Posts Made By: Hugh Bartlett

Sad. It looks like it could have been easily prevented by either waiting until the winds were calm, or launching off a tower where the instrument package would not have been dragged along the ground. What were those knuckleheads thinking!?

Try to get funding for research for the contrary hypothesis, and you will find your answer. Follow the money.

In that price range, I like the Orion Paragon Plus XHD. New they are about $150, but you can get one gently used here for under $100 (ask me, I have 2 of them!)

Wow, that was sudden. I just saw him a month ago doing a segment about the conjunction of Venus, Mars, and Saturn in the western sky. Other than his same old raspy voice, I did not see any signs of ill health.

P.S. I now understand that a few episodes were pre-recorded, and the last one will be in September featuring the Summer Triangle.

I'm pretty sure your existing tripod is not going to be adaptable to either go-to drives, or be usable for photography. A lot of people start out thinking that they want to do some astrophotography, but that takes a lot of patience, skill, and some fairly expensive equipment. A mount that will correct for periodic errors in the gear drive is going to cost $1,200 used. Add a quality telescope, the cameras, guide scopes, filters, and you are into multiple thousands of dollars before you get anything other than a quick snap shot of the Moon, or some star trails.

The best advice I could give is to try to find a local astronomy club and attend some of their meetings and especially any night-time viewing sessions they sponsor. Clubs typically put on star parties where you can ask the owners about their equipment, take a look, and see what type of telescope suits you and your budget the best.

The quick and easy answer to your desire to get views of galaxies and planetary detail, is to get as much aperture as you can afford and easily set up. That having been said, the best telescope for you is the one you will use the most, and is not too bulky or technologically complicated that it becomes more of a hinderance than a help.

After moving up from 6" to 12.5" (and a 16" project in the works) telescope, I find myself using 8x42 wide-angle binouclars and a 4.125" Astroscan telescope the most. With a smaller bank account, I've learned that the hobby does not have to be expensive to provide unlimited viewing pleasure.

WOW!!!!

That was exceedingly responsive.

THANK YOU!!!!

Hi David,

I had a good experience with him designing a kit for me to assemble. He just moved from northern to southern California, so I am not sure if he is open for business again.

On the Starbuckets issue, here is a link to some other users with concerns about that company:

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=655247

Clear skies,
hugh

I generally like to start with an eyepiece that gives me the greatest field of view. In your scope, assuming it has a 1.25" diagonal, that would be a 32mm plossl at the low end of the price range, a 21mm Stratus in the mid-price range, and a 24mm Panoptic at the high end of the price range. All would give you about a 2.5° field of view. Although that could be increased to 3.5° with a 2" diagonal and other eyepieces, you would face balance issues with a heavy diagonal and eyepiece on one end of a relatively light-weight and short tube. But don't despair; 2.5° should be plenty for most objects.

No, no, no, you silly person. You have not been listening to the Union of Concerned Scientists, who told you in 2006 that the Northeast winters were getting warmer and less snowy due to global warming. See here:

http://www.appinsys.com/GlobalWarming/RS_NortheastUS.htm

Congratulations! That is an excellent size for a starter scope.

Good question too, although it would help if you could be more specific. Is it the mechanics that you feel need tweaking? What about your scope would you like to improve?