Posts Made By: Rod Mollise

Brian Coltrane said:

I've had newts & refractors. I still love my apo, but I'm looking for a compact scope with about 8" aperture for a dual mount setup (all visual, no AP). One thing a didn't like about my newts was the coma problem. I'm hoping to find a good deal on Astromart. Any advice as to what I should be going for??

Michael Simonson said:

Howdy all,

I've been using my Meade ETX 105 here for the past summer, and for some reason, I can barely get the GOTO function to actually, well, go to something. I've learned time must be an exact, as well as global position, but for some reason, my go-tos of Jupiter and Saturn are always on the very edge of my FOV.

As I will try to go to DSO's in the near future, I would like to be able to solve this problem so I can get some centered and "good=looking" DSO's.

Thanks,

Michael Simonson


(attached is my first picture with my DSI Pro, it was cloudy tonight)

Matthew Egan said:

Howdy- Just looking for some information. I have owned a B&L 8" sct for a year or so and am selling it. I know, I know, worst scope ever. Not really, this one has performed O.K. for me but I have no need for it's complexities with a 8" GSO dob already in the garage. So my question is this- If you want to attach a 2" sct diagonal to it, do you need a 2" visual back or converter or something? I got one cheap online recently and wanted to throw it on to the buyer. However, it is too wide (by a couple of mm at most) to screw on the threads on the back of the OTA. Is this because I am missing a piece or did Bauch and Lomb / Criterion use a different diameter than current standard to attach visual backs and accessories? If so is there a fix? Thank for fielding my nonsense.

Tony Aguire said:

Hello, All

I have a CG5-GT on the way for my C8/WO SD66 combo. I am looking at methods to autoguide this mount. I have a Meade DSI color (first version) that I am not using, but I am wondering if I would have better luck with the Orion Starshoot autoguider. Software, ease of use etc matter. I will be using an older Dell laptop running XP to do this. Up till now I have been manually guiding, so this is going to be a learning curve...


Thanks and Clear Skies.

Brian Crittendon said:

I am interested in viewing nebula & other deep space objects. What do you recomend for my 1st filter. uhc type lpr filter or o-III type filter. I have a great viewing spot 15 miles from the nearest small town & 25 from the nearest city.

Thanks

Brian

Gordon Irwin said:

I have been trying to get my first reasonable image with my Meade DSI II Pro on a 10" LX200 Classic using AutoStar Suite softwre, but I am not sure what I am doing wrong after 3 attempts I still don't have much to show. Any advice would be helpful.
Below is my attempt at M31 40 combined exposures

Envisage settings:
15 sec exposures
Dark frame subtract
Deep Sky Image process combined 40% quality
File save options - JPEG Normal operation

Is this typical of 40 combined 15 second exposures? I intended to keep the exposure times low as I am still sorting out minor autoguiding issues.

Thank you,

Gordon

David Colton said:

Is there any way to mount a Sky Scout to a telescope, so that it can be SHIELDED from the metal OTA and used as an object finder? I have a TV102 (and that's a lot of metal) on a Gibraltor mount. With the price reduction, it would be an economical accessory if it would work.

John Agnew said:

I've been thinking about getting a scope(& mount) that would be more easily dealt with on a camping trip than my C9.25 CPC. My initial thoughts were leaning towards an ETX 127 or something similar. I know there are some nice refractors of about the same size that might work too, but I'd like to keep the price below $700. What small scopes will give me the best views of DSO's? I just spent a few weeks in an area with amazing skies, armed only with a small pair of birding binocs. Never again.
We can continue the refractor vs reflector fight here, I suppose.

David Berman said:

Just a 'heads up' if you are running Vista 64bit, Orion does not have a driver. They have the driver for the Star Shoot cameras, but it is not compatible with the autoguider. They seem a little vague on the issue, so I would not count on seeing it soon although their web site says mid October. This is really too bad. The autoguider works really well, but almost all new and recent PC's only come with Vista 64 and Window 7 is coming out right behind it. These guys are really behind the curve.

Leslie Artola said:

Hello,

Just joined and a Beginner so bare with me. I've been crazy about astronomy and astrophotography for years, started to get into it a few years back with a Meade ETX-125 and a old Canon Rebel 2000 (film). Had our first child and had to sell the scope.

Here I am a few years later and now with 2 kids and its finally time for me to get back into this. Now...I've been reading for a few nights now and it seems the more I read, the more confused about which type/make/size of scope I should buy. I've come to the conclusion that an equatorial mount is a must but just cant seem to make up my mind on what scope to get so I figure I need help!

I want a scope which will allow me to take spectacular photos of the moon, planets and long exposure. I would also like it if the scope doubles up as a decent observation scope but rather it be more geared towards photo taking.

Reality: Budget is not high enough to buy anything crazy like a Vixen Refracting scope but I have roughtly a $1,500 budget to play with.

I will be using a Nikon D90 to snap the photos and also have a mac book pro if that makes a difference lol. Any help and I mean any will be greatly appreciated. If you need me to supply any other info just let me know and feel free to email me [email protected]

Thank you so much & I look forward to being a part of this community.

Albert.