Mandy D

Santa Barbara Instrument Group once offered a dual sensor camera with a KAF-3200E Kodak sensor and an integrated smaller sensor for guiding. It's main benefits were touted as immunity to flexure and it's compact size.

I just had this in an email from Eventbrite for the Artemis I launch: Rate your experience Mandy, tell NASA about your event experience. Let them know what you loved and what they can do better next time. Anyone care to make suggestions for what NASA can do better next time? 🤣

You have everything there that you need to get started. A 10 inch Newt is a big telescope and should give great views of most things. The EQ mount could be a bit tricky to learn to use for a beginner and you may be better with a Dobsonian mount, but I think it has been mentioned before that you can set an EQ up to operate in AZ mode which is a lot easier. Just be sure that you want to handle such a large scope if you have to move it far for observing each time. My first scope was the same size, a Skywatcher 250PX dobsonian mounted Newt and I love it! Welcome to the group and I hope you enjoy your new hobby. Ask plenty of questions and you will find lots of help and advice, even if we don't all agree which is the best scope!

That item is almost certainly an inductor. It's designation of L42 further confirms this. What makes you suggest it is "blown"? I would suggest that an inductor of that size is part of the power supply, but you indicate that the power lamp is showing steady, so looks unlikely that this is faulty.

I'm curious as to why it declares 115V a.c. output on the label and has a UK standard BS1363 socket fitted in the photos! 🤣 The Dutch link below gives more information and declares 110 V on the label but indicates 220 V in the text. Inverter output is 100 VA. But look how much more expensive it is ... https://www.ganymedes.nl/en/product/orion-dynamo-pro-power-supply-155wh-ac-dc/

Thanks. You are correct, it should be M48 x 0.75mm. That was a typo on my part. I had noticed the upper part has a larger thread but not checked what it actually was. I guess it does not really matter as I can get extension tubes with M48 at both ends.

Again, wow!!! I now have a 2 inch 2x barlow, so when we get some clear skies I am going to have another go at the Moon. Your images are inspiring me.

Thank you! I should have mentioned in my post that this was bought primarily for photography, so the end piece appears to have M48x0.5 threads so that should screw directly into my Nikon T-mount adapter, then? This is all starting to look rather like my Baader Hyperion modular eyepiece which is currently in France.

That is what Adam said at RVO and it is good to know that you rate it highly. It certainly looks and feels very well made and the views through the glass look right, although I have yet to put it in a telescope. I will eventually post photos taken using it.

I've just bought this barlow, https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/rvo-x2-ed-barlow-lens-2-with-adaptor.html which can be disassembled as shown in my photo. The parts are in order for assembly as supplied and the lens part is on the right. Does this mean that it is possible to use this in other ways than as normally assembled? e.g. can I change the middle spacer for different lengths to achieve different magnification factors, specifically lower?

A nice bright and shiny Vixen style clamp and an RVO x2 2 inch barlow. I already had the nice case to put them in ... Just need some clear skies now to try the barlow on Jupiter or the Moon.

Yes, get someone else to do it! Seriously, though, is the foam in the base not pre-diced for easy chopping with a sharp knife?

I was looking at what it would cost to get a CX estate today and it looks like around £10k and all the attendant problems of owning a car that is 30 years old! It was how I discovered the CX Loadrunner. Google it for more info. With Peugeot ownership, the true Citroen is now sadly dead!

It was too advanced for mere humans! I had a CX estate back in the 1980s.

You have to love Citroen's attention to safety and detail and the DS was a truly innovative car, decades ahead of it's time. Did you ever see the Michelin tyre testing DS? https://www.carthrottle.com/post/citroen-centipede-10-wheeled-tyre-testing-monstrosity/ The 2CV was built to a budget and could never compete with the amazing safety levels exemplified by other Citroens. Very sad that lives were lost, though, as always.

Citroen always had a policy of engineering safer, more aerodynamic cars and I believe the DS was the first vehicle designed such that the engine and transmission would slide downwards and under the passenger compartment in the event of a front end collision. From a little web research, it is also clear that the 2CV was far from the worst car in safety terms. It featured the classic Citroen single spoke steering wheel which is designed to deform in the event of impact (acting like an airbag, only safer), the engine and transmission were designed to slide under the passenger compartment as per the DS. The bonnet was designed to slide up and over the passenger compartment and there was a large crumple zone in front of the engine. Also noteworthy is the fact that the 2CV had inboard disc brakes! You note that there was not a lot left of the front end of the Beetle, but of far greater importance is the final integrity of the passenger compartment. If that was still intact and undamaged, then the crumple zone has done it's job.

I have an iOptron RC6, which is red. It would not have been my first choice of colour, I would have preferred blue, but that is what it was available in. Now I quite like it. Not sure about mixing it with my blue anodised mount and Skywatcher finder with green anodised focusser, but I'm not going to paint it all black! 😀

I love my RC6. It took a bit of getting used to after the big Skywatcher dobs and is now turning in some pretty respectable results. How do you find yours?

Hi from England where it is also always cloudy. Welcome to SGL!

Ah yes, the infamous Michael Fish fail! Here is a photo of one of my favorite heavy engineering projects in telescope construction.

Try this link for a better price: https://www.beal.org.uk/search.html?search[keywords]=cable+tie+mounts&_a=category These come out at as little as 3.3p each if you buy 1000, or 4.5p in hundreds.

Good point, thank you. 1.375" is 34.925 mm. So it should be 1.375" x 24 tpi.

It will be an M35 thread, because the male thread is always slightly undersize on the OD of the thread. The pitch is likely to be 0.5 mm for that diameter. So, it should be M35 x 0.5mm.

I had no idea what an ADC is, other than an Analogue to Digital Converter in electronics, so I checked with Google and found this nice article that explains it all and discusses when you need to use one. I hope it is helpful to you or anyone viewing this thread later. https://skyinspector.co.uk/atm-dispersion-corrector-adc/

I'm not going to post my attempt at Jupiter from the same evening. Let's just say your is a million times better ... 🙂