Posts Made By: Ron Bee

Hello there Anders,

Mars is small and if your Meade LX10 has good optics and seeing permit, use as much power as you feel comfortable. I find that 200x is a start of a good view and more when possible is better. Here's an excellent article on Mars, how to observe the planet and power recommendation.
http://www.arksky.org/mars2003.htm

Ron B[ee]

Hello there Erik,

There's a good write up comparing it to several eyepieces.
http://www.company7.com/library/televue/orrtv3_6zoom.html

Ron B[ee]

Wow Carlos, your sketch made me feel like the clouds or haze floating over the planet. Glad to see your weather has improved and I look forward to see more and learn more from your report.

Ron B[ee]

Say Darren, that sounds like a heap of fun and accomplishment! Try to increase the magnification on M51 to say around 70x-80x. You might be able to see more details as the background sky will darken.

Ron B[ee]

Hello there Tom,

I wouldn't be so hasty unless you have cash burning in your pocket ;-). Can you tell us which eyepiece and/or magnification you used? Since you mentioned the upper air winds, how did the stars look?
http://uk.geocities.com/dpeach_78/pickering.htm
The rushing stream of water sounds really like bad seeing :-(. Did you try a red or orange filter? This helps somewhat with the seeing.

Just to let you know, I was able to resolve the fork in Sinus Meridiani last month through my new 8" Discovery PDHQ Dob ;-), a feat I've yet to accomplish with my 4" TV-102 Light Cup :-(. So try again in better seeing.

Ron B[ee]

Hello there Don,

I went to Discovery a few months ago to choose betweent the 8" f/6 or f/7 PDHQ (they didn't have the f/8 then). Being not a tall person, the f/7 is very much taller than the f/6 at the zenith; so I chose the f/6 and have been quite happy with this choice ever since (it also fit inside the cab of my pickup truck - just barely). So I imagine the f/8 would be even longer and higher.

I'm currently having two problems with my Discovery PDHQ: the mount and OTA balance with heavy eyepieces. Ryan who has the f/7 model doesn't seem to have this problem (so mine might just be the exception). I've improve on the sticky azimuth movement by waxing both the teflon and the elbony star. This helps a bit and I can track with one finger now but still not smooth as it overshoot often (so I'll try the milk jug trick after this). I'm solving the OTA balance problem with the ankle weight or buy one of those sliding weight.

Last but not least, the Discovery Mirror is incredible, I'll submit, in the short time I've been looking at the moon. Incredible contrast and sharpness (no nasty spider vane spikes on the moon). Since I'm so used to the view from my 4" TV-102 APO, I'd go out on the Lunar limb ;-) to say that the view is very "refractor like" (though I don't have an 8" APO for a side-by-side which might have a different result). I speculate that it might have to do with the enhanced coating, hand figuring done by Discovery (not massed produced machining) and the very small 19% secondary obstruction. (BTW, the view of the fairly bright to bright stars is *not* refractor like as the nasty spikes are very evident and on Mars at low power, but seemed to be much less noticeable on Mars at high power).

I still prefer viewing from the rear end when I went to the star party to look through several SCTs than through the side of the Newt ;-).

Good luck on your choice. BTW, do give Bill Larsen at Discovery a call; he does make custom mirror if you wish.

Ron B[ee]

Thanks a whole bunch for the picture, Jason! All these while, I thought everyone was referring to the read washer below the milk jug cap :-(. Great helpful picture!

Ron B[ee]

Try this Edward, a convenient tool for setting the alarm clock ;-).
http://mach.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_micaform2?calc=20&ZZZ=END

Ron B[ee]

Wow Sol, that's a great sketch, with sharp edges all over the place. Amazing details.

Ron B[ee]

Bravo Stacey. You've brought back sanity to the discussion ;-) Very well prosed! Just this morning, I had to use my 4" TV-102 instead of my 8" PDHQ because of *impromptu* Mars observing and the 8-incher just wouldn't cool down in time (maybe the fan will help) and the seeing was very good!

Ron B[ee]