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Posts Made By: Roland Beard

April 4, 2010 11:59 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Marking up a star atlas

Posted By Roland Beard

I am interested, too. I can use results for overseas if I can find the best way and a list/placement of objects that are suitable for binoculars.

April 14, 2010 02:38 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Dark skies VS Aperture???

Posted By Roland Beard

Mike, have you considered a non-standard alternative--astro video?

With an astro video tool, I can punch through LP or haze, effectively at least triple my aperture, see color, reach where my EPs and eyes cannot go, and ease the physical challenges with longer observation periods. When I want to stay with optical solutions also, I make the choices like you do...when to use my lighter or heavier equipment. But I have found that I gravitate more to more portable equipment now that I can enjoy it but add the astro video advantage when I need more reach or punch through less than ideal conditions or limited aperture.


April 29, 2010 04:25 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Grabbing a Low Object with Astro Video

Posted By Roland Beard

I forgot the mention we have series on our site (address below the signature) that includes (so far) 4 sketches...the next one will be this one of M83 (pictured above). With the sketches we include a brief observation and comment. If interested, go to the Inspiration Page and hit any of the left hand sketch/stories titled "The Heavens and the Prophets". All the observations are within the Mar 31 through April time frame, were observed/sketched with astro video equipment attached to a C8 or 12.5 Dob, and include various galaxies plus Hubble's Variable Nebula.

June 20, 2010 05:08 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

The Art of Vision

Posted By Roland Beard

Very good article and good points. The primary reason we teach teachers/students to sketch what they see through a binocular or telescope is the same: it shows the student that repeated observing improves what you see in an object, and the sketch becomes the evidence of the improved ability to see more than they saw previously. Star patterns, boundaries of nebulosity, densities of star clouds, and many other things are progressively observed with more detail as the eye is trained. When the hands are integrated into the process of observing, it forces the observer to go back and look, look again, and look again. Even in the space of a few minutes, we have seen children and untrained adults multiply what they see in an object using this technique.

June 23, 2010 03:07 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

IC 4665 - Overlooked

Posted By Roland Beard

Glad you got it. It's pretty to me.

August 22, 2010 04:06 AM Forum: LUNATICS

Clavius

Posted By Roland Beard

That is a really nice shot of one of my favorite craters. I recently stuck a post under solar system forum about the same crater, which I had the pleasure of studying and sketching the other night. It is a wonderful target. If you care to look, the sketch linked from the Inspiration Page of our site (site address after my signature).

I used astro video at about 300X, but you get much more detail with an image like this. Nicely done.

March 29, 2011 12:22 AM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Considering starting with a Celestron 8

Posted By Roland Beard

It is a great scope to start with. Old mounts are OK; new ones a little nicer. I would not choose less aperture; 8 inches is still pretty portable but the views are very good. If you can get a good price for a whole system, add one or two EPs and a Barlow....you will be good for quite awhile.

Roland