Posts Made By: Ivan Gastaldo

Great shot Larry, and welcome back! 8)
I hope you won't mind me resizing your shot a little, since some users might have a hard time viewing your shot all at once... 8)


Keep'em coming, and congrats on the new observatory! 8)

Hello all!

I was just able to watch Holmes last night... for the first time. (due to bad weather & real-life issues)... what an awesome view!

It sure was fun... the comet is quite large, as it was almost taking over the whole chip of my Orion Starshoot. I can still drop a focal reducer to make it last a bit longer though...

The view on binoculars was wonderful... using the Celestron 15x70s the comet was huge, and almost 3D! And the wide views, including the stars surrounding the comet, give it a whole different perspective than what you get in a CCD. (unless you have one of those "monster cameras"...)

Here is a shot of it... a combination of 20x30sec exposures, through a WO 80ED-II refractor.


Thanks for looking! 8)

Hello all!

I was just able to watch Holmes last night... for the first time. (due to bad weather & real-life issues)... what an awesome view!

It sure was fun... the comet is quite large, as it was almost taking over the whole chip of my Orion Starshoot. I can still drop a focal reducer to make it last a bit longer though...

The view on binoculars was wonderful... using the Celestron 15x70s the comet was huge, and almost 3D! And the wide views, including the stars surrounding the comet, give it a whole different perspective than what you get in a CCD. (unless you have one of those "monster cameras"...)

Here is a shot of it... a combination of 20x30sec exposures, through a WO 80ED-II refractor.


Thanks for looking! 8)

Just stopping by, to wish you all a safe & wonderful Thanksgiving day! 8)


Clear skies to all of you, my friends! 8)

Hello, mis amigos! 8)
It has been quite a while since I've done Planetary shots...

Last night we got a cold front that cleared our Florida skies... (yeah, Winter is almost here!!! woohoo!!!)(we are freezing in the 50's!) 8)

I decided to head to the observatory and try a shot of Mars just for fun, to bring back good ole' times, using my trusty Vesta Pro 675K webcam (way out of style...) and my 10" LX-200GPS.

Tried to push the image to high f/numbers, but it was boiling, so decided to drop down to f/20 and settle for an itsy-bitsy Mars...


Hope you'll enjoy, and clear skies! 8)

I know this is off-topic, but since Dmitri visits this Forum quite often, I thought this would be a good place to share last night's experience...

He came last night, with his lovely wife and their friend. I had everything set up and ready for them, since I knew their visit would be productive but short. It was about 10:20pm when they arrived, and we proceeded immediately to view Mars, which was located right next to an blinding "almost full Moon". The Seeing was quite nice last night, and we were able to push Mars quite a bit.
I had a Nagler 9mm on my 10" LX-200GPS, which gave us a little more than 250x, and the markings, dark areas & ice caps were very visible.
After that we tried several of his color filters, which they made several of Mars features easier to see. Then we jumped to an UO Ortho 6mm, which pushed to about 416x, and Mars was steady, very steady. Needless to say, he was happy, and so was I.

After a good Mars view, he wanted to split Sirius, which we did, and to make sure we actually did, he asked to split Rigel, which was clearly & easily split.

Then we proceeded to M42, which was washed out with the bright moon, but we were still able to view the bright core area with the help of a low magnification eyepiece and an Orion Ultrablock filter.

Then they had to go, but it was nice sharing the views & time with a good friend.


Thanks for reading this, and Merry Christmas to all! 8)

Just getting my ticket for the 2008 WSP (Feb 4-10 down at the Florida Keys), so I'm wondering how many from here will attend...
It would be nice to meet as many of you as possible...

If this is the first WSP you'll be attending, get ready, it is an awesome experience!

Looking forward to meeting you all... 8)


Clear skies!

I just wanted to wish you all a Safe, Prosperous & Happy New Year!
Thank you for making this Forum what it is, with all your much appreciated contributions...


Clear skies,

Weather was perfect last night, cool & no wind at all.
Took my portable setup to The Everglades (Area51) and shot these objects within a period of 4 hours... needless to say, had a great time!

All these shots were taken with the Orion Starshoot & the WO SD-66mm scope. (10x3min subs)


Clear skies, and thanks for taking the time to visit! 8)

OK, I've seen this question asked here, but it gets lost in the multiple threads, so how about we have a dedicated thread for it?

If you OVERCOAT your meteorites to prevent rust/dirt/contamination, WHAT do you use, WHEN do you use it, and HOW do you apply it to them?

Please share your experiences... 8)