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Posts Made By: Bob Schnitzer

March 31, 2004 02:10 AM Forum: Home Observatories

Grenville base Observatory

Posted By Bob Schnitzer

Greetings from Virginia,

GBO is under construction. The exterior is complete, but the interior still has a ways to go. I'm very pleased with the HD-10 from Technical Innovations. I'll gladly share my experiences and insight gained on this project with anyone contemplating a similar observatory.


January 6, 2005 07:42 PM Forum: Telescope Making

Aluminum Class. Cassegrain truss project

Posted By Bob Schnitzer

Has anybody here built their own cassegrain truss for optics in the 16" range? I think I could handle the truss tubes and maybe the central "box", but I would like some help finding sources for the Aluminum ring at the secondary end, and the main mirror cell assembly. Besides AB Engineering, are there any other scope makers that do this? Also, has anybody tried making their own electric secondary focus system from scratch?

Thanks,

Bob Schnitzer
Grenville Base Observatory

February 22, 2005 02:45 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Ultimate Mars scope on order

Posted By Bob Schnitzer

I'll be replacing my 25-year old 10" classical cassegrain this summer with a Royce planet killer 16" f18 class. cass. Conical mirror, totally open design, aluminum square-tube lower truss and carbon fiber upper truss. This will be one rock solid OTA. I'll keep you posted on installation and first light.

September 11, 2005 09:09 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Planetary 16" classical cassegrain being tested

Posted By Bob Schnitzer

The 25-year old 10" f16 classical cassegrain is out and the new 16" f18 class cass is in. The 3 nights since it arrived have been spent doing mirror collimation and familiarizing myself with the mount controls. I will keep everybody informed of the performance that shakes out over the next few weeks.
Initial visual testing looks promising. It fills up the 10' Home Dome but is high enough on the pier to give me plenty of moving around space underneath. Basic design goals were in line with the K.I.S.S. philosophy: open tube for rapid cooldown in lieu of active cooling, conical mirror for weight/cooldown/cell simplicity, long focus optical system to reduce reliance on eyepiece projection or use of barlows.
The OTA weighs in at around 80lbs.
I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Bob

September 28, 2005 02:08 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Mars 9-28-05 from Northern VA

Posted By Bob Schnitzer

A quick process after further collimation adjustments to the new Royce 16" f18 cassegrain and a rare night of very good seeing here in Northern Virginia. No handpicking of 200 stack of 1200. Prime focus.

Still room for improvement. Damian sets the bar quite high.

October 20, 2005 02:48 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Wednesday morning dust storm

Posted By Bob Schnitzer

Not as clear as others posted here, but the dust storm is visible. From 1:54am EDST. 16" Royce Classical Cassegrain, Toucam 840k, Registax, Photoshop. Stack of 250.


November 3, 2005 03:35 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Mars 11-02 non-raw

Posted By Bob Schnitzer

'modded' the Toucam II for non-raw color optimized. There is noticeable improvement from my previous efforts, but seeing was also very good last night.

Royce 16" f18 classical cassegrain.
Eyepiece projection with Scopetronix Maxview 40. Toucam 840k stack of 150 of 1500 in Registax 3, post-processing in Photoshop. This shot was at 11:30pm 11/2 from Haymarket, VA.

Thanks Sean for nudge to finally do the mod.

January 29, 2006 05:04 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

more Saturn storm

Posted By Bob Schnitzer

In spite of the breezy, hazy sky I had to dust off the scope to attempt an image of the storm that was imaged so well by Jim Phillips. The spot wasn't very prominent in the Toucam image but thanks to histogram equalize, it becomes easily visible.

10fps, stack of 602/2000, no filters, no dark frame. final enhancement in Paintshop Pro 9.
9:50 EST 1-28-06

February 3, 2006 03:42 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Reprocessed Saturn

Posted By Bob Schnitzer

Unless the weather pattern changes very soon, this will have to stand as my best Saturn effort for this season. I can't believe after 4 months I'm still waiting for a night worthy of this fine scope. Of course, my Registax skills still need honing.

Cheers from NoVa,

Bob

March 24, 2006 08:42 PM Forum: Reflectors

Holographic collimators

Posted By Bob Schnitzer

I'm thinking of replacing my point laser collimator with the holographic type so that I can better align my classical cassegrain optics. Can anybody shed some light 8) on how well they work?