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

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Posts Made By: Anthony Lutton

April 17, 2003 03:44 AM Forum: DVDs and Music and Books That You Recommend

Two excellent flics

Posted By Anthony Lutton

If you like historic/realistic movies with some real content:

Ken Burns' Civil War --- LONG, but incredibly accurate and informative.

Stephen Amrbose's Band of Brothers (HBO)-- 10 hr series... not as accurate as some documentaries but very delightful to watch.

June 24, 2003 10:16 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Re: Overseas Buyers

Posted By Anthony Lutton

Joe, make sure in the future to reply with "Are you interested in buying this item" type reply. When you send extra pictures and things, make sure nothing is ambiguous. I also always tell buyers and prospective buyers if I have others intersted, and that they MUST let me know of their intentions.

July 23, 2003 03:19 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Taking a Trip to Hawaii.. the Big Island

Posted By Anthony Lutton

Ok, I'm going to Hawaii in early November. Mainly the Big Island (Hawaii). What stuff is a "must see" besides the telescopes? So far I've planned to see Volanoes Ntl Park also. Would it be a good idea to take a flight to another island, or is there too much to do on any one island? I'll be there for 8 days.

September 4, 2003 10:05 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

8"-12.5" Portaball that I can see near Ohio?

Posted By Anthony Lutton

Does anyone have a 8"-12.5" Mag1 Instruments Portaball around the central Ohio (within a few hours) that I could come to see in action a few times? I'm leaning toward buying one and would like to see one in action.

I rarely see them for sale on Amart (so I assume they are true keepers), and I think it may be a good decision for incredible visual use.

I'd be willing to drive a couple of hours (or meet at a darksky site within a few hours) to see one of these.

Thanks everyone!

September 11, 2003 02:32 PM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

The new attitude on the forums

Posted By Anthony Lutton

For a while I hadn't been participating on the forums. They were way out of hand with arguements and flames. For the last few weeks (especially in the off-topic and equipment forums) the attitudes have cleaned up. I'm happy to be participating in them again!

Anyone else feel this way?

(P.S. For some reason this posted in the Equip forum... so I moved it)

September 23, 2003 08:25 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Microscope --> binoviewer?

Posted By Anthony Lutton

I work in a research lab and our department was getting rid of unused equipment. I got ahold of 1 each Carl Zeiss, Leitz and Nikon research grade microscopes. The Zeiss and Leitz are missing the objective lenses but have the entire eyepiece assemblies. The Nikon is missing the eyepieces.

My question is would I be able to convert any of these into a binoviewer? When I get them home, I'm going to check the eyepiece diameters and things. They appear to be very expensive microsopes, having polarizers, camera ports and all kinds of things. I know they aren't that old because the sample tray is motorized on the one.

Thanks!

September 23, 2003 08:27 PM Forum: Binoviewers

Microscope --> binoviewer?

Posted By Anthony Lutton

I got ahold of 1 each Carl Zeiss, Leitz and Nikon research grade microscopes. The Zeiss and Leitz are missing the objective lenses but have the entire eyepiece assemblies. The Nikon is missing the eyepieces.

My question is would I be able to convert any of these into a binoviewer? When I get them home, I'm going to check the eyepiece diameters and things. They appear to be very expensive microsopes, having polarizers, camera ports and all kinds of things. I know they aren't that old because the sample tray is motorized on the one.

Thanks!

November 3, 2003 04:48 PM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Mauna Kea and our honeymoon

Posted By Anthony Lutton

Well, after dating 8 years (finishing our degrees, getting our jobs secure...etc) I finally got married Oct 25th. We went to Hawaii (Hawaii, Oahu and Molokai) for our honeymoon and it is amazing beautiful. The Big Island especially with such diversity and of course Mauna Kea smile

We went up Mauna Kea twice, the second time it was cloudy though sad
I'll be posting some pictures after we get unpacked and rested. For those who haven't seen Mauna Kea in person, all I can say is WOW. It is a dream site for astronomy... now I have to figure out how to get INTO a dome and use a telescope smile

January 2, 2004 07:38 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Some advice on an astro-makeover

Posted By Anthony Lutton

I've had a number of different scopes... a 6 and 8" dobs, 2 8" SCTs, a Pronto, 2 ETXs and a borrowed TV85 for a bit. I've really enjoyed all of them, and for the last 3 years I've stuck with my ETX-90RA and 8" LX200. They fit my observing style and oth have seen a lot of use... until this last year.

For at least year, everynight that it has been clear I find an excuse NOT to drag my scopes out to a dark sky sight. In college I'd drive over an hour anytime it was clear for a few hours of scope time.

Unfortunately I live near a high school and college stadium now and I hardly ever get the 8" out... it just doesn't seem worth it. So I've come to the conclusion that maybe getting a smaller high end scope would be the best choice.

My questions are:

Will a 4" refractor (TV, Tak, TMB) be a lot easier to setup than the 8"? They seem like they'd be just as much work?

Does a larger refractor seem as bulky/unwieldy to setup than say a C8?


If you were in the same problem as me, would you sell off your scopes and start anew with a completely new setup, or try to find the old drive that I had for so long with my current setup?

Spare me the diatribes of a SCT/DOB/APO flame war... I've read them all. I'm just asking about physical setup.

January 13, 2004 09:35 PM Forum: APM

TMB 105

Posted By Anthony Lutton

After doing some soul searching (and wallet searching?), I think I have decided to sell my beloved 8" SCT and buy a TMB 105. Is there anyone in the Ohio (central to northern OH) region that I could maybe buddy up with to see one of these beasts? I thought about bothering Mr. Back himself, but would rather see one from a user end first. Or would it be better to just talk with TMB directly about seeing one?