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Posts Made By: Louis Marchesi

November 7, 2006 03:42 AM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

If you had to buy one eyepiece????

Posted By Louis Marchesi
I find it hard to argue against the 17mm Nagler, it's an excellent eyepiece. But at 60x, is that enough magnification for the planets?


BTW, prepare to be in AWE of a truly dark sky.


December 11, 2006 02:36 AM Forum: Solar System Observing

Be on the Lookout for the Planetary Trio

Posted By Louis Marchesi
Dave Mitsky said:

Prior to dawn on December 10, the three planets come within a degree of each other, the closest approach of three naked-eye planets from 1980 through 2050. The 2.5 magnitude binary star Beta Scorpii (Graffias) fits into a 1.1 degree diameter circle with the three planets that morning.

I witnessed this spectacle from my home here in Chester County, PA. Very beautiful. Jupiter and Mercury were obvious to the naked eye (this at 6:20 am EST). I needed binocs to see Mars. Binoculars also revealed Beta Scorpii. All four were hovering above the fiery orange-red of the impending sunrise.

One other thing that I noted, Dave. Your post and the S&T website mention that the three planets AND Beta Sco fit within a 1.1-degree circle. I missed that little detail about Beta Sco. Using one of the "Meeus Magic Formulae" I calculated that the three PLANETS were contained within a circle slightly less than one degree in diameter. I thought Jan and/or my planetarium software let me down until I read the "fine print."

Hope you got to see the grouping.

December 21, 2006 10:04 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

Has the moon changed?

Posted By Louis Marchesi
Gary Barber said:

The full question is ... Does the moon look any different than it did say 100 years ago or even further back as far as large crater impacts that can be seen through the telescope?

I realize that the moon is being bombarded constantly, (I think) but are there any prominent surface changes?


I don't think any features of the Moon have changed in the past 100 years that you could see from Earth with amateur optics. If memory serves, the "youngest" surface features on the moon are at least tens or hundreds of millions of years old.

The "constant" bombardment is solar wind and cosmic radiation, plus micrometeroids I think.


December 31, 2006 05:37 AM Forum: Eyepieces

TMB planetary eyepieces, why two types?

Posted By Louis Marchesi
Richard,

The Super Monos are a 'niche' eyepiece tailored more for planetary and double star observing where a wide field is not paramount. The monocentric design is used to eliminate as much scatter as possible, trading apparent field of view and [higher] cost. I think they are aiming toward the 'aficianado' wishing to exact the last bit of performance from their optical system.

The 'second kind', if you will, is geared more towards good performance at a lower cost, with the added benefit of a wider apparent field of view and better eye relief.

April 16, 2007 04:51 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Utility Costs?

Posted By Louis Marchesi
7.18 cents/kWh or thereabouts ...


April 25, 2007 12:18 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Photoshop question

Posted By Louis Marchesi
Sonya Ward said:

Hello everyone

What photoshop version do you use. I dont know that I can afford the photoshop cs2. I think it is like $999.00 or something. Can I use a older version?
Sonya smile

Hi Sonya,

FWIW, Adobe has just released CS[SIZE="Large"]3[/SIZE]. I believe the full cost is $649 -- not exactly cheap I realize. If you're a student, you can purchase their products at a significant discount.

I currently use v7 and although I intend to upgrade in the short term it is certainly useable.

May 11, 2007 03:51 AM Forum: Eyepieces

calculating field of view

Posted By Louis Marchesi
Kreig McBride said:

Using Televue's eyepiece calculator, I will get a 0.8 degree field of view using the 41mm Panoptic. What would my FOV be if the 41mm Panoptic were added to a 4X Powermate? It would give me 329.6X

Aperture: 254mm
FL: 3,378.2mm


0.2 degrees

September 1, 2007 02:26 PM Forum: Star Parties

Black Forest Star Party 2007

Posted By Louis Marchesi
Dave Mitsky said:

Who's going to this year's BFSP?

Dave Mitsky

Dave,

The wife and I (Lou from DVAA) are attending. In years past, I've not "worried" about the location of electricity. This year, though, I will need A/C. Where should I look to set up, or is power available from every spot on the observing field?

October 16, 2007 12:43 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

basic question???

Posted By Louis Marchesi
Ed Fraini said:

with a DOB on an equitorial platform do you get field rotation with time exposure. Which is most typically used on a DOB a DSL or CCD? Seems with a larger DOB you might want to use DSL with a lot of short shots.

Ed,

I am not a Dob owner, but any equatorial mount, properly aligned, will not show field rotation.


October 19, 2007 03:40 AM Forum: Refractors

Astro-physics Notification for 155 f/7?

Posted By Louis Marchesi
Tom Blahovici said:

Hi,

Does anyone know about the notification for astro-physics refractors?
I have been on the list since 2001-2002 for a 155 f/7 and have not heard anything.
But today, I checked out their wen site and saw that there are new 140's?
What happens to the old notifications?
It's now around 5-6 years and still no notification!
Thanks for any ideas!

AP is no longer producing the 155 f/7. In its place, however, is a 160mm scope. I believe anyone on the notification list for the 155 was put on the 160 notification list. The people waiting for the 130 f/8.35 were transferred to the 140 list, and those on the 130 f/6 list were moved to the new 130 scope list.

There's an AP forum here on AM where you might get more info:
http://www.astromart.com/forums/list.asp?forum_id=21

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