Image of the day

Captured by
Bruce Karbal

Bat and Squid

About Astromart

My Account

New to Astromart?

Register an account...

Need Help?

Posts Made By: Rod Mollise

December 27, 2010 09:42 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

So What About IEQ45 Mounts?

Posted By Rod Mollise
Rod Kaufman said:

So what's the story on the IOptron EQ45 mounts?
Any good? Any reviews? I mean real reviews? About all I've seen thus far was the usual and customary cockamamie thread on CN which was so screwed-up you couldn't even tell what mount they were talking about!(It was something about some kind of synta glue variant and driving some guy nuts at IOptron about it.) Figures.
Anybody got one and put it up against Floyd Blue's vaunted tiger mount at LAAS? I mean let's get serious here...

Here's the bottom line based on what I know and have been told by people I trust.

1. The mount's periodic error is in line with that of other mounts in its class--the EQ-6/Atlas and CGEM, for example.

2. Go-to accuracy appears to be so-so at this point. Not as good as typical NexStar or Autostar performance.

3. It is light and pretty.

4. There are a few mechanical issues, but not deal breakers. Altitude and azimuth ajustments that are no great shakes, a poor tripod spreader, and a somewhat sticky declination axis.

5. There appear to be a few bugs in the software, but nothing very serious yet.

6. I've been told that Pempro will not upload to the mount.

wink

December 28, 2010 03:57 PM Forum: Politics

US Must Provide Lawyers

Posted By Rod Mollise
Rod Kaufman said:

To incapacitated immigrants, illegal or otherwise:
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-immigrants27-m,0,681592.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fmostviewed+%28L.A.+Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29
So if some incapacitated illegal unwittingly stumbles across the border, we're now obligated to provide him with a tax-payer funded attorney to represent his views even if the illegal doesn't understand them in the first place? :S

Yeah, dammit. There's that nasty and unavoidable matter of the dadgummed Constitution. LOL.

December 29, 2010 01:51 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

Saturn storm - visual obs

Posted By Rod Mollise
Paul Knight said:

After checking S&T's website to make sure saturn's storm would be visible i got up at 4 am to take a look with my 8" Celestron. The storm was supposed to cross the meridian around 6 am but I never saw it. I tried my hardest to make it out. Seeing was pretty good, transparency not great but not bad.
Just wondering if you all think visible obs of the storm are possible or if digital imaging is required. Thanks.

Quite possible. But you need to pump the magnification up, be sure your collimation is dead on, and prepare for the "subtle." wink

December 29, 2010 10:15 PM Forum: Celestron

Parts?

Posted By Rod Mollise
James DellaPenna said:

We used to purchase parts directly from Celestron but I thought I read somewhere that Celestron no longer does that. True? Not true? Example: Eyepiece holder/stiffening wedge for CG5 tripods.

Celestron has almost always furnished parts of the type you require. Call them.

January 3, 2011 11:23 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Want to clean my Intes Micro MCT Primary

Posted By Rod Mollise
Jim Idone said:

I had just picked up a real nice Intes Micro M6511, the scope is in real nice condition, no dents or scratches but the optics do seem that they need a cleaning. The corrector and secondary are real easy and I have already done them(secondary just needed to be blown off with a camera bulb) but the primary mirror seems to have more than just a few dust spots, more like dew marks, like it was taken outside then...

Best advice I can give you? _Leave the scope alone_. The marks will NOT affect images, and by cleaning you will risk doing more harm than good. If you insist, do NOT try to remove the rear cell or the primary. Remove the corrector and clean that way.

January 5, 2011 11:17 PM Forum: Religion

Science in the Bible

Posted By Rod Mollise
Keith Lawson said:

There is a lot more but I hope these examples suffice.

Keith


Not really. Everything here is a stretch, and not at all convincing of the Bible's science, which is exactly on the level to be expected for the stories of any Bronze Age civilization.

January 9, 2011 02:25 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Tripod / Mount for AT-66 Refractor

Posted By Rod Mollise
Have a look at the Synta (SkyWatcher or Orion) AZ-4 alt-az mount. If you hurry, you can still get one with a lightweight extruded aluminum tripod. Inexpsensive and far better for astronomy than any camera tripod. Adorama was recently selling one for 150 or so and throwing in a decent SkyWatcher 80mm f/11 refractor.

January 13, 2011 11:24 AM Forum: Solar System Observing

Anyone help ID an object?

Posted By Rod Mollise
Keith Garrett said:


I was taking pictures on dec 24th, and 5 of my images of m42 had a very slow moving object in them. Can anyone help ID what it may have been? The object was moving from right to left in the images.
Time: 10:00pm EST
Location : 43.608588, -71.276460
Exposure time : 114.6s

Any ideas? need more info? more exposures?

Thanks for any help;
Keith Garrett
Tuftonboro NH


This area is passed through by satellites frequently. If you need to know "which one" try heavens-above.com


January 16, 2011 12:48 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Big Cat on a CG-5?

Posted By Rod Mollise
robin woolsey said:

What is the biggest SCT that would work on a CG-5 ASGT and still be able to do astrophotography? I would like to eventually up-size from my C8 to an 11" and need to know if I need a new mount also or just the OTA. I know that Celestron sales an 11" with the CG-5 but will it work with the extra weight of camera and or other accessories?
thanx robin

Some people have had good imaging results with the C11 on this mount, but it is certainly not to be recommended. In practical terms, a C8 is the max. If you are mainly focused on imaging, a C11 really doesn't gain you much more than more image scale, which, unless you are after small galaxies, etc., ain't always a good thing.

January 26, 2011 11:31 AM Forum: Politics

SOU: Guess what?

Posted By Rod Mollise
"Dies" it, huh...? How do you know it is dead?! LOL!

Funding Member

Sponsors


View all sponsors

Search