Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b89429c566825f6ab32bcafbada449c9.jpg

Dave In Vermont

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,694

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Dave In Vermont

  1. Dave In Vermont
    First off - Greetings and welcome to SGL - it's nice that you've found us! Secondly - no need to apologize! We love helping folks find answers to their astro-related questions. It's how we all learn. As someone else coined: The only stupid questions are the one's you don't ask! A black dot on Jupiter, eh? May I ask what magnification you were using? There's a good reason to believe that your black-dot may have been a shadow from one of Jupiter's moons transiting the planet. Photograph below. Dave
  2. Dave In Vermont
    I also put a larger diameter focus-wheel on my ST80 after replacing the focuser with the 10:1 Crayford. This adds an other layer of fine-tuning the focused image to crystal clarity. You might say I like my little ST80. Dave
  3. Dave In Vermont
    I use the GSO 10:1 dual-speed Crayford. These are about the same animal. And the focusing is excellent indeed. Night & day difference from the single-speed variety. You'll be a happy camper. Upgrade away - Dave
  4. Dave In Vermont
    This is the first I've heard-read about 40 Eridani. Thank you for bringing this fascinating system "to light!" Very nice indeed - Dave
  5. Dave In Vermont
    You're quite welcome! I just put a GSO, branded ScopeStuff, on my new 150mm F/12 Maksutov. This plus a larger wheel for the 10:1 makes it a pure silk micro-focuser. Dave
  6. Dave In Vermont
    Congratulations on a job very well done! And you've found out what I've been telling all who'll listen about these GSO-focusers. They're better than one's costing twice as much - or better still. A true bargain. Nicely done, Dave
  7. Dave In Vermont
    I think you did it very well! Great images of our star. Whatever you did, I'd say it worked - please keep going! The sky's the limit - Dave
  8. Dave In Vermont
    I've found the latest versions of Adobe are really poor - time-lag in opening, crashing, spending all your time looking for update & downloads, etc. I find Sumatra much better as a reader these days. Take a look if you like: http://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/free-pdf-reader.html Good stuff free, Dave
  9. Dave In Vermont

    The GSO Crayford 2-speed focuser for my new Maksutov arrived. Just installed it. And, of course, it's snowing! But it was a snap to put on and adjust. All I need do is adjust it's insides and apply a Teflon-grease to it. It can't snow forever...

  10. Dave In Vermont
    Very nice shooting there, Reggie. Me likes! Especially fond of your take on Pluto. Seems very few actually take the time to bag that planet. Here's a reward for your effort: Best wishes - Dave
  11. Dave In Vermont

    My binoculars - Celestron Skymaster 15 X 70mm - arrived from Agena. They were very well packaged. First impressions: Focus smooth and fine, including right-side diopter. Collimation is spot-on. A servicable carry-case. Tripod-adapter included. Very good views. All in all - no problems to report. Excellent value for the price.

    1. Show previous comments  3 more
    2. orion25

      orion25

      Gots me wanting to upgrade. I've been spending $$ on scopes, lenses and cameras but never thought about getting larger bins. You may have started something here, old buddy.

    3. Ruud

      Ruud

      Hi Dave, I checked them out on the website of B&H. 4.4° at 15x is an apparent field of 66°! That's nice! Congrats on the binoculars.

    4. Dave In Vermont

      Dave In Vermont

      Sorry 'bout that, Reg. But for $89.95 inc. shipping - I can't find a downside to a pair of these. And I'm a certified cynic! My only caveat is their size. These things are BIG! I'm glad I have a decent Orion tripod I picked up a few years ago. And now I have an extra adapter. I'll find someone that needs one and give them to said critter.

  12. Dave In Vermont

    I caved in and bought a pair of Celestron SkyMaster 15 x 70mm binoculars. They should land within a week.

    1. orion25

      orion25

      Cool beans, Dave. I can't wait for your review :-)

    2. Ruud

      Ruud

      Congratulations. 2016 should start well. Best wishes.

    3. seo

      seo

      Congrats for your new binos Dave and my best wishes for 2016.

  13. Dave In Vermont
    I've bagged those before with my 12" SCT. Uranus and her retinue of Moons are an often overlooked beauty of our local neighborhood. Even in lesser aperture-bearing scopes, Uranus is a beautiful planet. Good job - John! Dave
  14. Dave In Vermont

    Orion-USA has chopped the price on the Celestron Digital Camera Adapter, due to many bad reviews. So I again bought one. The problems became obvious - no grease and binding. Fixed it on quick order. Now it's a bargain. It works very well indeed for a Canon digital, and a Logitech webcam - C615. And, of course, it's snowing.....

    1. Ruud

      Ruud

      Nice! Looking forward to the pics. In NL it's mostly overcast and we still have early-Autumn temperatures. We've had those since September.

      Have you already had a chance to use the new Barlow under the stars?

    2. orion25

      orion25

      You get those serious lake-effect snows in your neck of the woods. You did get a great deal. My, aren't you handy, LOL! I look forward to seeing your images when the clouds part.

    3. Dave In Vermont

      Dave In Vermont

      Don't hold your breath, Reg. I'm on strike 'til Spring! And Ruud - no complaints on the Barlow. It's touchy about focus, but it should be! Stupid reviews abound here. I'll do a full-on report later on.

      Thanks folks!

  15. Dave In Vermont
    Excellent paper there, Martin. Thank you! Dave
  16. Dave In Vermont
    Don't ask me. The things Terran bio-forms do always confuses me! evaD
  17. Dave In Vermont
    Very well done, Martin! Excellent! The download went very smoothly - especially considering it's mass - and the extraction and ease of finding things within were and are intuitive - which is great! A stellar achievement in the gestalt sense. All the best - Dave
  18. Dave In Vermont

    I have a new toy: A Celestron camera-adapter for mounting simple digital-cameras to the eyepiece/drawtube to hold them stationary. Good for fast 'click' on our cold, winter nights here. These need a bit of work to get them to work right - grease and minor mechanical-engineering. But it looks like fun!

  19. Dave In Vermont

    Help! None of my settings will work.....

  20. Dave In Vermont

    Ouch! That's no fun! Ah well - better in the winter than the usual Murphy's Law of your vacation-time in the spring!

  21. Dave In Vermont

    Broke down and ordered a Celestron camera-adapter to place a simple digital-camera (Canon PowerShot A1000 Image-Stabilized) on a scope. Found one for $36 - list was $50. Pulled trigger and.....I then found Orion-USA has it for $24! Somedays you just can't win...

  22. Dave In Vermont
    More like 15 minutes, I think. But there's a way to avoid a problem with typo's and other human blunders: Write your post out on Notepad (or similar) and then proof-read it and alter it to your liking. THEN copy & paste the final product as your post. That's something I should consider doing as well! Part-time goof, Dave see below
  23. Dave In Vermont
    I'd be tempted. A Unitron was what I wanted above all other things for awile when I was about 12 years old. It truly is a historic artifact. I wonder if there's a museum anywhere holding such animals. On another note, there's a good article in the October 2015 editiion of Astronomy magazine over here in the US. And it has a 4" Unitron as one of the stars. Thanks for posting, all - Dave
  24. Dave In Vermont
    A truly timeless writing. Excellent - Dave
  25. Dave In Vermont
    I, too, endorse the TeleVue Barlow in either 2X or 3X format. There are others available that have the ability to seemingly vanish in your optical-pathway. By this I mean that the Barlow doesn't dim or blur the image, which a lesser quality Barlow does in various degrees. This explains why I say the best Barlow's are invisible. I rarely plug TeleVue products as they may be too expensive for many people, and I don't wish to come across as being 'elitist.' But when buying a Barlow, I think it's important to steer people towards the only - or last - Barlow they'll ever need to purchase. Even if this means saving up or hunting for returnable cans & bottles to have enough to afford such. In terms of should you get the 2X or 3X? All I know is that many people who have both agree the 2X is used far more often than the 3X. So if you can't afford both, then I'd be inclined to opt for getting the 2X first. In my own case - it is true that I rarely employ the 3X, the 2X seeing far more duty. I also love my 2.5X PowerMate, but the PowerMates' are actually a different animal altogether - acting as a Barlow in increasing the magnification, but doing so by a different method than Peter Barlow's design. The PowerMates deserve their own thread to hash out their wonders IMHO. Enjoy! Dave
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.