Posts Made By: Rod Mollise

What do I think? I'll take the 50...and a dome to put it in. Now, if only I had a couple of hundred K lyin' around I wasn't using...LOL

john knefel said:

I think Orion would have better served the astronomy community by being more realistic and have offered something in the 16-22 inch class of truss dobsonian.

Who says they won't? Be that as it may, I would guess they will sell out every production run of the big scopes. Plenty of people spend way more on things like big RVs and boats that get less use than a scope like one of these will. ;-)

barry jaquith said:

With a focal length of 4765mm your eyepieces will be restricted to 26mm lowest power to 14mm high power.The widest field of view with this scope is.42 degrees not enough to take in most large objects. Would still love to have one in a permanent observatory.

Why will you be "restricted" to 26mm?

jess tauber said:

I just watched the 90 minute pilot for the series Caprica (http://www.syfy.com/rewind/). Much more compelling than the Battlestar Galactica pilot or the first episodes after.

Anyone else see it?

Jess Tauber

I bought the DVD several months ago. Verdict? "We'll see." Could go either way...OK...but "more compelling than the Battlestar Galactica pilot"? No. Not for me it wasn't.

Daniel Janosick said:

Hi group,
I am in the market for another ccd camera and I am really in need of guidance. In my observatory I have two piers, one holds an 8" SCT, and the other holds a 110mm refractor (which will eventually through grace get upgraded to a 152mm).
I am currently using the SKY 6 and use CCD SOft for image acquisition. I prefer a mono camera so I can get into narrow band imaging. I know the two scopes have much differnt focal lengths but if I get a camera that bins will/can it perform on both?
I am not married to SBIG but I am very comfortable with their CCD interface.
PS I am very much budget minded. ANy guidance would be appreciated.
dan

You don't say which camera you have now. How much do you want to spend? I've been very happy with the ST2000.

Tony Aguire said:

I picked up a minty Orion Skyview Deluxe last year for the grand sum of $28 at the local Goodwill. I also have a Celestron Advanced Astromaster from my old fork setup. Has anyone seen a retrofit to get theses two to work togeter? I thought it would be neat to have push to on my little grab and go set up 8) ...

Thanks and Clear Skies

Not sure what a "minty" is...but as far as the DSCs go, best bet is to call JMI, they can provided an encoder installation for just about anything.

Micheal Fields said:

I was contemplating the purchase of a good quality binoviewer and two identical eyepieces for viewing. Not just for myself but so my 4yo daughter can look through it easy and I can set up my telescope at community events and let people look through it in a more natural less narrow field of view.

I love the Denkmeier binoviewers. For myself. For the public and little folks? Not So Much. They find them more difficult and annoying to use than fun.

eric hardy said:

I am a total noob, so, where do I begin?

As you've been told, step one is an astronomy club. Step two is the Yahoo Celestron AS group. The good folks there can help you get up and running in no time...

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/celestron_as/

James C Chandler Jr said:

As it has been 40 years since the first Apollo landing, will USA astronauts return to the moon within the next 40 years? Except possibly as hitch-hikers on Chinese or Indian moon missions?

Perhaps the USA will never find it politically expedient to commit sufficient resources to another manned moon mission until all Earthly problems have been solved? In that case, since Earthly problems are likely to continually worsen rather than improve, does this imply that we will never return?

Maybe if tech advances would make near-earth space travel dramatically less expensive, then it might be a no-brainer for a private enterprise? But as long as manned space missions remain so expensive that only the Feds can afford it, will we ever let loose the bucks to make it back to the moon?

1. As hitchhikers? At this particular point in time, I'd say "yes." That can change, however.

2. Yes, if we wait till all Earthly problems are solved. There are those among us, however, who realize that will likely NEVER happen and are not willing to wait. The current Administration notwithstanding.

3. Difficult to say. We MAY be on the cusp of commercial manned spaceflight. But folks have been looking forward to that since...oh...about 1945 or so. LOL

The current Administration, no matter what its other pluses and minuses has little interest in spaceflight. I would guess that it's a nuisance for them more than anything else. The only reason they will put money into NASA is that they are politically pressured by Senators and Representatives whose constituents want NASA $$$ and jobs. Never mind that we dumped enough money down the AGI toilet to return to the Moon. That don't matter. Never has, I'm afraid.

I am extremely dubious of the USA doing anything in this regard anytime soon. We stepped off the track after Apollo, and that and 'Nam's hangover pretty much closed the book. Not to worry. Either things will change in the US or the Chinese or the Indians or whomever will pick up the torch. I don't have to like that, but it is OK, and that is the way things go. Superpowers rise and superpowers fall. ;-(

John Meiners said:

At home I have the luxury of 110v convet/12volt which powers my dew heaters and slewing demands, however I find that out in the field (Star party) my viewing time is limited to my "Power Tank" which usually flashes the yellow light after several hrs. of observing. does anyone have any suggestions to an alternative power source? thanks again, John M in Astoria, OR.

Two:

Larger capacity power tank...unless you are really suckin' it down a 17ah should last more than a few hours, but 21ah models are easily available. I do use two: one for the scope, one for the dew heaters. Make sure you charge the thing for 12 hours after every use, and charge it once a month if you don't use it.

Trollin' motor battery (aka deep cycle marine battery). If you need a lot of current, including power big laptops, etc., this is the way to go. Way less portable than a jumpstart battery, and without a built-in charger, of course.