Posts Made By: Chas Argent

Does anyone have a suggestion for a decent & yet still portable telescope to take backpacking? Many thanks in advance,
Regards,
Chas Argent

Hi Folks-
I'm looking for a good pair of general astronomy binoculars & am an eyeglass wearer. Orion's Ultra-View 7 x 50s seem like they might do the trick, with 22mm of eye relief. But I'm also interested in the Nikon 7 x 50 Actions, which have 20mm eye relief-almost as good as the Orion. Any impressions of these-or other-binoculars? TIA,
Regards,
Chas Argent

Folks-
I'm hoping to build a small (5" or 6" reflector) as my first scope making project. What have others done as their first & how did they turn out? What did you learn from it? TIA,
Regards,
Chas Argent

Orion LandScan or Arcadia? Nikon Sky & Earth? I'm new to these & am on a budget so any insight would be helpful.
Many thanks,

Regards,
Chas

Anyone have experience with this company? I ordered a pair of Oberwerk 8x56s from them Monday and, despite the claim on the website that orders are generally shipped the next day, the order is still "Processing" as of Friday.

Ok, ok, maybe I'm just being impatient...

Regards,
Chas

Folks-

Yes, Kevin was correct & my new Oberwerk 8x56s arrived Saturday, beautifully packaged!! I decided to get the 8x56s as I was looking for a good general-use pair of binoculars for both astronomy and birding.

I took them out yesterday afetrnoon into the wilds of Southern Oregon. I was immediately impressed with both the quality of the image & how easy it was to use them with my glasses on-just fold back the eyecups & voila! Last night was cloudy so I have yet to check them out on the stars but I'm sure after running them through the ringer on some birding I'm sure I'll be more than pleased with them in that application. I even watched a hang glider from about a mile away and the light weight of these binoculars made it no effort at all to *steadily* keep up with its movements.

The binoculars came with a nice big beefy strap, which I appreciated. They also came with a somewhat wimpy case, which has already suffered; literally the first time I removed the glasses from the case after installing the strap, one of the metal rings the strap attaches to caught some of the lining fabric & tore a 2" hole in it, revealing the foam padding underneath. Oh well, I didn't buy them for the case anyway.

I am ecstatic with this purchase-yikes, $99!!! Can't wait for a clear night now...Thanks Kevin!!

Regards,
Chas

Folks-

Having just purchased a new Orion XT8 Dob last month (my 1st scope), I've noticed that after 1/2 hour or more of observing my eyes hurt the next day. Is this something others experience?

-Chas

Could someone please explain the basic concept behind CCDs & how they work? What do I need to get started? Yikes, this stuff is cool.

Thanks,
Chas

What would you recommend as a good, basic telescope for both prime focus & piggyback film astrophotography? Yer basic clock-driven 6" Newtonian or what? I'm more interested in DSOs & comets than planetary stuff, just fyi...

-Regards,
Chas

Has anyone any experience with these mirror & focuser kits? $299 for a 10", secondary, and focuser seems like a good deal. I'd like to buy a set of optics instead of grinding for my first scope...

many thanks,
Chas