Posts Made By: David Williams

Lmagnification with an SCT = greater chance to see(notice) the central obstuction.

This weekend I was "tweaking' my finder scope and decided to take a look at some trees off in the distance using a 2" university optics lense that came with my scope. Don't have it in front of me but is is larger than 40MM possibly 50MM or 60MM can't remember which.

I looked and there it was, the central obstruction. Was it the lense size or some other lense characteristic that made the CO so obvious.

This was in bright daylight BTW

Thanks
Dave

Anyone willing to email me a scan of the instructions that come with this item. I see how to use mine but would like the instructions.

Thanks
Dave

Between 9:30 AM and 10:30AM Saturday morning while I was driving west on I-94 I noticed the moon was out and was hoping to arrive home in time to get a shot. The clouds had rolled in and I didn't get one.

It was really quite a sight bordered by a chrystal clear sky.

dave

Bought my Celestron C8 in may of 2003. My only opportunities to observe are on weekends. So due to my wonderful location, about 30 miles west of Lake Michigan near Kalamazoo MI, I have had few viewing sessions. Last night under not ideal viewing conditions, winds gusting to around 20MPH and scattered high altitudes clouds i decided I would give it an attempt.

My polar alignment seemed to be good. During a 20 minute break the drives on the CG5 held a star very near the center of view.

I aimed the scope at Mars(I must have had jupiter on the brain when I first wrote this). The view was very sharp and bright but with no detail. I used 32mm, 15mm and 9mm plossls.

I did the same with Saturn. Again a very bright, sharp image but no details. The rings looked like a solid ribbon of light.

I realize that I did not have ideal conditions but does anyone have any suggestions to bring out a little detail.

Collimation looks good to my untrained eye at 9mm. It was off but I spent some time a couple weeks ago adjusting it and now it looks good to me.

Thanks for any suggestions.

"They are horrible here in michigan"

I truly feel you pain. I try to observe in SW michigan. Since I usually only have weekends I have had my scope out maybe 4 times since Sept.

Anyone have a copy of a CG-5 Instruction manual they would be willing to FAX, EMAIL or sell me?

Thanks
Dave

[email protected]
Fax: (313)227-4830

I am about to sell my astro equipment and I will most likley need to ship my C8. It currently is in a foam-filled trunk but the foam is not adequate for shipping.

What I plan to do is replace the foam with crosslinked polyehtylene foam cut-out to snuggly fit the scope. the scope will be encased in foam for at least two inches on all sides and more on most.

My 1st two questions:

1: How do I ensure the primary is secure?
2: How do I ensure the secondary won't come loose?

My intent is to place the case in a box lined with 1 to 2 inches minimum of insulation type foam.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks
Dave

I recently moved and don't have room to have my scanner set-up fulltime. Being too lazy to set-up the scanner and then put it away when finished I decided I would take my 45 pages I need to fax to FEDEX/Kinkos. Fortunatly for me I live out in the boonies and decided I would call and get a price quote before driving the 20+ miles.

Price: $2.00 for page one, $1.00/page additional. OUCH!

Think I'll temporarily hook up the scanner and FAX them from home.

I seem to have lost contact wiht one of my favorite forums. What happened?

Driving down my country road today I passed a big garage sale sign. Not interested but my attention drawn that direction I notice a tripod sitting on the driveway.

The tripod is a Bogen 3021 with what seems to be a decent 3-way head(I haven't looked close enough to say what model). The tripod is in perfect condition. I doubt it was used much, if at all.

The cost of this deal? $15 USD. Seems like a decent price to me.