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Posts Made By: Jake Jacobson

August 4, 2003 10:45 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Mars - More dust????

Posted By Jake Jacobson
I took the attached image of Mars this morning. Note the bright yellow appearance along the western limb (to the right in this image, south is up.) It appears to me to possibly be an increase in dust activity from the recent small storms in the Chryse region.

Taken with an 8" Newtonian and Toucam pro.

Comments appreciated.

-Jake

August 4, 2003 10:57 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

Mars - increased dust activity???

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Hi -

I took this image of Mars this morning. Note the bright yellow hue along the western limb (to the right in this image, south is up.) It appears to me that this is possibly an increase in dust activity spreading from the recent storm in Chryse? I am assuming it shows well in this image since it is "side on" instead of "head on", so I was looking through more of the dust at this time.

This image was captured at 0946UT this morning, 08-04-2003. Has anyone else observed this?

Also, note the increase in melting of the S. polar cap.

-Jake

-Jake

August 5, 2003 06:45 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

New discussion category....

Posted By Jake Jacobson
I am so tired of hearing about Sal's woes on this forum, it feels like this has become the "Let's Discuss Sal's Bad Purchase Ad Nauseum" forum.

Maybe Herb should make a new discussion category, specifically for discussing Sal's purchases, problems, and general need to discuss every single minute detail of his telescope transactions.

Maybe then we can get back to EQUIPMENT DISCUSSION on this forum.

-Jake (glad to get that off my chest...)

August 5, 2003 09:27 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

LXD-55 chop-shop?

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Doesn't anyone want the LXD-55 as supplied by Meade?

It seems that every LXD-55 related classified I see here on Astromart is advertising either the mount only, or the OTA only. Lately, I am seeing more and more ads for just certain parts.....

http://www.astromart.com/viewad.asp?cid=208233

I know that recently Michael C. stripped the motors off his, and sold the mount.

Can't say I blame anyone, at these prices these mounts are a goldmine of parts. I took the motors off one a couple of months back and put them on my CG-5. Works great, and was cheaper than DSC's.

If I had the dough and the time, I think I would open up a LXD-55 "parts" store......just buy a bunch of the scopes and part them out....could be a good business!

-Jake








August 12, 2003 10:51 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

New Orion "goto" dobs???!!

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Looks like Orion is offering more than just an inexpensive apo - I just noticed that they are introducing a new line of Skyquest dobs with built in DSC's.

Looks like they are trying to put the squeeze on all the GSO dob sellers (i.e. Hardin, etc..).

(As always, purchase Orion products through Astromart supporters such as Digitec Optical!)

August 19, 2003 09:43 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Observing on the cheap???

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Although we read many posts here about all the high-end apos and such, we don't hear much about the lower priced equipment, other than the occasional comment about "cheap chinese optics".

I, for one, have had a 8" chinese scope & mount for 6 months now, that I have been quite (suprisingly) happy with. I had previously owned a high-end 8" SCT (which cost 5x as much), and find I enjoy this one just as much if not more.

Despite desparaging remarks about chinese optics, mine are good to very good. Maybe I just got lucky.... or maybe these scopes really aren't so bad...

Anyone else out there have a chinese scope with good optics?

August 21, 2003 10:28 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Re: LX200 RA creeping AFTER pressing guide buttons

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Hi Bob -

Do you have one of the new GPS scopes? If so, very careful drive training (i.e. using a reticle eyepiece) should fix the problem.

-Jake

August 23, 2003 05:00 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Mars - Olympus Mons detail...

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Well, I don't have access to a 400mm Pentax scope like Tan does, but this is about as good as it will get for my 8" scope, I am sure!

Excellent seeing conditions last night allowed me to capture this image, which shows some detail in Olympus mons, as well as other low-contrast maria details that I usually cannot capture.

Taken with a Konus 8" Newt operating at f/30, and a SAC7b.

-Jake

August 23, 2003 05:12 AM Forum: Solar System Observing

Olympus Mons detail...

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Last night I was fortunate enough to have a steady atmosphere.

Solus Lacus showed a wealth of detail visually. Also, the blue clouds over Mare Sirenum were easily visible using a (#82?) light blue filter. Olympus mons was not so apparent to my eyes, but it showed up quite nicely in my image. I used my 8" f/5 newtonian for observation and imaging.

Hope the rest of you are getting some clear views as well.

-Jake

August 29, 2003 06:42 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Vibration suppression pads???

Posted By Jake Jacobson
I was thinking about ordering a set of these for my CG-5 mount. My mount is one of the newer ones with the tubular steel tripod instead of the cheesy aluminum legs, so It doesn't have nearly as much vibration, but there still is some at high powers.

Do these things really work?

-Jake

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