richyj8

Thanks for all the advice, I'll re-read the manual again. I was using Stellarium and will use it again as suggested. Regulus was one of the stars on the menu, and I would have chosen it for certain, but the view was blocked by my house. It's only my second week with a telescope, so thanks for bearing with me.

Thanks for the reply, but the question remains...why are none of the bright stars I can see listed? And it still doesn't answer my question--is there a way I can choose a star not listed? If I could do that , I could proceed with ASPA. I will try again and see if there are stars I missed.

Ok, I finally got some clear skies to try out the AVX mount All Star Polar Alignment. I'm located 40 degrees north latitude. But I can't get past the first step. I'm on the front porch which faces south. The house blocks all views to the north. the south east and southwest have limited views, but south is clear with many bright stars. The ASAP calls first for aligning two stars, but the menu choices have none listed that I can see. Is there a way to choose a star not listed on the menu? Unless this step is completed, the ASAP cannot be done. Thanks in advance, Rich

Thursday, November 6, 2014....Inside Science News Service...To Date, Particle Super Collider Detects No Evidence Of Dark Matter; September 21, 2014....The Daily Beast...Still No Dark Matter From Space Station Experiment Experiment

No need for the ad hominem...just because I don't accept DM doesn't mean I'm a troll...remember, DM has never been seen, observed, detected....

You assume billions of years, you weren't there. I assume it was created 5800 years ago..I wasn't there. You assume DM, I assume no DM, so far I'm vindicated...

I'm not the one who started the religion posts..see cgarry's post...if the galaxies aren't billions or millions of years old, and that lines up with someone's religion....so be it....follow the truth where it leads....

I appreciate the multiple theories on the existence of DM, I'm just adding another theory that doesn't need DM. I asked questions to make sure these galaxies are breaking apart, which from the responses they are.

Actually, the Hebrew calendar puts it closer to 5800 years, but 6000 is in the ballpark.

I think based on what has been said here that the galaxies are spinning apart, no dark matter is involved, and that the reason galaxies haven't degraded apart yet is that they aren't billions or even millions of years old, and haven't had the time needed. This shortened time theory eliminates the need to insert the undetected and never observed DM. It reminds me of the complicated epicycles early astronomers inserted into movements of the celestial sphere to account for the planets wandering about the cosmos.

Ok, thanks, I follow the algebra, that makes sense. But if you look at a galaxy, like Andromeda, it looks as though the stars are being "flung out" of their orbits from the galatic center. What I'm saying is maybe they aren't in a fixed orbital distance, but are breaking away. It looks like we don't want them to break away, so we add dark matter to hold them in. Why not just let the equation proceed without adding DM and see what happens? Which we have come full circle and are back to the original statement. I say there is no dark matter and Andromeda is flinging apart, unless we "help" it with DM. I don't understand why we just don't accept what we observe, and let the galaxies fling apart...

But if they are moving at the right speed, why add dark matter? It sounds as though they are moving too fast, so dark matter is added to slow them down. But you can't slow a star down by adding something that isn't there, and if it's there, then the star is slowed down already, so how do you know it was moving too fast in the first place...like I said. I'm confused....

So then in the present situation, now, are the further stars out moving too fast, that they will they break away, or are they balanced so that they will remain in orbit about the galatic center? Thanks, Rich

Ok, now add dark matter...are the ones further out still going too fast? Thanks, Rich

What about the speed of light, and of everything during the alleged cosmic inflation period. I've read it was greater, much greater by many magnitudes than 186,000 miles per second.