Image of the day

Captured by
Terry Wood

Jupiter (clearer) Nov 5th 2023 w/Mewlon 180c

My Account

New to Astromart?

Register an account...

Need Help?

Posts Made By: Dan Goldberg

July 23, 2003 01:43 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Comments on Orion 120 EQ refractor

Posted By Dan Goldberg

If you're willing to wait, you can get a Burgess in that price range, OTA only smile

August 2, 2003 09:57 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Waxing and Waning

Posted By Dan Goldberg

I wouldn't say it's perennial like that for me, but I will often take a hiatus of one or two years, and then return to the hobby for one or two years. Some years I pack up my stuff after the first night of frost and others I'll be out in the snow wearing four pairs of socks, etc. smile

I've got a short attention span, I think.


August 12, 2003 03:21 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Super duper Mars resolution

Posted By Dan Goldberg

Looks like you have a couple glitches at the top and bottom thirds of the image. You may want to work on that.

August 13, 2003 04:29 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

AR6 damaged dealer refuses to give refund

Posted By Dan Goldberg

Where I live, retailers are in no way obligated to offer refunds for any products whatsoever. The only obligation the retailer has to the customer is to repair or replace defective items within their warranty periods. Many dealers won't take back unwanted or accidentally purchased (ie. wrong RAM or something) items at all and the fact that you don't know about their policies doesn't mean that they don't apply to you. As far as I know, it's like this in most places but I won't say more on the subject without first hand knowledge.

For this reason I only make large purchases from dealers with explicitly stated return policies. "Good" places will refund your money without question, but usually even the best scope shops won't. Quality telescopes are just that sort of commodity. Too big and expensive for all but the biggest stores to stock, generally pretty fragile and usually purchased by finnicky consumers.

August 20, 2003 01:07 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Observing on the cheap???

Posted By Dan Goldberg

Well, I picked up a Tasco Starguide 4 on some super discount just to take GoTo for a spin. This was a while back and it's turned out to be a very good little scope. Not what you'd want for looking at DSO's in a light polluted city, but it's a fabulous little planetary scope and it shows good views of clusters (a little narrow with open ones, but...)

Definitely a great value, I think, and a very fun telescope to use and own. Now I want everything to be GoTo! tongue

August 21, 2003 06:31 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

What am I doing wrong?

Posted By Dan Goldberg

At 4mm you're *really* pushing that scope to the limit. I don't think you can reasonably expect to see anything at what, around 600x with the 4mm EP? Even on the absolute best of nights that's just too much.

September 2, 2003 06:11 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

astro newbee LOST in Space

Posted By Dan Goldberg

When I got my Tasco Starguide for fun sometime back, the controller had the encoder resolutions incorrectly set and it was way off with its alignment and pointing. Just as you describe.

It's a Celestron system, and Meade may be totally different, but check into it. I only had to find the correct encoder resolutions on the net and plug 'em into the handset and it's been perfect ever since.

September 3, 2003 11:39 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

More diagonal questions...

Posted By Dan Goldberg

Have you considered a Willam Optics diagonal?

September 4, 2003 08:50 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Nexstar 114GT Firmware Version

Posted By Dan Goldberg

The hardware's all there, but I'm not sure that the GT's can communicate with a computer at all.

September 4, 2003 08:55 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Orion Skyview Pro 8 EQ vs. Konus 1793

Posted By Dan Goldberg

They're made in the same place (China) by the came company (Synta) so the resemblance is not coincidental.