Posts Made By: Alan Brunelle

A week or so ago I was using my solar filter to observe for the first time and I saw an object transit the solar disk. It was rather small, smaller than the smaller sun spots seen at the time, but yet large enough to notice some shape. I am guessing that this was some sort of satellite, but I suppose the old weather balloon could be the culprit. This was not a plane.

In any case in the dozen times or so that I have used my new telescope at night, I can say that seeing satellite transits are not that rare, I have seen at least a few. Also, small meteors as well.

Is this a common observance. Also, given the fact that the solar transit offers a silowet (gosh I wish they had a spell checker on this thing!), it seems that these are unique instances where the actual shape of the satellite can be observed rather than just a glint of light off of a surface.

Alan

Has anyone experienced the Orion Lanthanum eyepiece line? I am particularly interested in the 2.3mm or the 3.8mm.
I could use the eye relief that they offer (eyeglass wearer), but I wonder if they suffer from the 6-8 elements that they use. I want resolution at higher powers to split doubles and for planets. Any alternate suggestions are appreciated. Oh, I couldn't find these reviewed by either Ting or Gross.

Thanks,
Alan

It seems like this phenomenon ought to be fairly common now with the large numbers of satellites up there and the angular size of the moon and sun. Certainly far more common than the two rare transits of Jupiter mentioned here among a fairly limited number of users of this group.

Alan

I have a Cannon that is several years old so my comments might not apply, but it is my guess that the LCD screen can be turned off precisely for the reason of saving battery time.

My cannon is 3mpix and is quite compact. They make an elph line that is incredibly small, but they may be limited to 2mpex. I believe that they are smaller than a deck of cards.

Alan

If, as you say, you have no astigmatism, then you ought to not be using glasses when you observe. It just becomes an issue of adjusting the focus. The worst case scenario is if you often observe with a companion, and they have to refocus. But then everyone refocusses anyway, so....

Adding glasses to the equation for no reason just makes things worse. Believe me, I have to wear glasses because of extreme astigmatism.

Alan

What is a solar prominance filter? Is this a simpler alternative to the H-alpha setups? Is is used with a Bader?

Alan