Posts Made By: James Braddy

Hi,
I'm looking for Terry Hubbert, formerly of ET Platforms. I had some unconcluded buisiness with him, and he told me he was moving and asked if I'd wait untill he moved, but I've been trying unsuccessfully to contact him for a couple months now, and his website says he's out of buisiness, numbers and emails there are no good anymore. Would appreciate any recent contact info anyone might have for him.

Thanks,

[email protected]

Hi,
I'm looking for Terry Hubbert, formerly of ET Platforms. I had some unconcluded buisiness with him, and he told me he was moving and asked if I'd wait untill he moved, but I've been trying unsuccessfully to contact him for a couple months now, and his website says he's out of buisiness, numbers and emails there are no good anymore. Would appreciate any recent contact info anyone might have for him.

Thanks,

[email protected]

Hi,
I'm an astro-buff, have been using a Stellarvue Nighthawk double duty as a terestrial spotting scope for a couple years now. The false color on high contrast objects does bother me a little, but inverted immages drive me knuts when using the scope for terrestrial viewing. I have many nice widefield eyepieces, TV Naglers etc... and they work great with my 90°Everbright diagnal. However, I have not found a high quality 45° erecting prism, that does not vinette (sp?) with most of my widefield eyepieces. Lately I have been considering upgrading my scope to a used APO such as the SV-85 or TV-85. I've seen several used OTA's on Astromart sell for under $1200. What keeps holding me back is, I feel my cheap erecting prism is a weak link in my optical chain, that prevents my from fully enjoying my expensive optics. I was hoping someone here might be able to suggest an affordable remedy.

Looking for a planitary eyepiece to bridge the gap between a 9mm and a 5mm. Will be used in a 14.5" F/4.3 Dob. FL= 1.58m or 1.817m with TV ParaCorr. Don't really want to spend enough for a new Radian or Nagler. I'm looking for a 1.25" eyepiece that doesn't cost a fortune, or weigh over 12oz, that has image quality similar to a high quality ortho, 50° AFOV, and at least 14mm eye relief. Have been considering the VL's and Celestron X-cel but have herd many reviewers knock their immage quality. Eye Relief and comfortable viewing are "almost" as important for me as the immage quality. I have tolerated the 12mm eye relief of my 9mmT6 Nagler, but would not cope well with anything any shorter than that. Have been content with the immage quality and eye relief on my 5mm LVSW, but find it larger and heavier than I would like. Reccomendations????

Ok, ok, I know this means different things to different people, but I wanted to pick you guy's brains. I'm a visual observer, spoiled to aperture. Currently my primary scope is a 14.5" Nightsky dob with Pegasus optics. I love it, but sometimes I just want something quicker and easier. The standard answer is a small refractor. I've owned several, including a 4" Takahashi, and have never been content with any of them. Just sold my most recent one. The bottom line is, no matter how precise the optics, a 4" scope is still just a 4" scope. At sizes above 4", APO refractors are cost prohibative, and cease being portable. I have an old 8" sono-tube dob, and it's as close to a perfect quick look scope as I've owned, a little bulky to transport, but can be set up ready to use in under two minutes without breaking my back lifting. I'd still like something a little more portable, and just as quick to set up, without giving up optical ability. I've never owned a catadioptric scope, but something tells me that ones I could afford, arn't up to the optical standard I'm acustomed to. I think a high quality, ultra portable 8-10" design like those from Teleport, Infinity Telescopes, or Compact Precision Telescopes would be ideal. Unfortunately, these are all somewhat cost prohibative, in some case costing as much or more than my big scope. Complicated truss designs are portable enough, but not nearly as quick or simple to set up, and while I'm not totally incapable, I'm no ATM fanatic either. Thoughts/Suggestions?

Here's a clue, 90% of the time, it's not your scope that's the problem. People get all sorts of different things, at different times, out of any hobby. When I started, it was the completion of a longtime dream to learn the constilations and sky. Then for a while I wanted to see everything there was up there to see, started working on every object list I could find. As time went on I got into clubs, and enjoyed the socialization more than the astronomy. When I had problems in other parts of my life, I went through sprees of equipment buying/selling. I finally figured out, what I needed was approval from others, not the perfect telescope. Other times my interest would wane, I'd get interested in some other hobby, and might go six months without showing any interest in astronomy. Sometimes I'd get depressed, and not show any interest in anything. The trick is figuring out how your needs have changed, and why your hobby, isn't meeting them anymore.

Hi!
I've always been a visual observer, but recently picked up an APO/GM8 and it started me thinking about eventually attempting some kind of immaging. I also have a 14.5"f/4.3 Newt and equatorial platform. I need some direction where to start. I don't have any kind of CCD or webcam yet, basicly because I'm still broke from buying the scope/mount, and because I don't know enough to choose one intelegently. I do have an older digital camera, a Canon Pro-90is. http://www.steves-digicams.com/pro90is.html
Would apreciate any reccomendations for a good how-to book, so I can at least get some idea where I want to go from here, and be able to make semi-informed decisions about choosing the equipment I'll eventually want, and what to do with it once I get it. Thanks, JDBraddy

Sorry guys, but I need a little help. My used ST8 and new Gateway 320X have arrived. This new laptop did not come with a parallel port, so I'm using a Quatech SPP-100 PCMCIA card. I thought that I managed to install it ok, Device Manager now displays it as LTP1, says I have the correct driver, and says the port has no conflicts and is working properly. I also installed CCDOPS v.4 and configured it in the Graphics/Comm setup to use LTP1. I then connected the camera to the parallel port and the power source per the SBIG user manual instructions and the camera powered up with both the red LED and the cooling fan comming on when it was plugged in. However, when I attempt to establish a link to the camera from CCDOPS, it keeps telling me that no camera has been detected. I've posted on the SBIG usergroup, and got some instruction from Matt Longmire of SBIG. However, my device manager doesn't read exactly the same as he, and the Quatech manual describe. I'm using Windows XP home edition. When I attempt to follow his instructions, and select Override Configuration 0003, the conflict device list says "I/O Range 0278-027F used by ISAPNP Read Data Port. When I try to change resources for that port, I get the message "You cannot modify the resources in this configuration" No other configuration options are available for the ISAPNP Read Data Port. I've been messing with the SPP-100's configuration for three days trying every possible combination of resource settings I can think of. I keep getting the same "No Camera Found" message. The driver installed for the device is Quatech version 1.3.0.0 dated 04/22/2004. I've tried calling Matt Longmire at SBIG, but wound up talking to Mike, who couldn't help me, and told me Matt wouldn't be back untill Tuesday. I've tried deleting and re-installing everything. All to no avail. Anyone have any suggestions how to get my computer and camera talking to eachother?

Hi All!
I hope some of you got to do some imaging this weekend. I'm
went to a CCD workshop hosted by Jay Ballauer and the Three Rivers Foundation at the Bowen Ranch this weekend. I had a great time! I got to meet some really outstanding folks, and learned a lot. The weather was Iffy, and we spent most of both nights chasing sucker- holes in the clouds, but the Comanchie Creek facility and Bowen Ranch are amazing, and had some of the best skies I've seen when you did get a break in the clouds, and I did manage to get first-light with my new camera. I going to try an attach my first-light images. Please feel free to critique them, I know they could have been processed a lot better, but these where my first try, and I'm still kinda figuring everything out. I managed to align and stack some of them in CCDSoft, and set the Dark and Light limits in the histogram. I wanted to try playing with Curves in Photoshop, but haven't figured out how to open that dialogue window yet. At this point, I'm just proud that they turned out at all! All of them are fairly short, unguided exposures. I still haven't quite got the auto-guiding thing down yet, but I'm sure I'll get it figured out eventually, if I can just get a few nights off with clear skies!
Thanks, JDBraddy

Thanks for all the nice accolades on my first light images. I went out again last night, and have a lot of questions. Three in particular are driving me crazy right now.

1) I spent most of last night trying to get the autoguider of my ST8 calibrated with my GM8. I'm using CCDSoft I've tried several times, the 211 guide chip comes up, takes an image, I choose a nice guide star, then select calibrate. It goes through the motions, but each time, it gives me one of three errors. Their wasn't enough movement on one axis or the other, and tells me to increase times (I've done that), Guide star was too close to the edge after the movement, or there was inappropriate movement on one axis or another. I can't tell that the buttons move the mount at all. I'm using an SBIG relay box between the camera and the Losmandy. Am I doing something wrong?

2)I can't figure out how to open the "Curves" dialogue box in Photoshop so I can explore using them.

3)I can't figure out how to keep galaxy cores and bright nebula's from "Whiting Out" before I can expose them long enough to get good luminance detail in the dimmer area's. See the attached images for an example. I've tried moving the white point in the hystogram, and it's just not doing it for me.