Posts Made By: Ed York

The clouds break tomorrow, my little girl has never seen a comet and my version of The Sky doesn't seem to have Machholz. Where should it be on the evening of Thurdsay 1/13 - either jump points or RA/Dec coordinates would be great.

Thanks,
Ed

Last night I had my new scope out and stumbled across a few things. Does this sound right?

I was looking at M105 and NGC3384. A third galaxy was right next to them in the same view that wasn't on the chart (Cambridge Atlas 3rd edition). There were supposed to be 7 in the immediate area. I checked then all and this was #8.

I had a similar thing in M35. Out on the edge I stumbled across a nebula that looked sort of like the little dumbell. I didn't have a filter on. It was faint and wispy. I moved off and on a number of times and it was definitely there. It's not on my chart.

Who else has seen these?

Ed

BTW My new 12.5 inch scope kicks butt!!!

Anybody every try wrapping their truss poles with something like Protostar flocking paper?

How does it hold up over time?

Ed

I've seen M1 in a Synta reflector and I think it was on July 14th!

Ed

It took me a little while to get around to, but I had an idea for a simple lock for a truss dob that I recently completed. It is an L with a slot cut in each leg. A short leg is the width of the rocker wall and the other leg wider to trap the mirror box. The short leg is for the unlock position so the lock doesn't get lost in the dark. It stays on the rocker box.

I intend to mostly leave the scope together and ready to roll out. The lock will keep things in place in storage and during the roll out.

The picture is a split between the unlocked position on the left and the locked position on the right. The lock still needs to be varnished and felt added to protect the finish on the other components. The knob threads into the edge of the rocker box. The part to the left with the screw head is obviously the mirror box.

Ed

I just wanted to share the nice night (after so much rain) that I had Wednesday evening.

A dry front passed through in the afternoon and dropped the humidity and pushed out the clouds and air pollution. I headed to a semi dark spot. A friend met me out there and viewed with me most of the night. I hung around late to finally catch a few specific things. Not only did I get to revisit many things I had already seen, I added about a dozen new items and surfed the virgo galxy cluster again. Up to six galxies in a view. Many of the items I revisted were the first time seeing with my 12.5" scope (up from 8"). Globs come to life, galaxies take on new details, neighboring faint DSO's appear, ...

The highlights of the evening are many, but the 2 big ones - I found the last 5 things I was missing on the Messier list and Omega Centauri. That glob is unbelievable. It is giant in the finder. Put it at 134x with a 14UWA and it fills the fov. What a beautiful sight.

As a sign of how good the night was, at one point very late I heard some click/clack and saw something creeping up on me. I jumped up and holler and he ran with his tail straight up. I think it was a skunk (could have been a 'coon, but we was very low to the ground) and even with the tail up - I didn't get sprayed.

Clear skies.

Ed


BTW - I just moved this to the forum I wanted to post it in, instead of the forum I accidently posted it in. Sorry for any confusion.

For filter slides or a flip holder similar to the moonlite CR3/CR4 design, since these mount id, do they interfere with the view?

* How much obstruction does this add?

* Do you notice any diffraction spikes?

I have a truss dob so the secondary cage is designed a bit tight. Does this make a difference?

Ed

Would you get the CR2 (dual speed) or CR4 (dual speed with swing filter) focuser from moonlite and why would you pick that one?

This is for a 12.5" f5.9 truss dob.

Ed

I've heard (verbally) a rumor that there is another TV sale coming up similar to last year. I've searched and searched online but could not find anything.

Has anyone else heard this?

Ed

Does anyone have experience with the moonlite CR4? What are your thoughts on the flip filter system?

Thanks,
Ed