Posts Made By: Tom Hole

October 20, 2003 12:32 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

What astro gear is made in America?

Posted By Tom Hole

This might seem off topic at first, but it will only be off topic if everyone goes off on a tangent. This is a serious question about astro equipment that I don't know the answer to because I'm a newbie.

What astro gear is made in America?

The only ones I could think of were AP and Discovery.

Thanks for not going somewhere off topic.

Tom


October 23, 2003 11:17 PM Forum: Chinese Optics Imports

The 1278's are coming, the 1278's are coming!

Posted By Tom Hole

From the Yahoo group:

"Hi Guys

We are at a star party this weekend but just as soon as we return
look for a contact from Tammy. She is going to check to make sure that all of
the shipping and payment information is still good. The first to ship will
be the 1278. For you 1026
people we are working on several surprises. I think these will make the wait
worth while.


Bill"

October 24, 2003 08:42 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Re: Clear Sky Clock Workaround

Posted By Tom Hole

Thanks for the workaround. Wonder what I'll be doing tonight?

Clear skies (at last),

Tom

October 25, 2003 06:19 AM Forum: After Dark

GRS getting ready to show itself

Posted By Tom Hole

Anyone else up? 0220 here on the east coast of the US.

Took a nap and now I'm waiting for Saturn to get a little higher and Jupiter to show itslef. Seeing isn't great but transparency is very good tonight (and all the porch lights are out). So, I get to see the Milky Way from my driveway.

The Juplette application shows that the GRS will be making an appearance for us this morning. I'm excited about seeing it again and also checking out the great black spot nearby. Haven't had a chance to see it yet.

Clear skies,

Tom

October 25, 2003 10:26 AM Forum: Solar System Observing

The gas giants this morning

Posted By Tom Hole

Well, seeing didn't improve even as Jupiter rose to 35 degrees or so. But, I did get a few moments of steady seeing which allowed me to see the GRS. I spent an hour on Jupiter and at times could not even see the two equatorial bands. Now that's bad seeing.

I also got reacquainted with how sensitive Jupiter and its low contrast details are to the proper magnification. With the binoviewers, I go from 24mm to 12.5mm (105x to 202x). 105x had great contrast but the image was too small. 202x, the image size was good but I lost too much contrast in the poor seeing. I needed something around 160x. Maybe a pair of 16mm Nagler type 5's?

I gave up on Jupiter after the GRS was disappearing (I never did spy the great black spot, is it still there?) and stole another peak at Saturn. It was closer to zenith so the seeing, on average, was a little better. It looked very nice at 202x. I could see all three of the rings, numerous bands, some color and the shadow of the planet on the rings. Much easier target tonight than Jupiter.

So, now it's time to go back to bed. My wife wants me to paint the porch today but I think it's going to be too cold for that wink

Clear skies,

TOm

October 25, 2003 11:42 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Seeing and collimation

Posted By Tom Hole

I got up at 0400 this morning to spend some more time with the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn. Ok, maybe a little peak at Orion as well. I normally don't post observing reports, but this might be useful info for all the new owners out there that may be disappointed with their first look at these wonders.

Here are some images of what I have seen with my XT10:

http://tinyurl.com/rywb

This morning, seeing was as poor as I have seen it. The jet stream has made its trek down into my area where it will spend most of the next 5 months or so. This really effects my seeing conditions the most in the colder months. So I spent most of the morning looking at the poor images on that page. But there were moments when the
seeing would improve to a 4 or so and I got to see the GRS and more bands. By moments, I mean out of the hour that I dedicated solely to Jupiter, I had less than 1 minute of better seeing. Most of the time I could just make out the 2 equatorial bands, but there were moments when I couldn't even see those. Oh my, that's bad!

So why is this all important? Well, for those going out for the first time with their brand spankin' new telescopes, I wanted to make sure you had realistic expectations. I hope you see my 8 of 10 images. But if you don't, realize that it may not be the telescope. Perfect collimation, mag 7 skies and a $750 eyepiece
cannot overcome the effects of the atmosphere on the image you see.

If you see my poor images, defocus on the image and see if you can see the turbulence. You can use a star or planet for this, just defocus a lot until there is a very large white disc in the eyepiece. If the turbulence is relatively fast, that's atmospheric turbulence. If it is very slow and disorganized, then that's probably in your tube.

I will add that collimation is critical as well on faster dobs (f/5 or f/4.7). My session started with a very poor image that I attributed to poor seeing, but something didn't seem right. Even during moments of better seeing, the image was soft. Also, focus was more difficult than usual to locate. So I checked my collimation. The return shadow of the barlowed laser was off by about 1.5mm (not a lot, but enough). I turned 2 collimation knobs about 1/50th of a turn each and all was good. The image, during
moments of better seeing, had more detail and focus was more snappy. Not to scare anyone, but it matters. Luckily, it's also very easy.

So, I hope this helps the new scope owners and maybe others as well. As always, I would expect a lively exchange on this forum.

Clear skies,

Tom

November 11, 2003 07:43 PM Forum: Binoviewers

TV 2x corrector caution

Posted By Tom Hole

I know this is mentioned on the TV site and several times on the groups, but I wanted to throw it out there again so everyone is aware.

I just got my William Optics 2" star diagonal in today. Nice diagonal. But it has a low profile 2" - 1.25" adaptor on it. If you slide the 2x TV corrector in all the way, it will smack your nice 1/10 mirror pretty hard. I didn't hit my mirror because I knew about the issue, but if you forget and leave the William's adaptor in there, you may be out $99. This is why Televue does not put filter threads on the end of the 2x corrector. If you use a TV or other high hat adaptor, the 2x corrector will not hit the mirror (barely).

BTW, that William Optics diagonal looks to be fairly nice. Can't wait for the 5" Burgess and try it out. I put it in the dob, but it looked kinda silly.

Clear skies,

Tom

November 15, 2003 03:48 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

CG5 drives on Apogee HD mount

Posted By Tom Hole

Hello everyone,

I just received a CG5 dual drive kit that I ordered to put on my Apogee HD and I am having integration issues. I wanted to check with everyone (and Tom D. who will be the future owner of this mount) before I started modifying anything uneccessarily.

First, on both axis, the worm shaft that the gear attaches to is too long and the gears won't match up. Here are some pics:

http://gmpexpress.net/~tomhole/hddrivedec.jpg
http://gmpexpress.net/~tomhole/hddrivera.jpg
http://gmpexpress.net/~tomhole/hddrivera2.jpg

My solution would be to shorten the shafts, but I thought I might be missing something.

Second, the RA drive attach plate is bigger than the space allotted for it. I will have to get the Dremel out and cut some of the mounting plate off the RA drive. This is shown in the 2nd and 3rd picture. I don't see any way around this one.

Many thanks,

Tom

November 17, 2003 10:38 PM Forum: Binoviewers

Denk II's get a Hot New Product for 2004

Posted By Tom Hole

Congrats to Russ and the boys at Denkmeier. Great write up in the
Jan Sky and Telescope.

I should probably get off my rear and sell my Denk standards and
Televues and get a pair of the Denk II's. I already have the 2"
OCS, so from a fiscal perspective, it just makes sense. Might have
to give Russ a call tomorrow. Or just get a third pair wink

Clear skies,

Tom

November 19, 2003 01:39 AM Forum: Chinese Optics Imports

Burgess Binoviewers

Posted By Tom Hole

Can't believe there isn't a buzz over here about the new Burgess Binoviewer. Here's what Bill told me about them today:

24mm Bak4 fully broadband coated prisms
27mm aperture at the nose
3 3/4" light path length (didn't ask exactly how that was measured)
Barlow interface adaptor (not sure what the mag is)
1 set of 80 deg AFOV ep's included
Dual microfocuser ep holders (not sure about details)
$200

They come as a full up round from the supplier. Bill collimates them and sends them on their way. He's thinking maybe by Xmas, but he didn't specify which year wink The 1026 folks got the same package for $99.

Stats impressed me enough that I bought a pair. I can't believe I signed on to another Wild Bill product, but the guy is like a whirling derbish. I couldn't help myself! $200 is less than a single Nagler, so even if it's just average I will be happy. Heck, I'll just use it in my ST80 finder.

Clear skies,

Tom the easily influenced astronomer