Posts Made By: van svenson

I recently picked up a used Meade MTS-SCT 8". So far, I've been really happy with it. I'm having fun and getting a chance to learn a lot about the sky. I do have a focusing question, however. At higher powers, esp. with the 4.7mm Nagler eye piece that came with it, I'm finding it impossible to obtain sharp focus. I wear glasses, but look through the scope without them. Is this a limitation of the scope or eyepiece? Or is it a problem with my eyes? Overall, the scope is pretty clean, just a little dust on the mirror (inside the OTA!) and on the corrector. I've also adjusted the collimation, and that seems spot on.

Oh, one more question: this scope came with the Kendrick dew heater system. It seems that I can see some heat distortion (hot air rising) when I use higher powers. Is this normal? Should I just expect the best results when dew isn't an issue? Would a dew shield be better than the large corrector lens heater?

Thanks a bunch!
-Van

I have a few misc. .965" eyepieces and filters. Do people still use this size?

Is there a market for them? I'd love to sell them to fund another 1.25 eyepiece.

I'm pretty new to this star gazing hobby, but so far I've been having a blast. To date, I've only seen: the moon, mars, saturn, jupiter, the orion nebula (if that's the one in his scabard), and the pleiades. Plus a few random stars, but I don't know what they were.

So, here's my question. I'd like to find some galaxies. Can anyone recommend some good starter galaxies to look at? North and west horizons are tough for me to see due to hills and trees, but I have great views above, south and east. Oh yes, I'm in the northeast, too.

Thanks!
-Van

It was clear and dark last night in NY. I'd rate the seeing at medium. While I was unable to locate or identify any galaxies, I did manage to find some open clusters.

I actually spent more time looking at the sky with my naked eyes than with the scope... I was looking about half way between Leo and Saturn (Cancer, it turns out) and I saw this fuzzy area. I was sure it was something, and not just a cloud or smudge on my glasses... so I got the scope aimed at it and saw the Beehive cluster (which I found out later)! Cool stuff!

I also managed to find M38 with the naked eye, then go inside and look it up.

I definately made progress as a star gazer. I was able to find something, figure out what it was near, then go look it up on a star computer program. I imagine the next natural progression will be to look something up, then go find it in the sky.

It was also very exciting to realize I was looking at something much farther away. When I first got the telescope, the moon seemed like a distant object. Then Saturn and Jupiter seemed amazingly far away. M38 is 4200 light years away! Big step up from our solar system!

I've been wondering, are there finderscopes out there that are just a little more usable than the standard ones that come with commercial scopes (Meade, Celestron, etc)?

I would love to have a finder scope that could take 1.25" eye pieces and a diagonal. That way, I could use it when looking straight up, and I could also use different eyepieces (which I already have) for different FOVs.

Do people just look for a cheap, small refractor? Or are there speciffic finders out there that take eyepieces?

Thanks for your input!

I suppose this is the best forum for moon observations...

I was looking at the almost full moon Sunday night, and I saw a black speck go in front of it. I didn't think much of it, but then it happened again. I looked in front of the scope, but didn't see anything...

After observing more of these black specks, I noticed they had flapping wings. Then I realized they were bats! They were flying very high up, on the air currents, and traveling south. Couldn't see them with the naked eye, but saw a lot through the scope.

Anyone else ever notice this?

-Van

I decided to try and find M33 tonight, and after some careful looking and star hopping, I was able to find it.

It felt like a real achievement when I did find it, but also a little dissapointing. I guess I was hoping for a smaller version of Andromeda, but really it looked like a smudge on the eye piece! In fact, I think I skimmed over it a few times before realizing what it was.

So, I was curious what success others have had...

I'm using an 8" SCT at 50x magnification.

Now, here's a question: What if I don't have a case or bag or box to put my scope in when I bring it in side?

I recently got an 8" SCT, and after being out in the cold (New York) it foggs up when I bring it in. I just let it sit on the tripod and let it naturally warm up -- I don't wipe anything, then put the caps on the next day.

Am I running to risk of doing harm?

That's good news, actually. That means nothing's defective or borken!

Thanks!

Thanks guys. I'll post some ads in the classifieds. One item is top quality -- a deepsky Lumicon filter. The rest are more common: 2 Celestron color filters, a Meade barlow, Celestron 1.25" adapter, and two eyepieces (18mm & 12.5) that are made in Japan, but I don't know the brand.

I'm going to post the stuff separately, but if someone want it all, make an offer.

Snowy skies (unfortunatly)
-Van