Posts Made By: David Hahn

Hey everyone,
First of all I want you to know that I am a college kid, and I haven't been into astronomy for very long. That said, I currently have an Orion XT8 that I use with a few TV eye pieces (19mm Pan, 35mm Pan, and 7mm Nagler 6) and I have really loved the views. However, I am looking for something with better quality, and I thought a refractor would be the way to go. I have spent a lot of time reading over forums about everything from Orion's 80mm ED to the Megrez 90 Doublet APO to the Televue-85. I have around $2000 saved up to spend on the mount, scope, and accessories. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
David

I have been excited about the upcoming Orion meteor shower, and was wondering if anyone else was pumped. Also, I saw a meteor last Friday at dusk that seriously lit up the sky for a good 7-8 seconds. It streaked from the Southeast to the Northwest with a teal-green trail. It was still very bright outside and after seeing a -8 mag iridium last Wednesday, I would say this was 3 or 4 times brighter. Honestly it was a little terrifying at first.

dhahn

Hey everyone,

Well I finally got my WO ZenithStar 80 in the mail, but now I need to figure out what type of mount to use for astrophotography... I have been told the CG-5 is a good starter goto, but is it good enough for tracking and photographing? I have looked at Orion's Atlas EQ-G goto, SkyView Pro EQ GoTo Mount, and Sirius EQ-G Mount with GoTo Controller. All claim to have PEC, but which one do you think I should go for? My Scope is only 6.2 pounds plus ~1 pound camera to a total of 7.2 lbs. That really shouldn't be a problem for any of them. Any help would be appreciated.

David Hahn

Hey everyone,

I recently decided to get into astrophotography, and figuring out what mount to buy is a huge pain in the rear. I have a Meade DSI pro for guiding, an Orion DSCI II for imaging, a WO ZenithStar 80 II ED APO for imaging, and I will be ordering the Orion Shortube 80 OTA pretty soon. Of course there are the cables and mounting rings as well. Without cables it totals at 13.26 pounds.

To my main question. Should I go with the Sirius or Atlas mount for astrophotography? I have heard that you should never exceed half of your mounts weight rating when planning to photograph. Of course the Sirius has a rating of 30lbs and the Atlas has a rating of 40lbs. Is it worth the extra $350 to step up to the Atlas. The Atlas also weighs an extra 33lbs. Weight isn't a huge issue, but is it really worth stepping up to the Atlas? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

David

Well that does it! Orion is now releasing a new autoguider for right around $250. Hopefully it is worth it to all of us who want to get into astrophotgraphy. Here's the webpage...

http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=astro-imaging_camera/~pcategory=astro-imaging/~product_id=52064

Hey everyone,

I am fairly new to astronomy and I have been to a couple of star parties back home, but I was wondering if anyone could hook me up with a club around Bloomington/Normal, Illinois? I tried the twin city astronomers but I can't get any emails to anyone there. Any help would be appreciated.

David Hahn

Gary,

I have a little experience in keeping people warm. I run on a volunteer rescue squad and have a had cold call or two. First it is best to keep out of the wind of course. Other people have mentioned keeping your head warm which is a must. Try using the side of your house or garage as a block from the wind. Convection is the major player in losing heat outside. Obviously warm your feet and hand up before you go outside. I tend to layer my gloves using a very thin pair covered by a heavy thinsulate pair of gloves. Drinking hot liquids tends to only warm up your core temp. but that's not a huge problem here. I would suggest using heating pads for long nights out. In an emergency where we must warm someone up we put them at the joints and angles. Armpits, groin, etc... Lastly, look out for frost nip. Not as bad as frost bite but still isn't very fun. Long story short, if you feel really cold use common sense and go inside and warm up for a while.

Hey everyone,

I am thinking about picking up a TV 85 scope, but I all I want to get is the OTA. I don't think it comes with rings and I was wondering what you thought would be a good set to pick up for the scope? I need something that will let me attach it to a dovetail plate and I would prefer not using guide rings.

Thanks,

David

I currently have an Orion XT8 on a dob mount, but I decided to take the tube off and put it on my CG-5 mount. I realized that balancing the tube caused the eyepiece to be quite high off the ground and difficult to reach with my eye. So, I thought that it would probably help if I trimmed off 200mm of the tube to shorten it up. Does anyone have any ideas on the best method or if I should even attempt this?

David Hahn

Hey all,

I have been imaging with my Canon XS now for about a week and have already taken some amazing shots with it through my WO Zenithstar 80 II stacked with an autoguided orion ST 80 on my Atlas mount. Now that you know my whole setup, how can I take longer exposures without sitting there with my computer hooked up to the camera and physically stop it at 3 or 4 or whenever minutes? Is there a way to tell the Canon XS to take "X" amount of pictures at "Y" amount seconds? It kinda stinks having to sit there and stop/start it every few minutes instead of setting and forgetting for a half hour or so. Any ideas would help.

David