Posts Made By: Rod Mollise

Floyd Blue said:

The thing that I do not understand is this. Why is this forum here, it is just a place for people to ridicule others that are Religious or only for the debunking of Religion? Where is the ability for believers to discuss Religion in a forum dedicated to the topic?

Charles Littell said:

Hi folks: I have become an expert at assembling and disassembling my 8" Meade SCT (model 2080 oldie but goodie), along with associated skills such as cleaning optics, replacing grease, losing and finding little parts in the carpet, etc. But for all this, I still have more focus-driven image shift than I think is reasonable (about 10% of FOV in my 26mm EP.)

It is a LOT better since I tightened the primary mount (dried/shrunk cork ring.) But I am now contemplating the remaining possible sources of shift. Could it be the mount of the center tube to the rear frame? Searching the web, I find no reference to how this tube is attached to the frame. It looks like it MIGHT just be threaded and spun in, but I don't see any set screws as would be expected.

Does anyone have experience with this? Is the center tube removable?

Thanks-=-Chas in Dayton

Paul Ste. Marie said:

Has anyone had success trying to dampen vibration in fork mounts by adding some sort of non-elastic (in the technical sense) material to the fork? I'm thinking of trying some of the squirt-in expanding foam in the channels of the fork on my LX50 to absorb and deaden vibrations.

I figure anything adequately mushy should reduce the tuning fork effect I seem to get whenever I touch the scope to focus.

Michael Greenham said:

There's a nice grouping today with one of the biggest spots I've seen yet. 8) If you've got a sun filter then get out and take a look and get a tan at the same time.

Cheers,
Mike

Scott Satko said:

Rod, thanks for your opinion. I was hoping for something a little more specific, though. Tell me what your ideas are for the design of a specific experiment that would prove the hypothesis that we're discussing. The problem with using vague terms is that even if such an experiment could be done, there would always be naysayers who would say "that doesn't count," and would claim that they disagreed with the conclusions of the experiment.

Lee Spain said:

If Gulf Coast towns get an insane amount of rain each year (65-75 inches or so) and there is a huge oil slick off of the coast. What's going to be in all that rain? 8O Is it going to be full of oil and petrochemicals? 8O

Craig M Carl said:

Hey guys, the newby is back. I've got a question about the best way to go about cleaning a corrector lens on an SCT. Got any suggestions?
Products, methods, do's and don'ts.

Roland Beard said:

With my wife's permission I have posted her quick sketch of M83. We had opportunity in early May to go after M83 and M68 together using a C8 with astro video equipment. It makes for an interesting time as we huddle around a monitor. She is much faster than me and whipped this out in half the time it took me. Then we went to M68. Hope someone enjoys it. This sketch is from a story and 3 sketches on our Inspiration pages at a little ministry site (address under my signature in case you want to go look).

robin woolsey said:

Hello! I am considering the purchase of a focal reducer for my C8 Celestron to improve the image quality and for astrophotography. Am I headed in the right direction and does brand name matter?
robin

Louis Busby said:

Anyone here take telescope protection while observing at dark sites.

I live in Northern VA and have to go to remote dark sites to observe/image. I usually always have a pistol with me since I am out in the dark alone with thousands of dollars worth of equipment. I have a concealed carry permit and usually wear the pistol concealed. Also in some areas I go there are bears

The exception to that is if I am at a star party with lots of kids. I lock the pistol in the truck just to be safe and to keep the little ones from freaking if they spot it accidently.

Jus wonderin.