Posts Made By: Doug Peterson

January 7, 2007 05:12 AM Forum: APM

130mm F9.25 TMB zero color triplet

Posted By Doug Peterson

Initial indications are that the color correction is like a reflector, and the intra and extra-focal patterns are textbook at 300x. The current price for this level of performance is a steal.

January 25, 2007 07:41 AM Forum: DVDs and Music and Books That You Recommend

TeleVue sighting: "Things Change", David Mamet

Posted By Doug Peterson

25 minutes into the movie, a TeleVue Renaissance, panoramic mount and walnut tripod. Cool!

March 12, 2007 03:41 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Astrobuffet gone but not forgotten?

Posted By Doug Peterson

http://astrobuffet.com/




April 22, 2007 10:10 PM Forum: Ask rating questions here

Not even a courtesy response.

Posted By Doug Peterson

I responded to a new ad with an I'll Take It! The next day the ad is peppered with SOLDs but no response to my original email, making me wonder if I am responsible for one of the SOLDs, or was too late. No response to a follow-up email either, where I noted that he was a new user and it is normal courtesy to email responses to offers that are too late. How should I rate this guy?

May 13, 2007 03:37 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

What finders will fit the original WO FLT110?

Posted By Doug Peterson

According to ATWB the current 7x50 WO finder body will not fit the original white WO 50mm finder bracket once sold with the Fluorostars, mounting to the 4" R&P. I can see other bodies such as the Meade 50mm don't fit. Anyone out there run into this problem and solved it?

June 23, 2007 12:37 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Mystery Plates 1&2 in Auctions--what are they?

Posted By Doug Peterson

Possibly Ray's Brackets or similar?

June 23, 2007 02:01 PM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

More UFO nonsense

Posted By Doug Peterson

The recent news story of a mile long UFO (mile long weather phenomena most likely) reminds me of two more reasons for believing flying saucers don't exist:

The folks that track space debris down to orbiting nuts and bolts.

NORAD.


July 2, 2007 09:08 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

That stuff on your lens, is it dust or mud?

Posted By Doug Peterson

I see a lot of scopes for sale described as new, except for a little "dust". If it was dust, I would blow it off, so it must be mud--you know, dust + dewing = muddy concoction that must be carefully cleaned.

July 14, 2007 08:20 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Intes MN-61 / Orion Argonaut central obstruction

Posted By Doug Peterson

I am fixing a badly decollimated Orion Argonaut maksutov newtonian. I have measured the secondary mirror minor axis at 31mm, larger than the 28mm advertised. This raises the central obstruction from 18% to 20% not including the beam expander effects of the meniscas corrector, so the real obstruction is likely larger.

Does anyone know what the central screw in the secondary housing does? The manual only says, don't touch! Too late.

July 17, 2007 01:48 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Unidentified Funny Object

Posted By Doug Peterson

Stanton Friedman, the unemployed nuclear physicist who invented the Roswell incident, was on Larry King the other night. A good time was had by all.

The daughter of the press officer who released the flying saucer story first said her dad wasn't allowed to see the hardware, then later said he did. Of course this was the same year the word was coined, so it did not have anything like the baggage it has today.

Stan put down Michael Schermer of Skeptic magazine by erupting: "He's not a skeptic--he's a DEBUNKER!" Mike wanted to know where the evidence was; Stan retorted there were 3000 pieces.

The son of the original leaker--who handled the evidence from outerspace as a child--is convinced.

Buzz Aldrin told his shaggy dog UFO story tongue in cheek.

George Noory didn't have much to say, but would later on his radio show act as though guest Brian Greene, string theorist, was nuts for mentioning James Randi, et al, as sensible skeptics.

I am not a Larry King fan, but looked like even he had a hard time keeping a straight face.