Posts Made By: David Tarshis

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My friend has built a 8" Dob and is currently using a toilet paper tube for a focuser (John Dobson class). Since then, we had his mirror refinished Swayze style. I am now looking for a low budget focuser for him. My choice for my 12.5 Swayze is a dual rate Moonlite. He is looking for something in the 40.00 range. I know, I know, the Swayze mirror deserves more, but would like some recommendations. Thanks

I bought my kids an Edmund Scientific Astroscan. I don't know what year it is, but the views were great. My 3 year old was busy rolling down the hill, so it was my 6 year old daughter, me, and a funny looking red thing called a telescope. We started with the moon before it even got dark. It was crystal clear. After we were done with the moon, the stars started to come out. Our first star was of course was Sirius. Our second target was Betelgeuse. She was able to see the color difference. We tried to line up objects with just the scope itself. With no finder, my daughter was short of patience just looking for the moon. So after it got dark enough, I got my laser out, and just rested against the focuser, and it worked perfect. Every star was in view without having to adjust it. We spent some time in Orion. When I got m42 in view, she was able to see the “smoke”. The grin on my face lasted a few minutes on that one. We moved onto m45, and even I was impressed. I haven’t pulled out my ED80 or C9.25 since last year, but this 99.00, 4.25 f4.2 scope really shined. I have never owned a rich field scope or even looked through one before, but I sure do like this one so far. It got as dark as it was going to get by this time, despite the almost full moon, it was time for a planet! I got Saturn in view, I didn’t tell her about the rings, but she was able to pick up on them. It took me awhile to resolve the rings, she did it in about 5 seconds. By this time, she just wanted to point at stars with the laser, and just point the scope at them. It was the most fun I ever had with a scope. The set up time took me ….oh ya, the time it took to set up the card table! The scope typically comes with a RKE 25mm, this one came with a Meade series 3000 25mm. Maybe someone can tell me which is better, not that it makes any difference. When Mom came out to tell us to come in for dinner, she was able to point to the objects, even though it had been an hour since viewing them. I cant wait for our next session. Thanks for reading. Dave

Nikon D70, d80, or Canon d30, d40? Thanks

Obviously I'm on a quest for a digital camera. I'd like to know what you have and why. Thanks

Thanks

for my 12.5 f6, 1.25 or 1.5, thanks.

Which one's do you like, and which one don't you like and why? I'd like to see pics of home mades as well. Thanks!

Anyone seen this before? I'm missing messier objects and other objects on labels tab on one of two installs from very same disk's. I've included a pic so you can see the differences. One is a laptop, the other a desktop. I was having problems on the desktop and decided to try it on the laptop, so it's not a disk problem. The quicktime is working ok, I can see the image's in the folders. Thanks

This is for a Canon 20d and Orion ED80. Any real need for the True-2? Thanks