Posts Made By: Bob Young

Well Gary, you've discovered astronomy's dirty little secret; there's not a lot of 'bang for the buck'. Those of us who like it have become conditioned to its meager rewards. We're overjoyed when we get a clear night; beside ourselves when equipment works the way it should; delirious when the heavens throw us a few crumbs.

But, Gary you must ask what it is you really want. Do you really want breathtaking 3-D close-up views of a fascinating planet? Would you like to experience first hand its moods and quirks? Are you looking for that "sky walk" experience? Would you like to do it in cloudy weather and clear; during the day and at night? Would you like to be a participant and not merely an observer? Is that what you want Gary? Then thank the kind gentlemen for opening your eyes and spend that $5K getting a pilot's license.

Flying is expensive. As sole owner of an IFR aircraft, I should know. But the return is there. It's worth the sacrifice. To me, it's worth almost any sacrifice. I wouldn't swap it for anything.

Once rated, it's easy to share the experience. Kids go bonkers after their first airplane ride. As you found out, sharing the joys of astronomy is easier said than done.

Of course, if you're already a pilot you know this.
Flame suit on.
Bob Young

Bruce,
The breakthrough for me was the red-dot finder. The icing on the cake is the optical Right-Angle Correct Image finder. A scope with both is a joy to use:
-get in the neighborhood with the red-dot
-zero in with the optical finder
-observe with the main scope
-look for other potentially interesting targets (double stars?) in the field of the optical finder

However, all finders must be zeroed to the main scope if they are to be of any use. Before it gets dark, line up the main scope on a local prominent object at least a few hundred yards away. Church steeple, transmitting tower, or water tower will do. Make sure you see the object in the visual field of the main scope and center the most prominent feature on the object(like the top of the tower) in the field. With axes locked and drives off, adjust the red-dot finder to center on the target at the same location as the main scope. Recheck both main scope and finder several times to make sure nothing's moved and that both are centered on the same spot.

If you've also got the optical RACI finder, repeat the process with that, making sure that all three devices are pointing to the same spot on the same object when you finish. I've found that the Losmandy rings used with my optical finder will return to zero very well following removal and replacement. So, other than minor tweaks, I've only had to do this once.

The Stellarvue red-dot finder is one of the best and one of the least expensive. I've bought one for each scope and leave it attached whenever possible. Return to zero following remove/replace isn't guaranteed, but if the finder was zeroed on the scope before removal it won't be too far out when replaced.

To my mind the red-dot finder should be standard equipment for every beginners telescope. Only Stellarvue understood this from the get-go. Everybody else supplied reversed image straight through finders that are a challenge to use even when you're familiar with the sky. To a beginner these things are as discouraging as the Hubble photos on the box.

As noted above, the last thing a beginner needs is upside down, backward images, especially when he's fighting poor seeing in a light polluted environment. Add a touch of dyslexia to the mix and it rapidly gets hopeless.
Hope this helps.
Bob Young

David:
I bought a plastic TV adapter block which fits the grooves in the tube ring. The top part of this block is cut in a dovetail which fits the Losmandy 50-60mm finder ring bracket. In the Losmandy rings, I use an Antares 8x50 RA finder. It works well even though my TV is equatorially mounted.

Nice thing about the Losmandy rings is that the finder can be easily removed AND it will hold its zero when reinstalled. I think the single screw clamp to the adapter block is the secret of this. The bad thing about the Losmandy ring bracket is that it's not cheap...a little over $50 if I recall. I shied away from the TV universal finder mount because it looked like it was necessary to disassemble the finder from the rings to remove the rings and put the scope back in its case. Didn't want to do a major rezeroing each time out.

The adapter block was a TV part that came from Anacortes and had a wierd part number...something like 'FAB'. 'Finder Adapter Block'...maybe not so wierd.
Bob

Herb! It AIN'T broke!

My first scope, a 10" Orion Premium DSE Dobsonian. And to paraphrase George Constanza; "It wasn't the scope, it was me.". Just couldn't seem to master the motions necessary to get on an object and reliably track it. Eyepiece changes, and general klutziness further complicated matters. Observing opportunities that were few and far between didn't help anything.

Optically it seemed OK; maybe even very good. Had no e.p. filters at that time and trying to observe Jupiter with it would nearly fry your retina. It did give me an excellent view of Hale-Bopp, however. I'll remember that forever.

A coworker borrowed it, liked it and ended up buying it.
Just not a Dob kinda guy...
Bob

Oh Man! Floyd, you are so fortunate! The J-Lo of observing sites. Make good use of it! Don't expect we'll be hearing much from you on A-M anymore. If we do, that site's wasted on you ;^)

From
Bob (surrounded by lakes, trees, snow & clouds in upstate NY; 54 minutes of observing logged so far this year)

To the XW performance mystery, please add the XL disappearance mystery. (I know; XL's are so 'last year' ;^) A set of XL's was a lifetime goal for me. How can they take such a great eyepiece off the market? Did Pentax figure the XLs would soak up the XW market?

Pardon me for piggy backing on your post, John.
Bob

Yeah, this is cool. Upstate NY's been clear all week. Did more astronomy the past 4 days than I did all last year. At this pace, stargazing will never get old.
Bob

I like the 8-24mm click-stop Televue I bought here on Astromart a lot. If I start out the evening with it, there's a good chance that it'll be the only e.p. I use.

Have only experienced one problem. While trying to observe a couple of weeks ago at 0 deg. F., the click-stop power change ring froze up and stuck at 8mm. Once it warmed up, it worked normally.
Bob

Thanks for posting your results, Floyd. Very informative. They confirm my subjective opinions of the same eyepieces. Though good, the 10 & 15mm Ultrascopics are just not on a par with the 9 & 12.5mm UO Orthos. And neither is the 7mm Ortho. The 9 & 12.5mm orthos are exceptional.

Your opinion of Meade 4000 26mm plossl also rings true. Mine came with my ETX125 and is tack sharp in everything I use it in...it's one of my favorites.
Bob