Kn4fty

Welcome from Kaintuck!

In this case the dead horse being the old Meade LPI. I aquired one a couple years ago when I bought Kepler, my ETX70 AT that I repaired. Has anyone ever figured out how to get one to work on modern computers? I've read the old post on this, but those are pretty old. Hoping someone has since found a tried amd true solution. Im using an old HP 2000 Notebook with, unfortunately, Windows 10. I've tried numerous ideas from here ,Cloudy Nights, and other places. I've tried Skycapture, Nebulosity4, Craterlet, Sharpcap, Yawcam, and updated Autostar. Those have worked as well as the original Autostar or in other words, they didn't. The only improvement these have had over the original Autostar is they list the Meade camera in the options in each program. But when chosen they always say the camera can't be connected. Y'all are the camera's last hope before it gets rehomed to the trash bin. Thanks for reading my rambling and for any possible help. Fingers crossed. Rob

Welcome to the lounge. I grew up in Burlington across the river. Rob

Welcome from Kentucky

Ive been subscribed to Dr Becky for a long time. I do enjoy her channel. Was listening to Sabine Hossenfelder today and subscribed. I did enjoy the video. Rob

I love Space Time . I watch and read anything to do with physics, particularly astrophysics. Plus since age is slowly turning my brain to mush, I really enjoy it when its broken down to simple explanations. 😁 I will check out Sabine Hossenfelder too. Thanks! Rob

I will check those out too. Thanks for those recommendations! Rob

Some posts I recently read was about favorite and worst YouTube astro channels. A couple favorites that kept popping up was Ed Ting and Astrobiscuit. Well, I figured I would check them out. So good! I haven't even watched my old standbys in acouple weeks. These two have become my go to channels. I really like Ed's straight shooter style on his reviews. When he changes his mind about a particular item, he's not afraid to tell you either. Its a breath of fresh air. Watching Astrobiscuit is like watching an entertaining and educational show on TV. Perfect mix of mood music and calming voice. Also that he's willing to try budget methods and show results both good and bad. Definitely thinking about trying some of the lucky imaging he talks about. So thanks to everyone that recommended these channels. Im hooked on both channels! Rob

Welcome from across the pond! Lots of folks here to help you along the way! Rob

Todays additions to my collection...

I had been waiting days to take a scope out and get a peek at Mars. Worked the past couple days and came home to cloudy skies. Today I ran errands to very clear skies and excited to get home to the scope. After a bit of supper, I grabbed Cassini the 90mm Mak and headed outside. Looking up the sky was covered in heavy patchy clouds. Despite that, Jupiter was shining bright with Luna in a clear part of the sky. Both were near each other and I thought they would make a gorgeous picture together. I gave Cassini a quick northernly alignment , then put Jupiter in the EP. Ran the mag up to 100x with the 12.5mm EP and retained a sharp image. Gosh, I love Maks! A light blue filter adjusted things just right! The Equatorial Bands popped and the southern portion of the planet shaded nicely. On each EQ band was a spot that appeared darker than the rest of the bands. They became more pronouced after a few minutes. It was the Great Red Spot on one band and what appeared to be a blue patch on the other. Ganymede was off to one side of Jupiter while Io and Europa were right next to each other on the other side of the planet. Callisto was way past Io and Europa, just hanging alone in the blackness. After sketching for a bit (wow, did I get rusty while on hiatus) ,I swung the scope to our incredible moon, Luna. It took a bit for me to decide on what part to study. Since I was still working out the viewing and sketching cobwebs, I decided to concentrate on the area around Copernicus and Kepler. What better way to get back in the groove than with two old friends. I played around with the magnification for a few minutes. All EPs were giving sharp views, but decided to continue with 100x with the 12.5mm EP. I placed the ND96 filter on for comfort and began sketching. I sketched for awhile while also continuing to think about a picture of Luna and Jupiter. I couldn't shake the thought. Now my astrophotography experience is very limited, but what the heck! I figured I'd try to get a picture using my phone. Well all I got was bright featureless balls of light. Even tried the ND96 over the phone cameras lense. No dice. Tried adjusting setting, but still no good. Tried it through the scope and had semi success. The edges of the moon appeared good, but the middle was washed out. Oh well. It was worth a shot. I'll get it figured out. Well about this time, Mars began to climb out of the clouds to the east. I know it was a lot of atmosphere to look through, but did it anyway. All I could see was a small red disk with no features. All EPs gave very soft views. It was difficult to even get focused. Once again, oh well. It was worth trying. That sketch consisted of a small circle. So artistic! 😆 Well about this time, the body began to hurt and was saying time to pack up for the evening. I just might have to get up early and check out Mars while high. But either way, it's nice to be able to be out viewing again. Keep looking up! Rob

I bought my 8" newt EQ (Meade LX70 R8) on Amazon years ago. Had no issues with delivery or damage. Didn't even need to collimate it for a long time. As to your youngin wanting an EQ mounted scope, I personally prefer them. Yes ,they require more effort to learn, but I think its worth it. Unfortunately, I haven't messed with that Celestron scope, so don't know much about the quality of it. Hopefully someone here has messed with that model. Rob

Here's what I currently have in my living room. It doesn't include outdated books I have in storage (which some of these will be joining soon) ,or my astro magazines, or my charts/planisphere book in my EP case. I did throw in a couple log books. Yeah, I admit it, I like the Dummies and Idiot's Guide books. 😁 Rob

Welcome from Kaintuck!

Welcome from across the pond!