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Luneshot posted:Went out last night for some visual galaxy observing and did way better than I expected! Nailed M51, M81 and M82, M65 and M66 (couldn't seem to find the other one in the Leo Triplet, but I wasn't looking too hard), M87, M104, M106(my favorite), and M63. Exploring the Virgo supercluster is pretty fun, but it's real easy to get lost. My last couple of sessions I've been working into it from the west, right now I'm on the outskirts. In my last observing session on Wednesday night I picked up M98, M99 and M100. My telescope was starting to fog by the time I got to M100 but I think I was picking up hints of spiral structure in it with my 8" so I might have to look again when I get back home on Sunday night. I really need a dew shield/dew heater, I usually only have about an hour and a half before it fogs up, and it goes really quick when you're sketching.
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Apr 24, 2015 17:25
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I can usually find most "independent" galaxies (e.g. M51, M81, M106) by visual search, but with the Virgo cluster I don't even try- I just use a motorized mount because I don't have much experience in that area of the sky. This is actually probably the time of year that I go out the least, so I've been missing out on a lot of great objects.
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Apr 25, 2015 01:03
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Adiabatic posted:That battery box owns. Mind posting up the features? I see a low voltage disconnect and a fuse block. Sure thing! Here's a list of the parts I used: Exide Edge Deep Cycle AGM Battery, 75Ah NOCO Genius G3500 Charger [url=http://www.ebay.ca/itm/12-volt-battery-low-voltage-cut-out-cutout-cutoff-cut-off-disconnect-dis-connect-/321416391361?ssPageName=ADME:L:OU  1120]30A Low Voltage Disconnect[/url]30A Inline Fuse 6 Position Fuse & Circuit Panel Switchcraft Micro and Mini Con-X-All Connectors Marine Battery Box Without the battery and charger it came to about $120, I think. I got the connectors from Electroshield after a lot of reasearch to make sure I wouldn't start a fire. The two big connectors are Mini-Con-X, which are rated for 13A, while the smaller ones above are Micro-Con-X, which are rated for 7.5. I'm probably only going to use one of the big ones for the dew controller, but I'm hoping to also use it for when I get back into RC aircraft again, so having the extra room may come in handy. I was considering having a dedicated charging port, but I wanted to put that off until I decide whether or not to go with solar charging for longer star parties. Right now I just disconnect everything when it's not in use, and just do a regular charge with the G3500. It's one of my first real electrical projects I planned out from scratch, and I'm really glad it turned out the way it did. Just gotta complete those dew heaters and we're set.
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Apr 26, 2015 04:41
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Thanks for the reply! Your setup looks great and you're making me want to build one as well. Just curious... how would solar charging work at a star party, presumably at night? Or are these multiple-day events?
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Apr 27, 2015 14:42
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Adiabatic posted:Thanks for the reply! Your setup looks great and you're making me want to build one as well. Yeah, the solar charging would be to extend capacity on weekend camping trips and the like. I found some good info about the subject in the Vancouver RASC newsletter. http://rasc-vancouver.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/mar-apr-08.pdf http://rasc-vancouver.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/jul-aug-08.pdf 75Ah should be plenty for a single night, but because going under 50% of max capacity is bad for the longevity of the battery, extra measures may need to be taken if you're away from mains power for an extended period of time. It's not going to top up the battery, but it might give you the additional capacity needed to not drain it to damaging levels over the course of a long weekend.
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Apr 27, 2015 17:42
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Don't know if this applies to astronomy, but I figured you guys would appreciate this either way. There's a huge gently caress off nasa lens for sale on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Huge-NASA-m...0754eb#shpCntId
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Apr 28, 2015 01:52
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New toy - Ikharos 8" f8 RC, GSO optics housed in a UK made truss setup, featherlight focuser which will be getting a lakeside autofocus next week. My Takahashi FS-60c will be mounted on top of it at some point. Ikharos 8" F8 Truss RC by tmarkuk, on FlickrI need a taller pier, the CEM60 is so short compared the the old CGEM which used to be in there.
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May 4, 2015 18:05
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Jekub posted:New toy - Ikharos 8" f8 RC, GSO optics housed in a UK made truss setup, featherlight focuser which will be getting a lakeside autofocus next week. My Takahashi FS-60c will be mounted on top of it at some point. Consider me officially jelly! Was driving home a few minutes ago and was treated to one of the brightest meteors I've ever seen. Saw a bright flash that lit up the sky like a second moon, then it sailed into the passenger side window brighter than the first quarter moon. Faded from a brilliant green to a pale yellow, then disappeared behind a hill. It was also visibly decelerating, and considering it didn't fragment I'm wondering if it dropped a meteorite somewhere in Missouri. Not sure anyone will have much luck finding it, it's extremely rough terrain and heavily forested over there. We'll see, I guess.
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May 6, 2015 05:29
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Is there a good, preferably free, app for naked eye / binocular stargazing?
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May 12, 2015 14:25
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Saint Fu posted:Is there a good, preferably free, app for naked eye / binocular stargazing? Stellarium is a decent and free planetarium for computers. Or did you mean for phones? Google Sky Map was my go-to, but I'm a filthy casual when it comes to astronomy.
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May 12, 2015 21:09
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Yeah stellarium is awesome but I meant a mobile app. I'll check out google sky map, thanks.
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May 12, 2015 21:18
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I believe Sky Map has been abandoned. Check out Star Chart instead. It actually has a pretty amazing Google Glass app that identifies whatever you're looking at. The mobile app is my goto for any type of observing.
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May 12, 2015 23:14
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Awesome, thanks!
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May 13, 2015 12:11
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Aaaaah, I'm running out of springtime sky to look at the Virgo Supercluster! Southwestern sky is getting more light pollution every year, which means my observing season for the southern constellations is getting shorter every year. Not helping is the weather. Usually by this point in the year things are starting to get more summerlike and clouds are only around every few nights, but the past couple weeks I've only had two useful nights for observing. The other night it didn't clear out until midnight, but it was really clear out, so I went out and did some globular hunting in Scorpius and Ophiuchus. Bagged M4, M67, M9, M19, and M107. I think my best experience was with M4. It was glorious this time, a few dozen stars visible on a faint, velvety background glow. Usually it's a bit obscured by summer haze by the time it gets high enough at a convenient hour to be seen, and I'm used to seeing only the glow and a handful of bright stars. M67 is cool, it looks a lot like a comet. It took some high magnification to start revealing stars, plus the core is a little offset from the center. M19 is also interesting, it looks like it's been stretched out. Tonight I tried to go back to exploring the northern half of the Virgo Supercluster, but the skies weren't as good as the other night. Only bagged the galaxy pairs NGC 4340/4350 and M85/NGC 4394, although I did see M99 and M100 starhopping around the area. Nothing really special here. Then it started sinking into skyglow and in another 20 minutes would have gone behind a tree in the yard, so I gave up on that for tonight and went back to globular hunting. Caught M12, but by the time I finished sketching my telescope was fogging up. Part of my observing time problem is that I really like to sketch things out before moving on. I just don't feel like I'm doing my targets justice without spending the time drawing them, but when it takes 20 minutes per sketch on a really clear night, I'm getting tired and ready to pack it in after only 3 or 4 targets. I'm guessing I'm not going to get around to exploring the core of the Virgo Supercluster this year, but I'm hoping that when this next cold front drags through I'll have one good, clear night to plunge in and at least see the Messier galaxies.
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May 15, 2015 07:02
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Well, I made a deal with a lady for a 12" Meade back in the winter but she never got back to me so that fell through. I've been keeping my eyes open for something that isn't a mass-market department store scope and just saw this come up. Seems to have a few upgrades and a hard case so that's sort of nice and would be a little easier to transport compared to my old 10" Dob (which I eventually sold) and that 12" Meade that never came to pass. Thoughts on it? Seller is asking $900 OBO so if it can probably be bought for around $800 I bet. Been listed for a few days already. quote:8” Celestron SCT with StarBright Coatings, excellent condition
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May 16, 2015 17:53
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How the gently caress can they retrofit an old celestar deluxe for nexstar control? It's probably a kluge job. I'd be more than a little leery.
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May 17, 2015 18:06
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It's gone anyhow, but thanks for the feedback. Back to keeping my eyes open.
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May 17, 2015 19:55
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This thread sort of seems dead now, so not sure if it's the best place to ask, but is a Meade ACF system (IE: LX200-ACF) the same as an "R" series? I bit of googling shows an R as a "Ritchey-Chretien" although there is some discussion as to how it's not a true RC design... so I'm wondering if it got renamed to the ACF. e: Wiki says that's the case slidebite fucked around with this message at 14:25 on May 21, 2015 |
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May 21, 2015 14:21
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Yeah, the ACF optical system and the "R" optical system are the same thing. The reason it's all called that takes a bit of explanation. In 2003, Meade debuted a short-lived line of telescopes called the "RCX-400" built around what they called the "Advanced Ritchey–Chrétien" optical system that was effectively marketed as being a series of RC scopes. A Ritchey–Chrétien Cassegrain design uses a concave hyperbolic primary and a convex hyperbolic secondary to eliminate coma, whereas the Meade RCX design used a hyperbolic secondary, a spherical primary, and a modified Schmidt corrector plate that bent the incoming light rays in such a way as to make the primary mirror effectively behave as a hyperbolic mirror. One big difference is that the RCX required 4 optical surfaces to be figured, whereas a true RC requires only 2. While a spherical mirror is easier to figure than a hyperbolic one, the more optical surfaces there are leads to more errors that can creep in along the optical path. These scopes caused a fair bit of uproar and rightly so. For one thing, these were most definitely NOT Ritchey–Chrétien telescopes. In fact, they were a previously known design called an Aplantic Schmidt-Cassegrain. For another, they marketed the telescopes as being "flat field instruments" which was a blatant lie. While the RC design and its derivatives have a coma-free field, the optical plane is nonetheless slightly curved. Around the same time there were several (mostly now defunct) companies like RC Optical Systems that (rightly, in my opinion) took issue with Meade's claims because not only were they blatantly lying to customers on multiple fronts, but they were drawing away customers looking for Ritchey–Chrétien telescopes with their misleading ads. A group of these smaller companies led by RCOS, as well as manufacturers of true flat-field Cassegrains (like Planewave, which primarily makes Corrected Dall-Kirkham scopes) filed a class action suit against Meade and Meade settled for an undisclosed sum as well as an agreement to abstain from using the term "Ritchey–Chrétien" or "Advanced Ritchey–Chrétien" in any future advertisements or product descriptions. From then on, Meade used the term "Advanced Coma-Free" to refer to the scopes previously using the "R" designation. The RCX-400 line was rebranded "LX-400" and the LX200-R was rebranded to "LX200-ACF." As for the 400 line, while they were optically sound instruments, the fancy electronics (like moving secondary motorized focusing) turned out to be half-baked at best and the product line died a swift death. It was the first in a long line of products Meade brought to the market in a half-baked, thoroughly lovely version because they were too desperate to bring their advances to market before Celestron could come out with their own version. Losing that lawsuit and the later godawful debacles with LX80 and LX800 mounts are why Meade is now owned by a Chinese electronics manufacturing concern called "Ningbo Sunny." At least when Celestron was bought by the Chinese, it was bought by a respected astronomy equipment company. Now I'm definitely of the opinion that Meade's best days are behind them, and the "beginning of the end" was almost certainly the clusterfuck surrounding the RCX-400. Hate to say it, but Meade royally shot themselves in the foot with that little stunt.
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May 21, 2015 23:15
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Thanks for the detailed explanation. A guy has an 8" LX200R which is why I asked. Too bad about your prognosis with Meade. Other than Celestron and Meade, are there any other manufacturers to look at for computerized goto scopes 8"+ preferably with adaptable mounts for CCD? What are the thoughts of the Celestron Nexstar 8SE? Would a guy be SOL trying to do photography with that mount?
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May 22, 2015 06:14
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Yeah, the single arm fork mount is barely adequate for visual work. Photography is pretty much out of the question. There aren't any other SCTs in the 8" range, but Synta makes a nice 7" maksutov sold under the Orion and skywatcher brands, and AstroTech sells a nice, reasonably priced 8" RC.
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May 22, 2015 06:44
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slidebite posted:What are the thoughts of the Celestron Nexstar 8SE? Would a guy be SOL trying to do photography with that mount? I think alt-az mounts also limit you to really short exposures until the image begins to rotate. This person seems to get some nice results, but it's going to require some stacking and image processing. You can always get a wedge to turn it into an equatorial mount, although that can get pricey with larger scopes. We're not planning on doing any serious astrophotography yet, but I'm wondering if it's at all feasible to DIY my own wedge; my buddy has a machine shop and we're always looking for projects to do, so I'm wondering if there's any plans out there for heavy duty ones. Everything I'm finding online for DIY is made out of wood, and I'm a bit leery about putting an 11" fork-mounted scope onto one of those. If putting something that big, heavy and expensive on a DIY mount is a silly proposition, what names should I be looking at? I've heard the official Celestron wedge is trash, and the only other CPC1100 wedge I can find is the Mitty Proline, which is discontinued.
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May 22, 2015 06:59
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I've seen a few DIY wedges, knocked up in garages out of wood and metal, adjustable and they have mostly seemed to work quite well. There is a guy in my local society who has a homebuilt 12" truss dob on a motorized wedge, it's a pretty drat good visual instrument, not sure how good the tracking if for photography but hes not able to guide it yet which reduces it's ability somewhat. A short test exposure around Markarian's Chain from my Takahashi FS60-C taken while trying to work out the backfocus on the flattener, which it wouldn't kill them to publish... 60mm (ish) in case anyone ever wants to know.  FS-60C Testing by Tim Powell, on FlickrAnd an analysis of the flatness / tilt.  Takahashi FS-60C CCD Inspector by Tim Powell, on FlickrPretty drat good in case you are wondering, I would highly recommend picking one up as a widefield imaging scope. I was lucky to find one second hand.
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May 22, 2015 16:02
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Last night sitting on the balcony with my partner, looking at Saturn/Jupiter/Venus/the moon and various satellites with my old binoculars and enjoying some wine, my partner turns to me and says "yeah, we should get a telescope". Thinking of starting with an 8" Dobsonian, and will look into the local society's rental program first I think. I used to do some observing in high school, will be fun to do some more again!
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May 24, 2015 03:03
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I noticed the crescent moon along with Venus/Jupiter the last couple nights too. Don't underestimate some decent binoculars though. There is definitely something to be said about just quickly grabbing something and not having to go through the whole big production of getting the scope ready.
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May 24, 2015 19:44
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slidebite posted:I noticed the crescent moon along with Venus/Jupiter the last couple nights too. When it's warm out I keep my telescope in the garage all set up on the mount so I just need to carry it out and set it down. I bring it inside in the winter though.
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May 25, 2015 02:46
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We finally got around to using our telescope, although it was just looking at Jupiter and the moon from our balcony. I was able to try out astrophotography with a DSLR actually mounted to the scope rather than poking a point and shoot into the eyepiece. I thought I was all done when I finished making all of the accessories, but now I really want a digital focuser. Bloody hell does this hobby get expensive.
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May 25, 2015 05:58
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Digital focus motor /controller setups don't come cheap, and you need a decent focuser to attach them to as well. It's nice to have though, I installed a Lakeside unit onto the Feathertouch on my RC last week. First test image from that, the collimation is all right, the star shape starts going out of round in the top right of the full crop so some work to do to fix that. Also my flatframes didn't work to well, possibly as I did them a day or two after and it looks like some of the dust moved. The lower right of the image shows a dust doughnut which has been put into the image rather than removed.  M51 Galaxy by Tim Powell, on FlickrM51 was the first object a ever took a halfway decent photo of!
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May 25, 2015 23:33
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Coming from a big dobsonian all of this aftermarket stuff is brand new to me, so I've got a lot of homework to do. The prices for motorized focusers are at the point where it'd be irresponsible for me to get one, so I think just getting a better manual focuser is in the cards. The Feathertouch microfocuser looks nice and isn't exorbitantly expensive, but I'm having trouble deciding between that and a Crayford focuser. Our dobsonian has what looks like a Crayford focuser on it, and I noticed that getting a nice focus on that is way easier than on the CPC. This is what I've gotten so far: Replacement Microfocuser + A couple hundred bucks cheaper + Will work with a Hyperstar system if we decide to go that route in the future - Is still moving the mirror, which can cause the image to shift on a SCT Crayford Focuser + Focuses at the eyepiece, so no SCT image shift - More expensive - Adds length to the back of the scope, which can cause clearance issues Anything else I'm missing? I'm leaning towards the microfocuser because of the cost and simplicity, but maybe I'm just not aware of how much better a focuser at the eyepiece might be on a SCT.
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May 26, 2015 01:05
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Anyone here ever diy an altazimuth mount? I have a cheap telescope, 150x, one of those $60 deals. The optics seem fine, but obviously since its cheap the mounting sucks and attempting to get it to hold still is impossible. However, I have a woodshop at my disposal and can build something to stabilize it/add some weight. The rotation part is easy, I'm not sure how to do the elevation exactly, and I'm not sure of the best way to set up so it can be adjusted and locked in place.
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May 26, 2015 06:20
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slidebite posted:I noticed the crescent moon along with Venus/Jupiter the last couple nights too. Oh for sure but my wife has mitochondrial disease so can't hold them for very long. I also need to get the mirrors realigned might you have a recommendation for a place that does this around cow town?
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May 27, 2015 16:25
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I assume you mean collimate the mirrors on a dob? It's pretty straight forward with a laser and those can be bought pretty cheaply online (and lots of instructions to be found on youtube, but if you know people at your local society I suspect any number of them would be happy to assist.
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May 27, 2015 17:02
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slidebite posted:I assume you mean collimate the mirrors on a dob? So sorry for the lack of clarity phone posting. My binoculars; I could not resolve Jupiter into a single image and assume that is due to a misalignment somewhere
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May 27, 2015 21:06
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Bilirubin posted:So sorry for the lack of clarity phone posting. My binoculars; I could not resolve Jupiter into a single image and assume that is due to a misalignment somewhere Try getting in touch with the Calgary RASC to see if someone can collimate them for you there. There's a guy in our Winnipeg club who does it for those Canadian Tire Skymasters whenever they go on sale, and they end up looking fantastic. Also, how are you holding your binoculars? Holding them for astronomy is different than using them for terrestrial uses, so you might have better luck after checking out the methods on this page: http://binocularsky.com/binoc_hold.php Of course a tripod is going to be best, but if you end up going that route make sure to get one tall enough so that you're not squatting down to get under the eyepieces.
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May 27, 2015 22:26
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Awesome thanks for your suggestions and for your link. I had just joined the RASC earlier this week in fact so this will give me a thing to break the ice with folks. Also my previous post sounded fine as I was writing it on my phone at a conference (so somewhat distracted) but on rereading the "so sorry" sounds a bit sarcastic, which was not my intention. Phone posting is my bane (e. reminds me of the Kids in the Hall sketch with Dave's "speech impediment")
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May 28, 2015 02:51
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If you're in the RASC now, I'd even suggest checking out their telescope loaning program before going out and buying one. We have a bunch of dobs at our centre, and they're a hit with beginners.
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May 28, 2015 02:56
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That was my plan for sure. And my wife and I are heading to Jasper next month and I was considering hauling it along for the darksky up there. Of course, it will be two days after the solstice so dark won't come until like midnight
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May 28, 2015 05:05
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How small of a mirror is too small? I ask because there is a 4" celestron reflector on sale locally that I could probably get for a reasonable price. However since I am interested in Messier objects as well as planets I assume its too small.
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May 28, 2015 14:48
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I used a crappy 4" scope many years ago and IIRC I was pretty limited with what I could resolve. You want low mag but a big light bucket for nebula and galaxies. I am certainly not the most qualified to speak here, but personally I'd probably not be happy with anything less than 6", preferably 8+ especially if you are just looking through an eyepiece.
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May 28, 2015 19:11
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slidebite posted:I used a crappy 4" scope many years ago and IIRC I was pretty limited with what I could resolve. You want low mag but a big light bucket for nebula and galaxies. Agreed. My current scope is a 90mm Meade Maksutov-Cassegrain, just under 4". Aperture is king, and my scope is too heavy and too bulky for the aperture. Gonna be borrowing my family's 8" dob when I have the chance. If you have any doubt, get an 8" dob. They're the best viewing for money option. Don't worry about GoTo, or computerized, (any goto or computerized at consumer budget isn't worth the hassle) or any fancy mounts. If you get into astrophotography later, you can buy into that then. Having a no-frills start will make you a better astronomer in the long run. If you're really concerned about weight or space, get a 6" dob. If you've got space to spare, and a big enough vehicle, get a 10" dob. Grab a Telrad and a copy of Turn Left at Orion and you'll have enough to look at for years.
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May 28, 2015 20:04
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