Celestron Omni XLT 150 ReviewPosted By Alan French |
Joe Bergeron said:
http://homepage.mac.com/joebergeron/omni150.htm
Joe,
A nice review. Thanks.
Clear skies, Alan
Posts Made By: Alan French
July 10, 2007 02:24 PM
Forum:
Reflectors
Joe,
A nice review. Thanks.
Clear skies, Alan
July 11, 2007 11:52 AM
Forum:
Birding Optics and Photos
barred owlPosted By Alan French |
Very nice. One of my favorites. We sometimes observe on a small pond in the northern Adirondacks, and often hear Barred Owls. One night we seemed to be right in the middle of a vocal pair - not eactly a quiet night!
Clear skies, Alan
Clear skies, Alan
July 12, 2007 01:39 AM
Forum:
Birding Optics and Photos
pileated woodpeckerPosted By Alan French |
A lovely photo of one of my favorite birds. My parents yard bordered a mature woodland, so they were frequent visitors to our backyard, and I've enjoyed them for most of my life.
Clear skies, Alan
Clear skies, Alan
July 18, 2007 09:14 PM
Forum:
Star Parties
Whatever happened to Astrofest?Posted By Alan French |
Apparently, there was some internal dispute in the CAS. Astrofest was moved.
See http://www.chicagoastro.org/
Some other folks have been running another star party at the original site.
See http://www.prairieskies.org/
We haven't been to either since the division.
Clear skies, Alan
See http://www.chicagoastro.org/
Some other folks have been running another star party at the original site.
See http://www.prairieskies.org/
We haven't been to either since the division.
Clear skies, Alan
July 19, 2007 02:27 PM
Forum:
Telescope Making
Fork-mount load capacity?Posted By Alan French |
I have never seen a fork mount SCT on a wedge that was steady enough for my liking, and doubt you will be happy with a longer Newtonian on such a mount. Some ATMs make their own forks, and I've rarely seen one that was really steady. I'd recommend staying away from forks entirely.
Clear skies, Alan
Clear skies, Alan
July 19, 2007 03:26 PM
Forum:
Telescope Making
Fork-mount load capacity?Posted By Alan French |
Just as a practical matter, SCT forks are simply too short for most Newtonians.
Clear skies, Alan
Clear skies, Alan
July 26, 2007 12:47 AM
Forum:
Reflectors
I have a 10" mirror with certificatePosted By Alan French |
David Landreth said:
I have a 10" mirror with certificate. I need help in understanding what it means.
strehl .97
rms 0.030
peak to valley .014
how good is this mirror?
thanks David
Are you sure you posted the numbers correctly? The RMS value should be better than PTV.
Clear skies, Alan
August 1, 2007 02:29 AM
Forum:
Star Parties
StellafanePosted By Alan French |
The weather is often warm, but there have been some pretty cold nights at Stellafane. There have also been heavy rains. I'd keep an eye on the predictions.
There is a food tent on site, so you can get fed.
Clear skies, Alan
There is a food tent on site, so you can get fed.
Clear skies, Alan
August 2, 2007 02:29 PM
Forum:
Solar System Observing
Ganymede Passing through Jupiter's Shadow TonightPosted By Alan French |
I watched Ganymede fade from view and vanish though my 65mm spotting scope. The seeing was quite poor, it was hot, hazy, humid, and buggy, so it was nice to have selected a "grab-and-go" scope. It shows Jupiter quite well at 60x, and I was curious to see how good the scope was for observing satellite events. I like to encourage my birder friends to turn their spotting scopes toward the night sky.
Clear skies, Alan
Clear skies, Alan
August 6, 2007 01:21 PM
Forum:
Solar System Observing
Transit of Io Tonight (8/4)Posted By Alan French |
David and Danny,
Glad to hear you saw and shared the event.
The seeing here was simply horrid, but the transparency was pretty good on 8/4.
Clear skies, Alan
Glad to hear you saw and shared the event.
The seeing here was simply horrid, but the transparency was pretty good on 8/4.
Clear skies, Alan
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