Posts Made By: John McGarvey

I was all set to purchase a 4"APO (TV102 or FS102) on an alt-az (Gibraltar) when I started having second thoughts. An 11" Star Master would be in the same price range. I live in the Pacific Northwest in semi-polluted skies in the suburbs of Seattle. For those who don't know, it has been known to rain here, some say often ;-) Most of my viewing would be from the back yard looking East, away from the city and a quick setup and tear down would be ideal. I know the Dob would require a longer cool down period. I'd be looking at everything in the sky cause I'm new and have only looked through binoculars up to now.

Questions:
1) Does anyone own a Dob or an APO in the rainy side of the Northwest? Could I view from my backyard or would I have to visit dark sites? I'm trying to figure out if the seeing would push me to a 4" APO just because the Dob requires better conditions because of its' larger aperture.

2) Am I destined to suffer the curse of needing to own both?

Thank you for your advice,
John McGarvey
[email protected]

Hi,
Hope I'm not OT, but I am interested in learning how you take such wonderful pictures with TouCams and the like. I have a Tak FS102. What should I get to start this extension to my visual use of the scope? Please point me to any tutorials or helpful information on what camera to buy, how to interface to my telescope, and what software is used to stack the images. I get the impression that taking lots of webcam type images and stacking them is an inexpensive and fun way to image. Thank you for your help!!
John

Thanks to everyone that replied. I was thrilled by how thoughtful and helpful your responses were, well, except I was a little lost with the baboons ;-)

I made my choice, a Tak FS102 for visual use on a Gibraltar mount to start. As we thought of our priorities, quick set up, easy to lift, easy to pack, easy to transport were at the top. Someday I'll be into GEMs and even Dobs, but for now, this will keep me going.

Thanks again,
John McGarvey

I'm a bit confused since I don't have a GOTO scope. If you take your computer, have it instruct your GOTO to find the objects in the Herschel 400 catalog, you peer in, record briefly what you see, and run through all the objects visible that evening by tapping the computer key to move to the next one, is that what this Marathon would consist of?

sorry for the naive question,
John

That is a very nice looking telescope. I love my FS102, but would love to get a Mewlon. How do you like it? How does it perform? How does it function in an alt-az mount? Sounds like dew is not a big deal? How is the contrast? Time to cool down?

Thanks,
John

According to the following web link:
http://astro.geekjoy.com/astrospeak/trapezium.html#1

the H star is quoted at 16 magnitude.

Also,
http://www.astropix.com/HTML/B_WINTER/TRAPEZ.HTM
gives the same 16 magnitude.

The two volumes I just received from Willman and Bell were good sized hard bound volumes and I can't imagine wanting to get a larger version of it. I'll be curious to see how large the "oversize" edition is.
John

I'll be at the Table Mountain SP, my first SP. I'll be using TV eyepieces and a Gibraltar mount for my 4" Tak APO. It would be fun to compare views with your TV. Perhaps you could talk me into trading up ;-)
John

I use the 2" Nagler4 17mm eyepiece more than any other. The views are crisp and the background black with the FS102. The field of view at 1.7 degrees seems perfect for so many objects in the sky. The eye relief for my glasses is very comfortable at 17mm.

I read somewhere that around twice your focal ratio is where your best eyepiece will be. Must be correct, at least for my one data point ;-)

John

Inge,
My hat is off to you, you must be one dedicated astronomer ;-) As Michael said, your note really helps keep me with the proper perspective on our average of 3 clear nights a month from November through March in Seattle.

I wish one of the astronomy magazines would do a "best city to view stars" article, detailing the clear nights (transparency), the highs and lows, the seeing, etc. so that those of us in the north could decide where to spend our summer and winter vacations.
John