Posts Made By: Steven Lynn

I've wondered for a while about the cool down time of scopes and air currents in tubes. There are newt fans, SCT coolers, mak and mak newt-fans. But I've never heard of refractor fans. And these methods only use fans, never something like refrigerated air or some more active cooling method. Or the metal tube can be cooled by a peltier cooler, water filled coils etc. Okay, all this is brainstorming, which means most of the ideas will not be workable.

But in general, has anyone ever tried this? Or are there reason(s) it hasn't been tried: too kludgy, $$$, not portable? Is the main issue some danger to the lens?

I find it hard to believe it hasn't been done due to lack of imagination!

I have a question for mounting 8+ lbs of 25x100mm binoculars. I just closed a deal on a Universal Astronomics T-Mount. That is a heavy duty short parallelogram mount.

Now for the tripod. Has anyone compared the UA to the Oberwerk surveyor tripods. Should I bite the bullet and get top of the line or will middle of the line do?

Things that are important to me: ergonomics, ease of set up and take down. Nifty accessories, such as carrying handles, or what have you.
Thanks,
Steven

Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.
-Confucius

I don't see a forum that fits this question perfectly, and I hope this one will do.

I'm planning may first trek up to Mt. Pinos and have some questions. This time of the year how many people can you expect to be there on a weekDAY? WeekEND?

What kind of facilities are there? Bathrooms, campground sites, fire/cooking pits/barbecues?
Thanks,
Steven

I found a webiste the other day by a person (not an Inc., or an ACME, or even a Division of~) who has a relatively new internet business selling mirrors. I think he has them in sizes from 8" and up (10", 12" ?? ?? ?? toward bigger than 20". I also seem to remember that he is located in California.

His website also had some interesting ideas. One is that the secondary mirror often have edge problems, and he recommends masking off the edge of a secondary. He said that even your you re creating a large obstruction, the benefits were worth it.

Anyone know who this is, and even the web address?

Thanks,
Steven

Ah, everytime someone starts to spin some Utopian dream of this that tehcnology or urban planning, I think to myself: "They haven't seen or read enough really good bad science fiction from the 1930's into the 1970's. Otherwise they would know that something always goes horribly, horrible wrong.

With that in mind: anything written by Philip K. Dick. Even the bad stuff. Especially the bad stuff.

I've been watching a DVD set of The Invaders. This was a 1967-8 TV show about "David Vincent has seen them. Alien invaders who have taken human form..." And when the aliens are killed, well, you have to watch them.
The X-Files stole a lot of ideas from this show, even actor Roy Thinnes who was on the X-Files for several episodes.

The shows are formulaic but entertaining. It's on 10 or so DVD's that are cheaply done. The color is very washed out, for example, and inconsistant. Many of the DVD's freeze up and stop playing. They will play again later. Which makes me wonder why that is? I can hear the DVD playing making more chirping noise as is plays that it does with any other DVD's. Pure speculation, but maybe the DVD's are just about out of spec, causing the laser to overwork trying to track it, which causes the machine to get overheated.

Or, the aliens are controlling my DVD player. Yeah, that's it! Somebody out of the UK is selling a region free version. I don't know if it's any better.

Content is worth the bad transfer.

Also, a great movie: Kronos. I think it was filmed in Mexico. The alien machine looks like a modern sculpture. A large black rectangle that get's bigger as it steals the earth's energy. Pretty soon it's gigantic, towering miles high as it invades the San Fernando Valley, my home town. Then, when the heroes land a helicopter on the top, it courteously changes size so the top is small enough to fit in a sound stage!

SL

If you go over the bay and check # 120036438311 you will see an unusual mount for a 6" Mak. Since I don't own the pics, I'm not going to post them here.

It looks like a rectangular box about 40 inches high. At the top it like a upside down dobsonian base that the scope cradles in.

I've seen someone else's homemade Alt-Az mount along the same lines that he used for a quick set up refractor.

(By the way, I am in no way promoting this deal. Check the feedback etc etc. Let's just say I won't be bidding on this-or anything from this seller).

SL

If you haven't seen this, check it out!

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08329

This made me wonder of the view of the rings from the non-existent solid surface of Saturn. Maybe Saturnians have the opposite of scuba diving, and don suits and gear to float above the dense gases.

My thought was: do the rings ever align parallel to the rays of sunlight, so the sunlight is lighting the rings edge on. This is not to be confused with the appearance to us on earth, as every so many years the rings appear edge on and almost disappear.

If the rings do line up parallel to sunlight, then will the rings be lit up less by the sun? We'll call this a ring crossing event, just to give it a name.

If this happens, I'm guessing it would occur every 15 years and 3 months, or twice for each Saturn 'year' or 29.5 years. When the rings are closest to parallel to the light rays from the sun, some of the ring material will be in the shadow of other ring material, and the rings will be 'lit' up less than usual. The material at the edge closest to the sun wold be lit up, but would the outer material cast a shadow dimming ring material in the shadow? I'm guessing the rings as seen from Saturn will slowly dim for several days or weeks, becoming noticeably less bright but no-where near completely dark. I have no idea if the event would last hours, days, weeks, or even months.

Also, the rings may be lit up unevenly, showing different structure than usually seen. The rings are not 100% flat, but have some sections that are tilted in relation to other areas, or have 'bumpy' or wavy areas. Just like sunlight will hit mountain peaks during sunrise or sunset, these areas of the rings will be lit-up more than other areas during the crossing event.

Another thought. It appears from the pics in the link above that the back side of Saturn and the rings behind the planet are also visible. Artistic license, or do the rings reflect light on the back side of Saturn and the rings behind the planet, just like moonlight? And if so, is the amount of light substantial or faint?

For more fun, search out the book “What if there were no moon?” By Steven Parker

I saw this in the paper today. The Keck brakes and acuators, whatever those are, were damaged and need replacing. One scope was move 1/8 inch, the other one inch, so they will also need realigning.

More here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101900862.html

SL

Does anyone out there have a Focusmate on their TV-85? I want to know if it's a really really really nice upgrade or only a really nice upgrade. And other commentary as well.

Thanks,
Steven

The seller is asking $65,000.

[SIZE="Small"]I wouldn't pay a dime over $59,000. 8) [/SIZE]

I wonder what other unique or micro-runs of AP scopes are out there?