star party. You know, that exhausted dementia we enter around 0300 where the most preposterous ideas make sense....

You'd be fun to listen to. Thanks for the grins!

Jim

May 5, 2004 02:35 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

solar filter question

Posted By Jim Mahon
I also have switched from a coated glass to the Baader film - the Baader does indeed blow my old glass filters away! Superb resolution of penumbral features in spots that were totally invisible in the glass filter.

Be careful, though - really liking solar can lead to sending large sums of money to places like Coronado Instrument Group. It did for me, and my wife now wearily notes that I do astronomy around the clock...

Jim

January 31, 2005 07:45 PM Forum: Star Parties

Pinos Info

Posted By Jim Mahon
That campground is McGill - quite nice, and the family wouldn't have to worry about red light only.

That being said, Andy, I routinely set up my 22 ft travel trailer in the parking lot with my scopes outside and have never had any trouble from the rangers. I think they apply the yardstick of astronomy being a night-long activity, so we are technically not campers. As long as you have an adventure pass, I've never seen anybody hassled for a self-contained RV in the lot. I run my awning out, drop the jacks, and usually unhitch to allow access to my scopes in the back of my Pickup.

Pitching tents on the adjacent dirt area WILL get you a talking to, though....

Clear Skies!

Jim

February 11, 2005 09:58 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Los Angeles area event for beginners February 12th

Posted By Jim Mahon
Unfortunately, we're getting rained on and the event is going to be postphoned to March 12th. this is our second weather scrub for this event - in between we've had days on end of absolutely perfect weather. Finagle's Law is in force!

Clear(er) Skies

Jim

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