Posts Made By: Brooks MacFarquhar

I have a celestar 8 on a wedgepod with great optics - I have come across a complete LX90 minus the OTA for a decent price. CAn I mount a celestron OTA on an LX90 mount? What will I need to do this? Has anyone tried this? Any help at all would be appreciated as I have to make up my mind soon. THanks, Brooks

I am going to be going to a very remote very dark sky and will be bringing my imaging system (C8 w CCD camera and Laptop) with me - I will not have access to a car battery (going by boat) and the Nicad battery in my laptop wont do and I will need a power source for my peltier cooler in my camera - Thus I need a battery type, compact power source which I can plug a laptop and peltier cooler into and have it run for at least 4 hours. Does anyone have any ideas? I am taking all this on several flights so it can't be a car battery...

Also cheap is good.

THanks - Brooks

I just ordered a telebinobarlow 2x corrector lens and am going to try to use it with my BW optik binoviewer on my 16
" f/4.5 newt - I am wondering if anyone knows if this combination will work? Also any other tips about this are appreciated as the 3-4x power is unbearable.

Okay I have decided to simplify my telescopes. I currently have a 16" meade starfinder, a C8, ETX 90 and a 90mm f/15 vixen. I think the 16" doesn't see enough use in Chicago (where I live) to justify keeping it and am going to relocate it to a good home under dark skies that will do it justice. I have a really nice binoviewer setup and this is my favorite way to observe. I am thinking if I sell the 16" and the C8 I could scrape togethor enough cash for either a C11 GPS or a C9.25.

Now as this will be my primary scope it needs to serve the function of the C8 - ie be easy and quick to setup and light though I can carry it, however I can carry a 12" LX200 assembled so I'm pretty sure I could handle the C11 as well. (I carry the 16" alone and its like 200 pounds - am 21)

So I guess its a question of - 1) the C9.25 reportedly has better optics and most of my time is spent binoviewing planets...

The extra aperture of the C11 would be nice to help brighten the binoviewer.

What do you all think? I've heard of people going from the 9.25 to 11 and then back because the 9.25 was better.

Just recieved my Nexstar 11 GPS which I sent to myself and its destroyed. The secondary screws all came loose in shipping and the secondary mirror was smashing around inside the tube - the optics are completely trashed. Has anyone had this happen? I declared a balue of $3000 and used Fed Ex ground - I am currently filing a claim as it was fine when I shipped it. Has anyone had any experience with a similar situation and what is likely to happen/ what should I do to insure I get compensated. The delivery man was rolling the box end over end - I thought Fed Ex was a much better company than UPS or USPS but they never destroyed a scope... Also does anyone know how long it could take untill I am observing again?

Any suggestions/ advice would be greatly appreciated.

THanks,

Brooks

Hi there,

I am new to astro imaging and want to get into webcam pics of the moon and planets. I have a N11 GPS, Phillips 2Ucam pro (newest model) and a threaded adapter. I got some semi decent moon pics but jupiter looks terrible. It could be alot of things but I was wondering if an IR blocking filter would be a prerequisite to obtaining good images with this setup (as there is a corrector plate in the N11 it may be the cause of my problem?) I appreciate input. If this is necessary does anyone know the best place to get a good deal on one?
Thanks, Brooks

If simple means cheap as well I would recommend an achromatic refractor of the longest focus length you could find with at least 3-4" diameter objective lens (aperture). It would probably come with an eyepiece and I would get 1 UO orthoscopic (maybe 6mm). For example a firstscope 80 w a 6mm UO - it would come with a cheap low power to use just for centering the planet - and the CG3 equatorial would allow you to track at high power. Another very simple and cheap (alot cheaper than refractor) would be a 6" f/8 dob (like a meade or discovery) - get a UO (5 or 6mm), maybe a filter and you should see some stuff. If you have more money get a nice big refractor - look at mars and sell it for about what you pay - really good optics don't devalue much at all. Hope that helps

Thanks for the tips - the weatherman.com is a great sight for binoviewers

Does anyone know where I can buy the adapter for the telebino to BW optik?