Posts Made By: Zach Drew

I am buying an Odyssey 8 4.5 but it has the dreadful pushpull focuser.

I would like to replace it with a rack and pinion focuser. Being that this would be my first telescope making project and I have very little practical experience modifying scopes, what are the potential pitfalls and what do I need to be mindful of?

Is it as easy as buying a R&P focuser and "throwing" it on? Or is it more complicated than that? I suspect it is but wanted to ask first.

Okay so its been about 10 years since I was really into astronomy and have recently gotten back into it. Thankfully I still have most of my books and I am pretty sure my Sky Atlas 2000.0 is still at my parents place(I have to locate it next time I am there). I do remember however when I bought my sky atlas I also picked up an accessory that is a small triangle of acrylic that had something to do with the sky atlas. It has what looks like a telrad reticle, magnitude gauge, arcsec/degrees, and a small magnifier. It says L-5 Systems on it and I can't find any references to this product on any of the sites out there.

I have attached a photo and am hoping that someone knows what this is and can help me get some more info about its use as I have completely forgotten how to use it with my SA2k.

Thanks.

I have an eyepiece that is on loan to me from the local astronomy club. It has 1/2" FL on it. there are no other markings on it. It is about an inch tall machined out of a single peice of aluminum, which has been anodized black. I don't have a picture of it ATM but I will attach one later.

I am trying to figure out what this is so that I can calculate the magnification from it.

Somewhat new to the hobby. Definately new to collimation in general. I have two dobs (8" and 10") both odysseys and I use a catseye collimator on them. It works really well. I also have a Celestron SPC-8. I have been dabbling in astrophotography and think that it needs to be collimated. To my knowledge it has never been collimated, and I "liberated" it from my dad who wasn't using it and who was the original owner.

Living in the seattle area (under the flightpath of the airport no less) my seeing for lack of a better word sucks. So I built an artificial star using a 62.5micron Fiber Optic network cable.

Now I kind of understand how the Dawes limit works but I am having trouble applying it to using an artificial star.

I get the feeling that about 50 meters would be adequate but I don't think this is quite right either. Can someone tell me how far away I should place the artificial star? How much does it really matter?

Thanks in advance.


Addendum - heres a pic after I made some very very minor adjustments.

I am borrowing an ETX 70 from a co-worker who no longer uses it.

In going through the usual fiddling with "my" new toy, I discovered that there was a slight inconsistency between what the manual said was supposed to happen. It mentiones "home position" as being with the OTA in a horizontal position and 0 degrees on the declination. Unfortunately, when the tube is horizontal, its more like 5 degrees. I have attached a picture of this.

Being that its cloudy, I can't test it out. Not sure if I even want to bother if things are misaligned.

I have two questions.

a)Is it misaligned and can/should I fix it?

or

b)Does it even matter so long as the tube is horizontal when I start aligning it?

This is my first foray into goto scopes and I have been thinking about getting a larger, nicer Goto GEM for my SCT.

Story is I have an Odyssey 8 and an an Odyssey Compact(10.1")

I wanted to replace the mirror cells. I am on a budget and the mirrorcells at University Optics seemed like a logical choice.

I even emailed them and said...hey I plan on putting this mirror in your cell will it fit? "Of course it will....the mirror cells were designed with those scopes in mind" was the answer.

Well guess what...neither of them fit. Furthermore, the retainer clips aren't even consistent enough to work.

So I got out the dremel and ground out the mirror cell a bit so the mirror would fit. Now I am curious about what to use to secure the mirrors as I don't plan on using the included clips (the don't fit and are crappy anyways)

What should I use to attach the mirror to the mount. Silicone is acceptable as I don't plan on taking them out of the cells for a while anyways.

Has anyone else had a problem with the cells from UO? it seems the QC isn't very good.

-Z

Howdy!
Longtime lurker. I just got a C5+ complete with sturdy celestron carrying case that holds the entire drive system and all the goodies I need sans charts.

I have taken the measurements and its like an inch bigger than what the airlines say I am allowed to carryon however I know that I can get it in an overhead bin.

My question is this, has anyone traveled with a C5+? Were you able to carry it on or did you have to check it?

I am traveling to New Zealand and I really want to work on some southern skies certificates.

The conundrum is this. If I take the whole thing, I get a spiffy mount and the ability to do some wide angle astrophotography with my camera piggybacked plus I get the added stability that the whole forkmount/wedge affords. If I just buy a smaller OTA only case, I lose the astrophotography option, have to deal with a tripod that is just barely capable of handling the OTA, and lose the ability to track and find things that I can't see with the naked eye.

Is it a luck of the draw at the xray? I would hate to have to check my scope and leave it to the gorillas that handle the luggage....

I am some of that new blood which you speak of.

I am 28 (soon to be 29) and just got back into the hobby after a 9 year hiatus.

I already have 4 scopes in regular use with 3 others kind of "hanging" around and talk alot about the hobby at work etc.

Personally I think there are several reasons why there aren't many younger people involved.
One of them is cost. Now granted we all know that its not THAT expensive to get started...but we also know that those "Oh WOW" moments are often brought to you by the nicer equipment. So theres a percieved cost involved in owning a telescope. When I go out to one of the clubs public star parties, I take my coulter odyssey 8. Its big enough to provide some impressive views, and when people ask "how much does something like that cost?", its nice to watch the look on thier faces when I say about 200 bucks. Doesn't take much to get into the hobby at all.

We have also all been through that department store scope frustration (At least I have on several occasions). Its very easy to get discouraged by poor equipment. Many people with these cheap scopes where the boxes are adorned with images from the hubble are quickly dissapointed. If they do actually manage to find one of the objects pictured, it looks nothing like the picture on the box.

Lastly the lack of other younger people to relate to. No offense guys but its kind of hard for some of us to relate to people near retirement. We have different musical/cultural/personal interests (save astronomy). I have run into this problem myself. Because of the nature of the hobby, its a mostly solitary activity. Especially if you are imaging. There are alot of folks who, shall we say, lack people skills. Many people can't handle this kind of environment. I get crap from my friends all the time. They say things like "oh going to hang out with the nerds eh?" or "SHOW ME THE ALIENS!!! WHERE THE ALIENS AT!?". That last one is usually after they have been partying and eventually wander outside to see what I am doing. They look in the eye piece and its cool but I have figured out that my friends are like kids. I show them planets, contrasting doubles, bright clusters, maybe the occasional shot at andromeda and the moon. They simply arent interested in seeing the dim fuzzies.

So yes....being a younger person interested in astronomy is hard because my peers generally aren't interested so its a difficult choice to make sometimes....unfortunately...my friends lose most of the time. Living in Seattle means a clear night is a precious commodity.

On the upside, I was recently approached to be the membership coordinator for the astronomy club that I joined here in Seattle. My goal is to get more younger members.

Interesting thread....the line graph was quite interesting. My theory on the dip in the 30's is mid-life crisis. They traded in thier scopes for a porsche :-)

Lets see....it depends on the weather. If the skies are clear....theres nothing else to do BUT look at stars. The nights where I can look are so few here in seattle.

My other hobbies are:

1)Video Games (world of warcraft mostly)
2)Restoring my 75' VW Riviera Camper "Mater"
3)Reading Sci-fi
4)Camping
5)Learning to play the Acoustic Guitar
6)Finding more hobbies

Drives my GF nuts....she can't keep track of my interests. Keeps me sane though.

Great feedback!

The main issue is that the shipping case for the C5+ is 25"x14"x10"

10 years ago when it was manufactured, these measurements were under the limits for carryons. Now they are not.

I am 4 inches too big, however the dimensions that its too large are ones that still fit within the confines of the overhead bin.

At this point I am leaning towards getting a smaller carryon just for the OTA and maybe investing in a barndoor for the photography thing.

I have called the airlines in question and the answer is always the same, its up to the personnel at the gate and checkpoints on the day of departure so I don't think I am going to tempt fate.

Besides, my luck is that I would lug it all down there and it will be overcast the entire time. Of course if I just take the OTA and throw it on my not sturdy enough tripod, it will be clear skies every night....

:-)