Posts Made By: Maurice Clark

VERY nice!!!

Maurice

Hi Eric,

That looks a nice image. To make it even better I would look at some kind of non-linear streching.

One other thing, I think you unsharp mast may have been a little harsh as you appear to have dark rings around the brighter stars.

What image processing software do you have?

Cheers,

Maurice

One thing I miss is seeing how many times a message had been read.

Maurice

Personally, I do not answer an add that has "make me an offer", as I feel (probably wrongly) that the advertiser is just feeling the waters to see how high they can price the item.

Cheers,

Maurice

I agree with the negative comments about UPS. I will not willingly deal with them after they damaged more than one shipment to me, and even though the shipments were insured, they just fobbed me off to their local carrier saying I had to deal with them, and their local carrier said the opposite. I even had one claim where someone (finally) came to check the damage, and despite having the damaged boxes showing obvious mishandling, was told that no claim would be allowed as the damage could not be proved as being done by their carriers.

FedEx is just as bad. I have had more than one shipment damaged by them and had all attempts at an insurance claim ignored. Not rejected, just ignored!

Also one problem with both of these shippers. They do not deliver to the person to whom the package is addressed! Here in the US, they just dump it with anyone handy. In Australia, they just dump it at your front door!!!

One international shipper that I have had good dealings with has been DHL. I have found their staff (in Australia) very helpful, and when delivering packages, deliver to the person, not just an address. Also, I have not had them damage anything.

Good luck!

Maurice

Hi Mike,

I have seen 3 come up on AstroMart for around $4500 - $4800.
I THINK they were around $7000 or so when they first came out. Half your luck in being able to purcahse one. I certainly would if THE BOSS would let me!

Perhaps an email to Software Bisque could give you some idea of what they originally sold them for.

Cheers,

Maurice

From your description it sounds like you are looking at Castor and Pollux. There is quite a difference in brightness between Capella and Menkalinan.

Maurice

I have looked at Pluto a number of times, mainly just for the fun of observing it. It should be an easy object in your 10", however it will not look anything different from any other 13th magnitude star. The only difference is that if you look again a day or two later, you will see it has moved.

The biggest help you will need in finding it is a good, detailed chart. Below is a chart I made with MegaStar which shows the position of Pluto for the next 3 weeks. Providing you have some charts like Sky Atlas 2000 to help you find the right area, this should help you locat the planet.

Good hunting!

Maurice

Hi Wayne.

Position angle is N = 0*, E = 90*, S = 180* and W = 270*, always.

What you will need to do is work out which way is east in your eyepiece. The easiest way to do this is to stop the telescope drive. The stars will drift to the west. So you know that the stars are drifting towards 270*.

Cheers,

Maurice

Hi Sandy,

I have used a 416 for some time and it generally works quite well. You can see some of my images at;
http://www.acad.Carleton.edu/curricular/PHYS/Faculty/MClark/index.htm

A couple of suggestions. It is MUCH quicker to use it in SCSI mode rather than with a serial connection. So use SCSI if possible. I use mine with a laptop that has a PCMCIA port.

You need to be careful with the cable where it connects to the CCD. I had some trouble with the cable coming loose while in use and in the process messing up the shutter mechanism, necessitating a return to Meade. To aviod this happening, a friend made me a clip that holds the cable firmly in place. It is made out of light metal and simple passes over the cable and hooks onto the cooling fins.

One of the biggest problems with CCD's is getting good focus. I have found the easiest way is to use a 3-hole mask over the objective. When the camera is out of focus, you see 3 images of the stars. As you get closer to focus, the 3 images get closer together until they merge into one when you have focus.

Have fun. (and don't forget to post some images)

Maurice