Posts Made By: Alan French

First it was an e-mail from a friend saying "Here we go again," and then it was a couple of phone calls asking about the upcoming close appearance of Mars, as detailed in an e-mail they had received. Today it was a call from a senior center that wanted to hold a big party and have some local amateurs show them Mars.

Is this going to happen every year from now on?!!!

I offered to do an astronomy program for the seniors this fall.

Clear skies, Alan

As we move up in magnification and down in exit pupil, floaters in our eye become more and more annoying. For lunar and planetary viewing, I find my "comfort" levels ends at around 1.0 to 0.8 mm. If the exit pupil is much smaller than 0.8 mm, the floaters are just too bothersome.

What do you find?

Clear skies, Alan

The Roddier program to determine optical quality interests me, but most of my scopes I'd like to test are not driven and I don't have a suitable camera. The somewhat unexpected acquistion of a large equatorial platform has solved the first problem, so now I am wondering about a camera.

What would be the least expensive route to a non anti-blooming camera that would let me take 16 bit FITS images?

Thanks!

Clear skies, Alan

I have some threaded inserts to install into the ends of some 1" o.d. aluminum tubing (the inserts that go up inside the tube from the end). I can envision several ways to insert them, but have never done this before. Who has done this before and how did they do it?

Thanks.

Clear skies, Alan

Canon is also once again offering $100 rebates on the larger IS binoculars. The question is: which would be better, the 15x50 or the 18x50 version?

Anyone have experience with either version? We have a slight lean toward the 18x50 due to its smaller exit pupil and our astigmatism.

Clear skies, Alan & Sue

It was a sunny day when I left the house on my way to inventory the equipment owned by an amateur astronomer who had passed away. Had I known the horror that awaited me, I would have declined the invitation.

The observatory showed signs of disuse, with bushes and ivy encroaching on the doors – doors that were askew on their hinges. The doors protested as I made my way inside, emitting a squealing complaint. The Sun had gone behind a cloud, and inside it was dark and musty. As I slowly adapted to the faint illumination, outlines of a shrouded Dob emerged from the gloom. The Sun emerged from behind the cloud, and the tarp-bedraped Dob was clearly revealed. After removing its burden, I found the telescope in unexpectedly good shape.

Next, I turned to the table where the briefcase used to store eyepieces lay. As I approached, the Sun was again darkened by cloud, and a chill wind blew in through the door. A shiver ran through my body. I grasped the latches on the dim case, snapping them open, and raised the lid. My mind could not comprehend what my eyes were seeing - the case was filled with a seething, swirling blackness! Suddenly, the blackness was moving up my hands, up my arms – threatening to engulf my entire body!

I stumbled out of the observatory; case in hand, threw it on the ground, and then shook my arms in the hope of removing the black invader. Only then did the newly emerging sunlight reveal the real nature of the stygian mass - the case was filled with thousands of giant, black ants!

The terror of the unknown was soon replaced by the true horror of what I was seeing. The ants and their nests made the inside of the case very moist, and the contents were beyond redemption. Lumicon filters, a complete set of Edmund RKEs and barlow, sets of both Meade and Celestron eyepieces, numerous colored filters, and a 4.8mm Nagler – all reduced to junk, all destined for the trash. Oh, the horror of it all!

I see there are two TMB 203mm f/7s for sale right now. Two eyes, two scopes - need I say more?

A great project for this winter, and it would be a big draw at WSP. 8)

Under cloudy skies, Alan

I'm looking forward to hearing about them too. I suspect we'll find out when they are either ready for production or in production.

Clear skies, Alan

Has anyone here used the Canon S3 IS for bird photography, either directly or with a spotting scope?

Thanks!

Clear skies, Alan

There seems to be a disconnect between the folks who design optics and the folks who sell telescope. The optical designer has tools that very neatly show characteristics of the design. Some of these tools produce very nice graphics that are not hard to understand, and that can convey important information to the informed consumer. However, these are rarely shared with the potential buyer, and we are often left to puzzle over terminology that implies great things but says little. Maybe there is a fear that real data will be misunderstood, or will not fare well against the other company's hype.

It would be nice if telescopes could be sold on their merits, and if enough infomed consumers keep asking the right questions, perhaps things will move in that direction.

Clear skies, Alan