Posts Made By: Pete Brayton

Here's a shot of yesterday's transit taken through my ETX 105 with solar filter. I used a Canon G3 and shot afocally through a Scopetronix MaxView 40 eyepiece.

I'm buying a new CPC1100 and someday I might want to get back into astrophotography. I understand the Celestron heavy duty wedge is not steady enough for the CPC1100. Does anybody have any suggestions or experience with alternates? Thanks.

To be a republican you need to believe:

1. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton

2. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad
guy when Bush's Daddy made war on him, a good guy when
Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush
needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

3. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

4. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

5. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational drug corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

7. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

8. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

9. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMO's and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

10. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

11. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

12. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

13. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

14. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

15. Supporting "Executive Privilege" for every Republican ever born, who will be born or who might be born (in perpetuity.)

16. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960's is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80's is irrelevant.

17. Support for hunters who shoot their friends and blame them for wearing orange vests similar to those worn by the quail.

Hi guys! I'm going to be teaching Astronomy at my high school next year and I was thinking about purchasing some meteorites for my class. I would like to have a collection that would represent the major types of meteorites (if there is such a thing) with samples large enough that the kids could see and hold (@#*&!!!??) I don't have a whole lot of money to spend ($200-250) and I don't really want to buy the Meade collection. Any help would be appreciated! Also, I don't know much about meteorites anyway. Thanks. Pete

Has anyone taken their CPC1100 OTA off of the fork mount? I was wondering how to do it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Pete

According to Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, the supporters of the idea of human-caused global warming are just promoting the "homosexual agenda" and abortion.
Perkins: A major component of Global Warming is to reduce population because people are seen as part of the problem. And, of course, population control includes abortion. It also includes same-sex relations because they do not cause offspring.
ABC: In a new book, Tony Perkins even argues that if the storms and droughts predicted by climate scientists do come about, Christians should see them as a sign of the Second Coming.
Scary stuff man! I'm building an ark...

I just bought one and the polar finder field of view seems a bit weird. It shows what looks to be an inverted image of the Big Dipper bowl. Does anybody have any experience with this mount/polar finder?

Hi everyone! I just purchased a C 9.25 on a CGE mount and want to put a William Optics dual speed focuser on it. Can I remove the threaded ring that makes the base of the focuser stick out about a half-inch from the back of the OTA and mount the focuser so that it is flush with the back of the OTA? If so, how do I remove the ring? I'm not referring to the visual back, it's the ring that the visual back threads on to. It is purely an aesthetic thing...I don't like the way it looks. Any advice would be appreciated.

From what I read in the paper and saw on the news, the decision was based more on issues with the reliability of the testing done on younger women than the percentage of detection of breast cancer in younger women. There are issues with false positives and subsequent follow-up testing and whether or not the testing was necessary to begin with. Younger women tend to have more dense breast tissue than older women and this tends to cause false positive tests. The new recommendations don't change for women who have breast cancer in their families, they should still get tested early and regularly. I think this is similar to changes made in regards to prostate cancer in men...apparently the PSA test is not that accurate. I would encourage people to be open minded about the new changes and not just assume that the government is out to kill us! I don't view this as just another "death panel" example. I think it is due to practical studies and what we can learn from them. That is the nature of science after all...when we learn new things, we modify what we say! My two cents worth!

While sharing the sun with a group of 8th graders, we noticed the new sunspot. We were viewing with my ETX105 and PST at one of the middle schools that feeds into my high school. It is nice sharing things with the younger kids, they were very excited and looked several times through both scopes. More excitement than I get from my juniors and seniors!