Posts Made By: Alex McConahay

You know, you might be able to replace the connector pretty easily. It check if the power is in fact coming out of the supply--not just the end of the cable, before you replace.

Alex

I'm a little lost here as to what your questions is? Perhaps it is because I do not have an AM Inbox....

If you are talking about the "Message Inbox" in the "My Account" box on your left, you have to go click on that link (click on the message inbox) to see your messages. When you get a private message there, you will get a red link "You have unread private messages." Simply click the link.

If you are talking about something in your own email system, I really don't know how to help.

If you have placed an ad, as Jon says, the responses should come to your email address, not the Message Inbox/Personal Message System.

Alex

Just have them send a payment to your email address.

have them sign on to Paypal, click on "Send Money" and follow the information for your account, etc.

Alex

Depending on the viewing conditions (humidity, salt spray in particular), the reflective coating on a mirror should last several years. Many of us have reflective coatings ten and more years old, showing no problems.

Anti-reflection coatings do not, to my knowledge, degrade with time.

As for mechanics. The basic mechanics can last a long time if cleaned and cared for. There is no reason for them to fail.... Having said that, we often let things slide, or something goofy goes wrong.

Things that can make mechanics fail are overloading (more precisely mis-balancing), which can lead to stalling and burned out motors, and simply not keeping them lubed or adjusted properly. Also dropping, etc, can cause premature failure.

As for electronic things, you may have problems with anything electronic. However, you usually have it in the first little bit (burn in time) or not for a very long time, meaning years and years. Assuming it is working after the 90 day warranty, and you watch the power supplies so that they provide the proper amount of power, the electronics can last forever. Not necessarily the wires that connect the electronics--but they are relatively easily replaced.

I would say that if you have a properly operating scope after the warranty period expires, and you take proper care of it, it could easily last dozens of years.....

However, new technology will make you want to move on long before that.

Alex

Depends on the scope. Generally, you need to use the electronics and motor drive slewing to keep the computer aligned properly. Some scopes cannot operate at all without the hand paddle/computer. Others can track the stars even if they are not properly (computer) aligned. (They must be polar aligned, though.)

Alex

You are looking for the Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show

http://www.rtmcastronomyexpo.org/PATS.htm

It will be held at Pasadena Convention Center on September 13 and 14. There will be dozens of vendors (The exhibition floor has room for 80 booths and almost all of them are taken. ) The main speakers in the hall next to the conference room include Story Musgrave (astronaut), David Levy (Comet guy and author), Robin and Todd Mason (Journey to Palomar), John Dobson (telescope popularizer), Bob Naeye (new editor of Sky and Tel), Terry Mann of Astronomical League, Gary Palmer (solar imager) and others who have not yet been officially tied down, but are close.

Since you are posting in an imaging forum you may be interested in the imaging workshop with Tony Hallas and Dan Goldman (among others) on the Friday before that:
http://www.rivastro.org/ras_pats_imaging_event.html

Alex

Why restrict your search to an SCT. Perhaps you would like a Maksutov or a Dall Kirkham.....

How about a Gladius for a high quality, high magnification view?

http://www.lazzarotti-optics.com/main.html

Alex

I don't know that it matters much (but would be interested to hear from others).

I would definitely avoid placing them in front of the guiding chip if at all possible (not usually possible if the guiding/imaging chips are in the same camera).

If there is a vignetting issue caused by the filter, I would try to minimize that--but I cannot imagine why that would happen.

Another thing that might happen is an internal reflection--again I would not consider it likely, but would position the filter to minimize that.

In short-- generally putting the filter in your camera adapter works well. But it would seem that they could go wherever there is a filter thread to hold them--

(But remember--I would love to hear otherwise if somebody has more experience.)\
Alex

Either of these mouns can easily be fitted with a 1/4-20 screw that will fasten to the bottom of a DSLR. They are adequate--size wise--for whatever camera lens you choose to use up to 300 mm, and probably more, and even when mounted to a short focus refractor. You will be able to get good (not necessarily great) deep sky images with the rig.

Where you will hit the top end is where you try to guide--make sure your motors and control electronics accept an autoguider.....some of the older models do not. And you will suffer from periodic error, gear backlash, and so forth. So, your exposures will probably be limited in time.

However, yes, you can take lots of intro astrophotographs (and with lots of patience and experience even beyond intro) with a CG-5/GP carrying a DSLR and a short refractor.

Alex

I have been to several such adventures. My recommendation is a set of binos with appropriate filters on them. Be sure the filters are quickly removable and replaceable, though. A tripod with a bino mount could be handy, but not really necessary.

If you have lots of room, and it is easy to carry, the refractor would be okay--but not really necessary. Some kind of mount for the refractor would be essential, though. And a good aiming device on that refractor.

There are a couple of things you could figure out if you sat and thought about it, but are not obvious until you live through your first eclipse.

The whole event takes several hours, of which only a few seconds in the middle are really different. (Well, the excitement level is different, but what you see is not all that spectacular in comparison.)

During the partial phases, first contact to second and third to fourth, there is not really much more to see than you get during regular solar observing (well, except that there is a bite taken out of the sun). Furthermore, it is a relatively relaxed atmosphere. Nobody is rushing around. There is a lot of waiting. As long as somebody in the crowd has a scope, you can take turns sneaking looks into the one (filtered) refractor in the group. Or your binoculars.

It is the few seconds around second and third contact, and totality itself, that a lot of the drama happens---and these are not really things you want magnification for. About five or ten seconds before totality, you will want to take your filters off your binos or scope--but maybe not even then. THe real glory is taking up the whole sky, the ground around you, and all that. THe corona, the moonshadow, the looks on your friends faces, and all that are too big to fit into a scope or binos. You may get something out of Bailey's beads, and such, with the optical aides. In totality itself, the aides (without filters) can help you pick out the flares, prominences, whatever--but again, relatively low power, I should think.

If you are using optical equipment, be ready to remove and replace the filters as needed. Practice all of this on the moon before you go to get the right scale, etc. And don't let the equipment distract you from looking with your eyeballs. You should not be focusing or aiming scopes during totality. There just is not much time.

By the way--take some foil and a couple of pins, and pieces of wire to poke holes in it. You can make designs on the foil in pinholes, and then shine the sun through it.

Get some cheap solar filter viewers (specialized plastic mounted in flimsy paper is fine).

Take your camera.....but not for the sun/moon pictures. True eclipse pictures are a whole lot more work than you may want to do. YOur first solar eclipse should be visual so you can enjoy it. And if you have not yet practiced it all, you should avoid trying to mess with a camera during totality. But taking pictures of everybody else around you is fun, especially during the long waiting phases.

Also, unless you are at an established place (quite likely) be aware that you may want chairs, something to eat/drink, a nearby bathroom, etc.

Alex