Posts Made By: Evan Reed

Hello all! I am considering buying a SCT OTA for use with my homemade mount, and I was just wondering a ballpark range for how heavy these were. Right now the mount holds my 10" Newt plus 80m guidescope (aprox 40 lbs total) with ease. I was maybe looking into getting a celestron 9.25" or maybe even a Meade 10 inch. If anyone knows about how heavy these are, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

ER

Just got back from McDonald Observatory in Texas where we had a week on the 2.1 m scope for some white dwarf observations. Here are some pics of me and my...errr...the telescope.

ER

I was browsing around the web and see that there is a growing trend of people using LP records in az bearings in place of the trusted ebony star. Anyone here used an album for this purpose, and how well does it work?

So it has been a while since I have poked around the forums, and I found myself surprised and a little sad to see that there is no more "A day in the life of an administrator" forum. My question: Why did it go away? My second question was going to be 'how am I going to laugh at silly people?' but then I realized all I had to do was look around me.

ER

Hey guys, I'm trying to think of where one could obtain a part (other than hardware stores). What I'm looking for is a small ball-and-socket joint, similar to those often used on truss-dobs but much smaller ( > 1/2" in diamater). Let me know if you've run across one of these or any ideas you might have. Thanks!

ER

I'm poking around for some good quality, low-priced, low profile focusers for a dob. I came across KineOptics and it looks like their HC-2 is just what I'm looking for. They look relatively simple (which is often a good thing), and I think they will do everything I need them to. Before I sink money into it however, I'm wondering what experiences people have had with these focusers, positive or negative. Thanks guys!

Well I had first light tonight thanks to Bill (finder), Rick (EPs), Gary (ES), Warren (secondary mirror) and Todd (collimator). Its a 10" portable truss dob using the primary from an Orion f/4.7. This is possibly the oddest first light I've had for a few reasons. First, since the scope is still minus a base, it was using the "ebony star-on-carpet" bearing. Secondly, I had only about 20 minutes to observe due to fast approaching clouds. Thirdly, due to the time constraints, I stuck to one object and didn't even bother to take the scope out onto the balcony; Jupiter was in the doorway, so I set up and observed right there. Now the tricky part; I was using a different set of EPs when I set up the trusses. Those EPs are now gone (due to a fire) and are now replaced with other ones, and I wasn't able to acheive focus at first. So with the clouds coming in, I whipped out my allen wrenches and twiddled with the built in truss adjust (ask me why I thought to put that in there), and threw everything back together for about 4 mins of good viewing of Jupiter (or as good as it can get from inside). After that, it worked wonderfully, and I actually saw a good deal of detail on the surface. I pushed it up to 120x still with the equitorial bands visible, and a darker band to the South (at the point, the image began to break down). I'm fairly impressed, and rather excited about how it will perform at ambient temp with dark skies (did I mention the security light right below me? :S ). I suppose since it was so warm today, my living room wasn't too far above outside ambient temperture at 10 pm, but I was still surprised with how much mag I was able to squeeze out of it and still acheive a decent view. I'll post again at some point once everything is completed. It's still only about 85% built, and a little photo-shy, so I'll put up pictures later as well. Thanks for reading!

Evan

Hey guys, I was tinkering with Registax tonight and tried processing a video of Jupiter taken with a digital camera, however every time I try to load it into Registax, it says "Failed to start AVI decompression." I tried saving as a different format, and taking a video as a different format with the same results. Anyone run into this problem? Thanks!

Evan

So I am looking into building a dob around a higher-end mirror and have been doing some research on primaries. I am interested in feedback people have on the optics and customer service of these companies (or others you have worked with). I was honestly surprised to find the price differences were rather drastic. For example a 10" f/6 is $599 Discovery, $795 Royce, and $995 Galaxy. I wasn't expecting a $400 difference in price, with Galaxy leading the way (guaranteeing 0.85 or better Strehl while Royce claims 0.96). Since I have heard nothing but good things about all of these products, my biggest question is: is anything in the way of customer service being sacrificed for the lower price? Is Galaxy simply a smaller operation? Thanks for looking.

Evan

I posted this originally in "Reflectors" but here actually seems like a better choice:

So I am looking into building a dob around a higher-end mirror and have been doing some research on primaries. I am interested in feedback people have on the optics and customer service of these companies (or others you have worked with). I was honestly surprised to find the price differences were rather drastic. For example a 10" f/6 is $599 Discovery, $795 Royce, and $995 Galaxy. I wasn't expecting a $400 difference in price, with Galaxy leading the way (guaranteeing 0.85 or better Strehl while Royce claims 0.96). Since I have heard nothing but good things about all of these products, my biggest question is: is anything in the way of customer service being sacrificed for the lower price? Is Galaxy simply a smaller operation? Thanks for looking.

Evan