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Posts Made By: Judson Mitchell

December 6, 2007 04:08 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Eyes

Posted By Judson Mitchell
For what it is worth, you may or may not ever need glasses at the EP. One night I ran several hundred people through a session on the moon and never had to refocus and only one kept their glasses on. With dimmer objects and a larger exit pupil it could be a problem. I am 66, read with 3.0 reading glasses, but can focus through the EP fine without glasses. Others have to refocus from my settings (we're talking DSOs). Go without the glasses as long as you can.

December 6, 2007 01:39 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Best spiral galaxies in the sky - revised list

Posted By Judson Mitchell
Thanks Inge; summaries of various objects are always useful. It is not difficult to scan the faint fuzzies if a goodie is inserted every once in a while.

December 10, 2007 02:30 AM Forum: ASTRONOMY

Clubs in Central Illinois???

Posted By Judson Mitchell
You can start with the Astronomical League list of groups

http://www.astroleague.org/al/general/society.html

Hopefully someone in the area will also chime in. good Luck.

December 11, 2007 12:33 AM Forum: After Dark

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!

Posted By Judson Mitchell
When spotted, the "cloud" was about 10 degrees west of vertical and very bright, as if Venus were shining through a cloud making a foggy mask. At that time it had a comet-like appearance with a funnel shape with an angle of about 20 degrees. Intermittently a white light was seen "strobing" to the side of the cloud. As the cloud drifted to the WNW it gradually became dimmer. When it reached Cassiopeia (aboug 7:20) it was barely naked eye. there appeared to be a lateral thin cloud preceeding it that was perpendicular to the funnel's wide end.

My suspicion is that it was an incident associated with a high altitude baloon. But, who knows. Perhaps someone has some more definite information.

Alerted Joplin who clarified the situation. Thanks Joplin!

Just hope that others got to witness the spectacle.

December 15, 2007 04:15 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Your Most Memorable Observing Experiences

Posted By Judson Mitchell
The 1966 Leonid Meteor Shower!!!

December 17, 2007 03:34 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Your Most Memorable Observing Experiences

Posted By Judson Mitchell
Eurika! Several nights were spent at least 1/2 hour and more trying to tease out NGC6946 from my light polluted back yard; much time was spent detailing star charts to insure that the location was precise, (the bracket stars were 12 minutes apart). Finally, a faint patch of gray was detected. Later, its presence was confirmed at a darker location, and some semblance of a spiral structure was viewed. What is more, I can now within a few seconds, find the location of NGC6946, whether it is visible or not. Another object indelibly etched into my memory. Tis the joy of a star hopper.

December 20, 2007 01:38 PM Forum: Reflectors

4 vane spider alignment

Posted By Judson Mitchell
It is highly unlikely that spider alignment is your problem. Collimation is more probable. But, many things can affect the view. For example, the other night I noticed a significant variation it the focus within the FOV only to realize that I had not tightened the set screw in the 1.25-2.0" adapter. Thus, the EP was setting slightly askew in the light path.

All of the Orion XT and XTi scopes I have seen have good to excellent optics and were easily collimated.

Also, keep in mind that using a laser to collimate may be causing some problems. One way to demonstrate
this is to rotate the laser in the focusser and watch the spot position on the primary. In my case the laser traced a circle meaning that precision with a laser was not achievable since the adapter had too much play in it. And it wasn't the laser's fault because when checked for alignment the laser remained rock steady at 30' when rotated in a controlled test.

It may take a while to understand the vagaries of collimation and the impact they have on your particular scope. But the effort is worthwhile for the views you can achieve. After significant efforts in the past it now usually takes less than 30 seconds to collimate my scope.

December 21, 2007 05:36 PM Forum: Sports

How many bowls is this guy gonna screw up?

Posted By Judson Mitchell
Gee! Is Rich the only one involved here? Wasn't someone else participating in the hiring? How about their morals/principals/or whatever else is involved? Problem is their names are more obscured by the process so we "shoot the messenger".

January 1, 2008 01:45 AM Forum: Global Warming - REAL or NOT

magnetic field

Posted By Judson Mitchell
If you query for continental drift in concert with magnetic reversal you should find some relevant answers. I tried, but right now am suffering from a memory shortage in my computer which is causing it to be so slow that the search is timing out on me.

January 4, 2008 01:55 PM Forum: Pictures of Me and My Telescope and........

Pimpin' the new TEC200/9 ED

Posted By Judson Mitchell
Wow! I just kept going back and forth looking at the picture then reading your script. But we thank you for pulling the shroud of bad weather away from SC. It was excellent last night and proposes to be similar tonight with better seeing. It isn't necessary to look through your scope to appreciate what it can provide. Our weather tells it all. Again thanks!

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