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Posts Made By: Floyd Blue

January 16, 2005 08:07 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

MY dwindling scope family. :^(

Posted By Floyd Blue
Well, yesterday the 12.5" went to a new home. Linton is now the new owner. I am sure that it has found a good home and will receive good use an care. However, with the 15" and the 12.5" gone, the 14.5" is looking mighty lonely with the 8" SCT sitting next to it. cwy Oh well! It is for the best I guess.

January 17, 2005 04:59 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Re: Turning white LEDs red

Posted By Floyd Blue
Are the LED plug in or soldered in?
If plug in, then there are red replacement LEDs available at Radio Shack.

January 18, 2005 07:21 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Lucked out!

Posted By Floyd Blue
Man I lucked out! grin Just got my hands on a new mirror. A brand new Zambuto 10" f/6. smile Time to build a nice planetary scope now I guess. Now where the heck do I start?

January 19, 2005 12:46 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

10" ZOC Mirror

Posted By Floyd Blue
Diameter of Mirror 10.0
Radius of Curvature 120.50
Mirror Focal Length 60.3
Focal Ratio 6.03
Adjustment Factor COC -3
Maximum RTA 0.17
P-V Wavefront 1/.. 37.0
Wavefront RMS 1/.. 106
Strehl Ratio 0.997
For those impressed by numbers, here are the numbers on the new mirror. smile
Looks mighty fine to me. Now for the scope for it! 8)

January 22, 2005 07:17 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Number 6000!

Posted By Floyd Blue
Ok, here it is, the post you have been waiting for for years! grin My 6,000th post on Astromart. wink

January 22, 2005 07:59 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Re: new William Optics eyepieces

Posted By Floyd Blue
Maybe someone has purchased one of these and can comment? I wish the weights were published.

January 25, 2005 12:35 AM Forum: A Day in the Life of the Administrator

Hubble replacement

Posted By Floyd Blue
Dang it and ATWB was looking so forward to NASA buying the replacement for Hubble from them too! sad Now they have to palm that 10m space telescope on someone else. 8)

January 25, 2005 06:19 AM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Re: comparing diagonals

Posted By Floyd Blue
Mark,
Consider also that the 2" diagonal has a larger mirror of which only the central portion is being used. This is the best part of the mirror as far as flatness and shape. Because of this a 2" diagonal can be a better unit. Of course the quality of the coatings and mirror as well as the precision of the construction and alignment will effect the view just as much. So a good 2" is the way to go.

January 27, 2005 08:31 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Feathertouch Focuser Leveling Base Shim

Posted By Floyd Blue
There was a thread on the Yahoo Starmasters Group about the concerns of those using the leveling base and the screws just digging into the wooden focuser board. I wrote about a plate made from 1/16" ABS, Kydex like, material for this purpose. I have made one for demonstration and here is a picture of it with the base for comparison. I hope you find this useful.

February 6, 2005 06:56 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Viewing last night

Posted By Floyd Blue
Well believe it or not myself and five others go out last night and had good conditions for about 4 hours! 8O
The Starmaster was really nice. It gave such fine views with greater contrast than I had seen before in any scopes I have used. All the club members were impressed.
We had a new 8" home built that was seeing first light and it worked very well. It was the man's first attempt at building. Nice job on a simple scope.
We had first real light on a Hardin 10". This was a decent scope with good views as long as power was left down. Seemed to have funny aberrations with much over 100x. Need to look into it a bit more.
I was able to see 7 of the 8 stars in the Trapezium, with only the "G" star evading me. I did see it eventually for a moment at a time, but not a steady look. I have posted a picture of the Trapezium with all the stars checked that I was able to verify.

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