Posts Made By: Theodore Smith

Any thoughts about Orion's new Titan equatorial mount? Looks an awful lot like the Synta EQ-6....

Any thoughts on this new offering by Orion?

20 inches in the backyard! If it clears up tonight I might have to get the scope out and see what's up. Any thoughts about the stability of a tripod on a snowdrift......?

With all the current interest in 6 inch achromats, I would like to put in a plug for the venerable 6 inch f8 Newtonian reflector: The same mount that carries the achromat will carry the reflector, but because the scope does not ride as high on the tripod or pier the mount will be more stable. A third advantage: virtually identical performance without the chromatic aberration at lower cost; no parracors required. A fourth advantage: mechanical simplicity, easy collimation. A fifth advantage: because of the long focal ratio, small secondary mirrors, reasonably accurately figured mirrors and forgiving collimation lead to stunning views through the scope. That said, however, a 90 f/5 achromat mounted to rings makes a killer finderscope and complimentary wide field scope, and things really get good with a minus violet filter in the optical train of the short tube scope.

I am just getting started in astrophotography and the articles and books I have looked at state that, to figure the f-ratio that you are operating at, you measure from the film plane to the center of the eyepiece. The film plane is easy; it's marked on the camera. But where is the center of the eyepiece lens assembly, and how do you find it when it's buried in an adaptor/mount coupled at one end to the scope and at the other to the camera body? Thanks in advance for your responses....Ted

Brilliant red sky up to nearly overhead up through Cassiopeia, varied in intensity up to quite vivid reds....I was amazed that we could see this from West Haven (the wasted light capital of CT). Three of the neighbors and I stood around and talked about the TP'ing and egging we had received earilier and watched the aurora for half an hour. Then my wife and I slammed down dinner and zipped out to Litchfield where the skies are dark. By the time we got there the light show was over, but the skies were quite good anyway: M31 naked eye, lots of binocular treats. Happy Halloween, everybody.

Doggies woke me up this morning around 5 EST telling me they had to go out, so I got up and while I was out waiting for them I took a look around, and there was Jupiter beckoning high in the sky.....Out came the scope (a Celestron C5) and warm clothes. Just for a lark I decided to see how long into daylight I could keep it in view. I am not sure which moon was which, but I lost the faintest one (which was farthest from the planet) right around the time the sun rose, at which time I could still see the other three moons and banding (4 dark bands and the interlaying lighter bands) on Jupiter's surface pretty clearly. I could not, by this time, find Jupiter with my naked eye; it was lost in the daylight.

OK, so I broke down and bought a Touucam pro 840K....Being slightly computer challenged, what do I have to do to this thing to make it take pix of interesting objects in the sky besides installing the software that came with it, unscrewing the lens and screwing in the adaptor that I bought with it, and running Registax on the images I might be so lucky to get? Thanks in advance for the help. Ted

You bought this in 1996, eight years ago, and you're still worrying about whether you got what you paid for? Hmmmmm.....I sorta think the statute of limitations has run out by now so I'm afraid you're just gonna have to enjoy the heck out of this baby, especially if it throws up a good image. Unless, of course, you want to sell it. Focus on the limb of the moon and see what the image looks like: an achromat will likely show a fair amount of color around the edge of the moon. Look around on the OTA and see if there's a sticker or plaque or stamped lettering or omething that announces a model and/or serial number.

The definitive moon atlas is coming back into print in mid-November; go to Sky and Telescope's website for more information. [There goes the sky high price due to collectibility....oh, darn; I am one of those that have one.....:-)] Actually, I am happy that such a great book is being made available again. Ted