Posts Made By: Jim Nelson

September 12, 2005 09:19 PM Forum: After Dark

Curious as to what I did see last nite....

Posted By Jim Nelson

Any bright star, if very low in the sky, will show color shifts (assuming what I'm thinking of matches what you're describing) due to atmospheric refraction effects. Basically, the atmosphere acts as a wavering, changing prism so that different colors can be seen. I'd guess it was the star Arcturus, which is bright and which would have been close to setting in the WNW shortly after dark.

October 5, 2005 06:32 AM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

October Messiers

Posted By Jim Nelson

When you say "M29", I think you meant M39. Both are visible now, but your description fits big loose M39 much better than small, compact M29.

October 10, 2005 07:50 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Panoptics - Worth the price for a beginner?

Posted By Jim Nelson

" have an Orion XT-10, f4.7 (second scope). I’ve been at this for about 8 mo, learning as I go. I’ve been doing it long enough to know that I’ll stick with this for good (not a passing interest). "

Based on this sentence, then YES, it's worth it. I don't think the difference is all that subtle between the Panoptics and cheap widefields with an f4.7 scope, and if you're in this for the long haul, remember that telescopes may come and go abut a good eyepiece is forever. Divide the cost of the eyepiece over the next 20 years of use...good eyepieces are a good investment.

Still, if the money is a hardship, the premium eyepieces are not necessary, but in your case if you could swing it, I'd definitely go for it.

Sidenote:
(For me, I like to keep my exit pupils a little smaller than the usual maximum recommendation of 7mm, so in your case I might recommend the 27mm instead of the 35mm, but that's a personal thing. At very large exit pupils my own eye starts adding some weird effects, and that's not uncommon.)

October 13, 2005 02:05 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

10-9-05

Posted By Jim Nelson

RE: Cygnus Milky Way.

This summer I observed from a dark mountain site in New Mexico. With my widefield reflector (4.5inch, >3degree max field of view) or even with my handheld 8x42 binoculars, I couldn't even try to keep track of all the little NGC clusters I would come across. I gave up on that and just enjoyed the view. (Naked eye was simply jaw dropping, although I didn't see too many NGC clusters that way...). It's an amazing area.

RE: accidental discoveries while star-hopping

Amen! Many of my favorite objects and asterisms are favorites because they're my own discoveries!

Re: Ngc 7008

Alas, I've never looked for this one. Looks like a fairly large, dim planetary, right (Well, fairly large for a planetary)? If you think you're in the right area of the sky, try "blinking" your OIII filter between your eye and eyepiece. If you have light sources around you, this may not work so well as OIII filters tend to throw ambient light back at you, but it's worth a try if you haven't tried it already.

October 15, 2005 06:33 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Orion Plossls - quality?

Posted By Jim Nelson

The Epic ED eyepieces from Orion (also available under other brand names) give good eye relief at short focal lengths for only a little more than the Orion Plossls. Again, they aren't Radians but decent for the price. The Expanse eyepieces also are good for the money, but do give some pretty bright ghost images on bright objects in my experience.

Standard Plossls in <10mm focal length range are way out of my "comfort zone" for eye relief. Orthoscopics are only slightly better with regards to eye relief, but are reasonably priced, and the University Optics Orthos are highly regarded.

November 1, 2005 02:46 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

second try

Posted By Jim Nelson

The December issue of Sky and Telescope has a review of scopes that cost less than $200. The short version: Buy Orion (or maybe an Edmund Astroscan). All scopes reviewed by Meade, Celestron, or Bushnell in this price range had major problems. I tend to agree, based on my experience with cheap Orion scopes (pretty good!) and cheap Meade scopes (very bad!).

The XT4.5 was the clear winner according to S&T, by the way.

One of the biggest problems with the scope you list is the finder: Those cheap 5x24 finders with single-element objective lenses are too awful to discuss on a family-oriented forum. The other problem is probably a shaky tripod...I don't know if this particular model was the one in S&T, but I do recall them discussing an altazimuth Meade 76mm reflector which they said had a good quality mount on an atrociously shaky tripod.

November 2, 2005 04:24 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Mass Produced Truss Dobs

Posted By Jim Nelson

Hmmm...for the 8 and 10 inch versions, I think I'd prefer one of the solid tube types that are available these days - but an inexpensive 12inch f5 truss, NOW we're talking. Not that I'm going to be one of the pioneers who buys one early, mind you.

November 26, 2005 11:26 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Newbie DOB opinion please?

Posted By Jim Nelson

Remember, the Intelliscope version of the XT8 does not have finding capabilities "as is" - you need to spend $479 for the XT8i, and if you want the finder it's $129.95 extra.

It all boils down to how much the "push-to" finding appeals to you. Personally, I'd just recommend some books and a star atlas and recommend going with one of the cheaper dobs (either the Celestron or the plain-old XT8), but some folks really like the finding capability.

I don't have experience with the Celestron kit, so I won't comment in detail.

November 28, 2005 02:50 AM Forum: DVDs and Music and Books That You Recommend

Fusion anyone?

Posted By Jim Nelson

John Scofield is a terrific current jazz guitarist with strong funk leanings. "A Go Go" and "Uberjam" are two particularly excellent jazz-funk albums of his.

November 28, 2005 03:27 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Asking for advice

Posted By Jim Nelson

I wouldn't be too optimistic on the "ease of use" for the GoTo with young children. Anyway, young children are probably most interested in seeing the moon and planets, and these do not require GoTo - these are visible naked eye, and you want a scope you can just point easily, like a Dobsonian. The tracking IS a nice feature, but "nudging" is not hard, either.

My personal bias is to suggest something like the XT6 (non-Intelliscope), or the XT4.5 or maybe the Starblast, and get the book "Turn Left At Orion" to help you find things. And don't rule out the binoculars completely! A light pair of 8x42 binoculars will be handy for all sorts of purposes, not just astronomy.

The XT4.5 will leave room in your budget for books, is plenty capable, and is small and easy to carry. It's rather short, so you might need a sturdy short platform to use it easily without getting on your knees. It recently topped Sky and Telescope's review of beginner's scopes under $200, and I tend to agree.


Added by edit: I see that "the other Jim" in this thread said most of what I did, but much better. Go read his post instead of this one. smile