Posts Made By: George Normandin

My club has the following scope in need of a permanent observatory mount: AP 6-inch F/12 superplanetary refractor.

We’ve used this scope an a Losmandy G-11, outside, and as long as there is no wind, the mount could handle this long tube. I have an MI-250 that has no problem with this scope. However, in search of spending less $$, we would consider a Celestron CI700. How does this mount compare to the other two? Would it handle a 6-in F/12 refractor?

George N

My astro club has a Denk bino that was originally intended for SCTs. It has two 2” lenses: one being what I call a “Barlow” and the second being a Star-sweeper. I’ve borrowed it to use on my Obsession 20” F/5 Dob, but can’t get it to focus with any configuration of these lenses, or without them. What do I need to buy from Denkmeier to get to focus without cutting the truss poles on my Dob?

George N

Kopernik Observatory and Space Education center (www.kopernik.org) needs a set of good eyepieces for our 6-inch F/12 Astro-Physics refractor. After years of limited use this fine scope is now permanently mounted in a dome. However, we have only one eyepiece for the scope. If you have one or more eyepieces that you could donate to Kopernik please send me a private message. Note that Kopernik is a non-profit and can provide a letter for Income Tax purposes.

George Normandin

My group (www.kopernik.org) recently installed in our observatory an Astro-Physics 6-in F/12 on a Losmandy G-11. We would like an ‘easy’ solution to tube balance when changing eyepieces, bino-viewer, cameras, solar h-alpha filter, etc. We are considering purchase of a gizmo from Ken’s rings that would have two rings, bars, and sliding weights. However I’m wondering if anyone has another commercially available idea. BTW, by ‘easy’ solution I mean something that can be used by a teacher working with kids, not an experienced amateur astronomer – moving the tube in the mount would be too difficult for some of these users.

George N

The Kopernik Observatory and Kopernik Astronomical Society (KAS) will hold their annual “Astronomy Festival and Star Party 2007” on Thursday through Saturday September 20th thru 22nd 2007 (open for camping and observing Thursday thru Sunday morning). This is a ‘rain or shine’ event with plenty to do no matter what the weather. There will be formal presentations aimed at all levels of interest, and day & night observing using the observatory’s telescopes and those of the KAS and visiting amateur astronomers.

Keynote speaker Friday night will be Dr. Jim Bell from Cornell University. Dr. Bell has worked extensively with the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Jim is the author of the popular book “Postcards from Mars”, a pictorial history of the rover missions.

During the day we will point our scopes at the sun using white-light and h-alpha filters. We may even be able to find a daytime planet or two! We will try to line up at least one telescope vendor for on-site scope and astronomy equipment sales. There will be ‘finger food’ (pizza, etc) and soft drinks available, plus a catered meal on Saturday evening. Our camping is primitive, but we will leave the bathrooms open all night from Thursday thru Sunday morning. There are some limited AC power hook-ups, but they are limited to telescopes, CCDs, laptops, etc. The power is for astronomy stuff only: No coffee makers, heaters, or camper lights please! After 9 PM red lights and 'star party rules' will apply, but we can't avoid some head lights from cars leaving the parking lot. While Kopernik has reasonably dark skies, with a bright Milky Way overhead, there is some light pollution in the north. While it is not “Cherry Springs (PA) dark” or the central Adirondacks, most amateur astronomers will be quite happy with our sky conditions for visual observing and imaging.


Facility: A 2 million dollar science and education facility with four main labs/presentation areas. Three domes with a 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien Cassegrain telescope, a Celestron C-14 14-inch telescope, and an Astro-Physics 6-inch F/12 Super-Planetary APO refractor, plus numerous smaller portable telescopes, and a SBIG STL-1301E CCD camera. The observatory also has a DayStar H-alpha solar filter and PST H-alpha scope.

See our website www.kopernik.org for more details, or contact [email protected]

George Normandin, KAS

Greg Nowell said:

My distinct impression is that the number of go-to scopes for sale on Astromart is pretty small. .......

..... I see them ADVERTISED in the magazines, but I don't see them re-sold here in proportion to the numbers that must be accumulating out there.

My hunch is that a lot of them break or never worked and got stuck into closets......

Maybe it's also the case that the people who buy the one-armed models tend to be newbies who never end up on the 'mart....

When I recently attended the Cherry Springs Star Party for the first time, as I silently moved my Obsession 20 around the sky, I was at first startled by loud wining sounds coming thru the dark from all directions. I almost fell off my ladder. I then realized the source: GoTo’s!! The next morning I found myself surrounded by mostly Meade and Celestron GoTo’s. I personally own the last non-GoTo Mountain Instruments MI-250 mount, which I bought because I can’t live with the power needs of a GoTo while CCD imaging in AC-powerless remote locations. I asked the owner of MI why he was dropping the non-GoTo and he said “It would be impossible to sell even one of them now. Everyone wants GoTo.

As for sale on Amart: From my discussions with others while buying/selling at the Stellafane swap-meet I can only conclude that the majority of amateur astronomers are still not into web-based astronomy. About two thirds of the folks I talked to there never even heard of Amart. That number increases when I talk about buying scopes to people just coming into the hobby. I always highly recommend Amart as a source of good used equipment.

George N

I use an old 1980's era Brandon 80mm triplet with a 1.25" focuser (see old S&T add picture). The only imaging I've done with this scope has been with 35mm film or a small chip CCD camera. With the advent of Comet Holmes I tried imaging with a Canon Rebel DSLR and got: great images, but with considerable coma in the corners and left/right side of the images. Looking around for coma reducer lenses I don't see an easy solution for a scope with a 1.25" focuser. Everything seems designed for 2-inch. Has anyone "solved" this, or have a suggestion for a cheap/simple solution?

George N

May 29 2008 to June 1
These dates are from Thursday at noon (local time) to Sunday at noon (local time)

See: www.cherrysprings.org

Had a great time there in 2007, except my sleeping bag was a little thin for a temp of 28 F.

George N

What will these geo-engineering ideas to cut global warming mean for earth-based astronomy?

See: http://tinyurl.com/36g4m4

George N

Dave Candela said:

I own a 15" reflecror. I'm thinking about buying a 20" I live in a suburb of Chicago. Average skys. Is it worth the money to get 5 more inches of apperature, or is a 15" close to a 20 in the views you get. I've never looked through a 20.

I’ve used the C-14 and 20-inch F/8 RC Cass at Kopernik Obs (www.kopernik.org) since 1993. I also own an Obsession 20 and have used it at the same location. I’ve used the Obsession 20 at star parties featuring scopes up to a 36-inch. At least for me there is a noticeable difference between a 15 and a 20 inch. I personally would have bought something bigger than the Obsession 20, but alas, it’s the biggest scope I can fit thru the doors of my house.

George N