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Lion Nebula SH2-132 - RC71

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Posts Made By: Dan Goldberg

July 17, 2003 04:32 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Re: Remember, those little pink pills are your fri

Posted By Dan Goldberg
I had to take these maroon pills (Asacol) and they only made things worse. I think a certain pharmaceutical company leverages them into use when infact they are worse than ineffective - they're countereffective!

January 2, 2003 04:36 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

EZStar - Artificial Collimation Star

Posted By Dan Goldberg
You could make something similar for a couple of dollars. A white LED and some batteries behind a black piece of card with a pin hole in it.

January 3, 2003 07:04 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Recommendation for portable, novice scope

Posted By Dan Goldberg
Perhaps you can get a Tasco Starguide 4 if there's still any? It's a pretty typical Synta product with regards to construction quality, etc. but when I recently saw it for $300 (Canadian) at a discount department store, I had to have it.

I've thoroughly enjoyed it since day one and the goto is quite fun and accurate when aligned correctly. For the money, I doubt it can be beat.

January 4, 2003 04:06 AM Forum: Pictures of Me and My Telescope and........

One from my recent observing trip!

Posted By Dan Goldberg
Were you able to see at all after looking at the moon through that thing?

January 9, 2003 04:44 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

What Eyepieces for Meade ETX-90?

Posted By Dan Goldberg
In what way does the 9.7mm eyepiece appear to be "too much" for the scope?

As for affordable eyepieces, I just picked up a set of SkyWatcher's UltraWide eyepiecs (AKA: Orion Expanse, etc.) to replace the plossls I had. I must say that while the eye relief doesn't appear to be as long as claimed the eyepieces do produce good images and are very comfortable to look into. You can't really tell that they're Synta products wink

January 10, 2003 07:22 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

software for rainy nights?

Posted By Dan Goldberg
I received Starry Night Backyard as a gift some time ago. I really like the interface and it has some nice images of celestial objects, but its database is pretty much limited to stars, Messier objects and planets. The higher end versions of the software would probably be better.

It's got some pretty handy features that make it a lot more useful for novices and simplify operation without making it useless to more advanced amateurs. I've tried some of the free stuff off the 'net and I consistently go back to using Starry Night smile

January 17, 2003 06:10 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Telrads

Posted By Dan Goldberg
I picked one up for a good price on a well known Astromart-taboo website.

The reason they don't last long is because they really are very nice smile Though it's not recommended, you could pretty much do away with your finder after installing a Telrad. With a little practice I found myself consulting my finder only rarely.

Definitely consider picking one up. Much better than the hokey star pointers that are so common now (I should know, I have one of those too!) There are alternatives, like the Rigel Quikfinder, but after having become used to the Telrad I found that other people's Quikfinders just weren't for me.

January 18, 2003 01:58 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Perfect City Scope?

Posted By Dan Goldberg
How about a small mak? Tim seemed to enjoy his refractor over his mak, but in my case it's the other way around, granted my refractor isn't anywhere near as nice as his! Don't forget, as well, that a 4.7" refractor isn't very small even if it is a "Traveler" smile

I'm thinking an ETX or Orion StarMax or something would provide nice, APO like views but be small enough to lift with one hand. Of course a mak won't be as adept a rich field telescope.

January 20, 2003 08:43 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

?! New Finder for Meade, ETX ?!

Posted By Dan Goldberg
Meade makes a straight through, erect image finder specifically for the for the ETX telescopes. I have one that I use as a golf spotting scope.

The right angle finder is supposed to be easier to use in most viewing situations given the way the finder is mounted.

January 22, 2003 07:05 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Secondary mirror obstruction

Posted By Dan Goldberg
Depends on your telescope. If you make your secondary too small some of your precious light will get reflected straight back into space, or at least not reach your eye smile Try using some design software like "newt" to do the math.

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