Posts Made By: Ron Hranac

Weekend Under The Stars (Foxpark, WY) is scheduled for August 9-12. Anyone from Astromart planning to attend?

Ron
Equipment Forum co-moderator

DAS is holding its regularly scheduled monthly open house this weekend (Saturday, November 17th) at Observatory Park. If the weather cooperates, the historic Chamberlin Observatory and its 20-inch Clark refractor will be open to the public, and DAS members will have a variety of telescopes set up on the lawn next to the observatory building.

http://www.denverastrosociety.org/openhouses.html

One of the observing highlights is Comet Holmes (17P). In late October this comet brightened a million-fold over a two-day period, and it remains a naked eye object—even from Denver’s light-polluted skies. The comet has been spectacular in binoculars or a telescope with a low-power eyepiece. Because of its geometry relative to Earth, Comet Holmes (17P) doesn’t have the familiar tail—it’s pointing more or less directly behind the comet—but the comet is still impressive. Another observing highlight this Saturday is the first-quarter Moon. DAS’s open houses are great family activities, with lots of through-the-eyepiece wow factor for kids and grownups alike.

This weekend DAS is hosting a special presentation on how to buy a telescope.

Things get underway at 5:00 p.m.

More information about historic Chamberlin Observatory can be found at http://www.thedas.org/chamberlin.html

Observatory Park is fairly easy to find. Take I-25 to Evans, go west on Evans to Fillmore St. (Fillmore is about four blocks east of University Blvd.), turn south on Fillmore, and go about a block and a half. You’ll see the Chamberlin Observatory building in the park, near Warren & Fillmore. DAS members generally have telescopes set up on the south & southwest side of the observatory building.

Here’s a link to a Mapquest map of the observatory’s approximate location:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=&address=2930+E.+Warren+Ave.&city=Denver&state=CO&zipcode=80210

Ron
Equipment Forum co-moderator

Unfortunately, no. The proximity to metal in the telescope OTA and mount will affect the pointing accuracy of the SkyScout. The SkyScout really wasn't intended for this purpose.

By the way, we have a forum called MySky / SkyScout for those of you with specific questions & comments about these nifty handheld gadgets.

Ron
Equipment Forum co-moderator (and SkyScout owner)

DAS is holding its regularly scheduled monthly open house this weekend (Saturday, December 15th) at Observatory Park. If the weather cooperates, the historic Chamberlin Observatory and its 20-inch Clark refractor will be open to the public, and DAS members will have a variety of telescopes set up on the lawn next to the observatory building.

http://www.denverastrosociety.org/openhouses.html

One of this weekend’s observing highlights is Mars, which reaches opposition with Earth every 26 months. On December 18th Mars once again reaches opposition, and the red planet will make its closest approach to Earth since the last opposition in 2005. This year’s opposition is the largest Mars will appear in a telescope until 2016. (for more on Mars oppositions, see http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/allabout/nightsky/nightsky03.html). Not to worry—it’s not necessary to view Mars on the exact date of opposition—all of December and January are good for seeing Mars through a telescope. Another observing highlight this Saturday is the almost first-quarter Moon. DAS’s open houses are great family activities, with lots of through-the-eyepiece wow factor for kids and grownups alike.

Things get underway at dusk. Saturday night will be chilly, so be sure to bundle up!

More information about historic Chamberlin Observatory can be found at http://www.thedas.org/chamberlin.html

Observatory Park is fairly easy to find. Take I-25 to Evans, go west on Evans to Fillmore St. (Fillmore is about four blocks east of University Blvd.), turn south on Fillmore, and go about a block and a half. You’ll see the Chamberlin Observatory building in the park, near Warren & Fillmore. DAS members generally have telescopes set up on the south & southwest side of the observatory building.

Here’s a link to a Mapquest map of the observatory’s approximate location:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=&address=2930+E.+Warren+Ave.&city=Denver&state=CO&zipcode=80210

Ron
Equipment Forum co-moderator

The Denver Astronomical Society is holding its regularly scheduled monthly open house this Saturday, February 16th at Observatory Park (be sure to mark your calendar for a SECOND open house the evening of Wednesday, February 20th for the lunar eclipse!). If Saturday’s weather cooperates, the historic Chamberlin Observatory and its 20-inch Clark refractor will be open to the public, and DAS members will have a variety of telescopes set up on the lawn next to the observatory building.

http://www.denverastrosociety.org/openhouses.html

By the way, if Santa brought you a new telescope for Christmas and you’d like some tips on setting it up and using it, feel free to bring it to the open house! DAS members will be happy to lend a hand.

Observing highlights this weekend include Mars, a few-days-past-first-quarter Moon, and Saturn a little later in the evening. DAS’s open houses are great family activities, with lots of through-the-eyepiece wow factor for kids and grownups alike.

Things get underway around 5:00 p.m. Typical for this time of year, Saturday evening will be chilly—be sure to bundle up!

More information about historic Chamberlin Observatory can be found at http://www.thedas.org/chamberlin.html

Observatory Park is fairly easy to find. Take I-25 to Evans, go west on Evans to Fillmore St. (Fillmore is about four blocks east of University Blvd.), turn south on Fillmore, and go about a block and a half. You’ll see the Chamberlin Observatory building in the park, near Warren & Fillmore. DAS members generally have telescopes set up on the south & southwest side of the observatory building.

Here’s a link to a Mapquest map of the observatory’s approximate location:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=&address=2930+E.+Warren+Ave.&city=Denver&state=CO&zipcode=80210

Ron
Equipment Forum co-moderator

The Denver Astronomical Society is holding its regularly scheduled monthly open house this Saturday, April 12th at Observatory Park. If Saturday’s weather cooperates—and so far the forecast is looking good for the weekend—the historic Chamberlin Observatory and its 20-inch Clark refractor will be open to the public, and DAS members will have a variety of telescopes set up on the lawn next to the observatory building.

http://www.denverastrosociety.org/openhouses.html

The observing highlight this weekend is Saturn. Also on the observation list is the first quarter Moon, maybe Mars (still visible, but very tiny even in large scopes), and a variety of other interesting objects. DAS’s open houses are great family activities, with lots of through-the-eyepiece wow factor for kids and grownups alike.

Things get underway around 7:00 p.m. Typical for this time of year, Saturday evening will be chilly—be sure to bundle up!

More information about historic Chamberlin Observatory can be found at http://www.thedas.org/chamberlin.html

Observatory Park is fairly easy to find. Take I-25 to Evans, go west on Evans to Fillmore St. (Fillmore is about four blocks east of University Blvd.), turn south on Fillmore, and go about a block and a half. You’ll see the Chamberlin Observatory building in the park, near Warren & Fillmore. DAS members generally have telescopes set up on the south & southwest side of the observatory building.

Here’s a link to a Mapquest map of the observatory’s approximate location:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=&address=2930+E.+Warren+Ave.&city=Denver&state=CO&zipcode=80210

Ron
Equipment Forum co-moderator

You're right, Sean. This should be in the classifieds.

Ron
Equipment Forum co-moderator

I've come across an older first generation XT8 8-inch Orion Dob, and notice that it has a fair amount of astigmatism. Any recommendations on determining which mirror--primary or secondary--is the culprit? I've checked the primary mirror mounting brackets, ensuring that they are loose enough to just barely hold the mirror in place. My suspicion is the secondary, but that's a SWAG at this point. I've ruled out eyepieces, since the astigmatism is noticible with every eyepiece I've tried, the latter ok in other scopes. For what it's worth, I don't have extra primary/secondary mirrors to swap in place of the originals to sort this out by process of elimination.

Ron
Equipment Forum co-moderator

My TOA-130's 7x50 finder has an illuminator. It's not overwhelmingly bright, but does illuminate the crosshairs nicely, allowing easier centering of objects in the finder.

I've not had a chance to use a FS128, but I recently acquired a TOA-130S (2.7-inch focuser). The OTA's size does mandate a larger mount--I opted for a Losmandy G11. Planetary views are excellent, color correction and contrast are superb, focus "snaps in", and its 5-inch aperture works well for deep space objects. I've yet to try my Tele Vue Binoviewer on this new scope, but hope to do that this weekend. --Ron