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Douglas Rollain

M20 Trifid Nebula in LRGBHa

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Posts Made By: John Whitby

May 31, 2003 12:42 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

C9.25 fine focus issues

Posted By John Whitby
I had a similar problem with my LX-90. I replaced the focus knob with a 2.5" diameter knob from EZ-Telescopes - which helped a lot with the fine focus. I tried the Meade electronic focuser - ditched it - tried the JMI NGF focuser - wouldn't clear the swing through at zenith - ditched it.

My problem after the bigger diameter focus knob was still very fine focusing and mirror shift - I found a helical focuser for about $100 solves the problem - and there's no clearance problem. Borg - and others have them.

June 6, 2003 12:27 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Planetary views, collimation, sample (me again)

Posted By John Whitby
Right, the Hubble might. The lower photo is porbably a stacked set of 10 to 30 digital camera images, or a CCD camera image, touched up in Photoshop.

In my TV-85 I see Jupiter just a clear and sharp as that, but the image is quite small in the eyepiece. The more it's magnified that less clear it is.

A larger, sharper image in my 8" SCT than what you have in the top photo, but not much. You have some brightness in the photo I don't get in my SCT.

BUT - even though it's not Hubble - and I never ever expected it would be - neighbors, scouts, family are just amazed to see that image in the eyepiece. I am, too. Time after time. Jupiter, M13, orion nebula,Pleides, etc.

Attached is an image of Saturn I took with a digital camera in February. Five images stacked. It represents what I see in the EP - although not that large and a little bit out of focus and less sharp than I get with the scope.
And visually I can almost always see the Cassini division.

June 23, 2003 12:22 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Eyeguards

Posted By John Whitby
Try ScopeStuff

http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_eyec1.htm

July 7, 2003 02:06 AM Forum: A Day in the Life of the Administrator

#6a?

Posted By John Whitby
Hey- I know those guys - #6 and #6a. Their names might be hard to pronounce, and they might live in obscure villages, but...give em a break.

July 26, 2003 06:07 AM Forum: Religion

Re: I'm sorry but

Posted By John Whitby
oh...but it is all so true. Not one bit of it can be refuted - well maybe the part about the liberals and their pink leisure suits...

July 29, 2003 03:10 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Attempted Fraud - Asking for PayPal info

Posted By John Whitby
rahji duarte is a computer 'expert' systems guy- look for him to hack as well.

August 17, 2003 02:06 AM Forum: Pictures of Me and My Telescope and........

My 15" DOB

Posted By John Whitby
Wow- and your wife lets you keep it in the kitchen! Beautiful scope.

August 25, 2003 04:38 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

LXD55 advice needed

Posted By John Whitby
You should really go to lxd55.com and/or the lxd55 yahoo users group.

August 25, 2003 09:08 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Is it possible to have.......

Posted By John Whitby
Probably not possible for the majority of us.

I've settled in on a 4" refractor for everynight viewing - either on a folding wood tripod, or on a Gemini/G-11 for serious hunting and imaging.

I sold my LX90 to help fund the G-11, but knew I would miss the aperature. I had a really good discussion with an experienced fellow at "that other store" - the one with the 7 in its name - and I really thought I'd get upsold to a 11 or 12" scope. BUT - he strongly recommended a 10" dob- best mix of 'portability' and aperature. So I got a 10" PDHQ Discovery - so far so good. It was fun the other night to compare M13 in both scopes!

So for me, the 4" APO and 10" dob seem to have cured a bad case of scope OCD.

August 28, 2003 10:50 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Piggyback Scope Mounting

Posted By John Whitby
I used them to mount an ST-80 to an LX-90 and they are sufficient for that purpose. I would think that if you were mounting a guidescope for serious imaging you would want something more stable.

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