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XHELI.COM . Autography FlightPower . Advantage Hobby

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Off Topics > astronomy
 
 
sodflyer
Veteran
Location: Frederick Colorado

Any of you guys out there into this? If so what do you have? I picked up a Meade ETX 125 telescope the other week...lot's of cool stuff out there to look at..... mars, M51 etc... Jeff.
08-19-2003 Over year old.
 
 
MAH
Senior Heliman
Location: Galesburg, Il.

Thats yet another one of the many hobbies I have that i dont
have enough time or money for.

Ive built several telescopes grinding and polishing my own
mirror. The only commercial scope I own is a Meade 2080 LX3.

The only homebuilt scope I have thats functional at the moment
is a 10 inch F5.6 reflector on a Dobson style mount. I use it
mainly for deep sky stuff but the light pollution here in Illinois
is so bad I havnt used that scope in several years.

Ive done lots of astrophotography and have seriously considered
getting a CCD camera setup one day. A couple of comet
photos of mine can be seen at:

http://home.gallatinriver.net/mhammer/pic.htm

Mike Hammer
Galesburg,Il
08-19-2003 Over year old.
 
 
serious_sam
Senior Heliman
Location: New York

treat it well, the ETX125 is a SWEEEET scope.

it is my first GOTO scope and i forgot how to do a polar alignment already.

equatorial mount? it's SOOO 90's! i don't need no stinking star chart either!

seriously, i respect those who locate stars the old fashioned way. it's just that i am too lazy to spend 1/2 hrs for a good polar alignment when my observation sessions (from my roof) rarely exceed 2 hours. and i need a compact scope that would fit through the roof hatch of my house.

at a little over $1000 (mine has UHTC coating), it's also a whole lot cheaper than helis...
09-01-2003 Over year old.
 
 
FastR1Red
Senior Heliman
Location: Melbourne Australia

I have a Celestron SC 8 with lots of bits, still use the old Olympus OM1 with tube on it and I get great shots. I don't mind the photography but rather just stargazing for a few hours a night. Also have a 20" F4 rich field that is amazing. Light pollution here is pretty bad but sometimes I get back out to the country where I used to live and still just stargaze.
I'm a member of another club in the country Victoria that has some very nice scopes, I'll post some pics one day.
09-02-2003 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
jheli
Heliman
Location: KCMO

I built a 10" f5.6 dob last year. I purchased the optics but I'm not satisfied with the primary. I'm considering grinding my own.

Mike, how did your mirror turn out? Where did you get your supplies?

John
09-03-2003 Over year old.
 
 
MAH
Senior Heliman
Location: Galesburg, Il.

My 10 inch f 5.6 turned out quite well. It took several
attempts but its close to 1/16 wave now with a very slight
turned edge.

The first time I had it coated it was probably only
good for 1/2 wave with a severe turned edge but
it still worked very well for deep sky stuff. I used it
that way a couple of years before deciding to
refigure it.

Ive also made a couple of sixes and a 8 inch f5 for
a friend.

I got the kits for most of these from Edmund Scientific
and A. Jaegers many years ago. Sadly these companies
are no longer with us.

You can get good kits now from Willman Bell.
http://www.willbell.com/

There is a very active ATM mailing list. Archives and a link to
subscribe to the list can be found at:

http://astro.umsystem.edu/atm/

Feel free to email me directly if you want to talk
about ATM stuff...

Mike Hammer
Galesburg,IL
09-03-2003 Over year old.
 
 
sodflyer
Veteran
Location: Frederick Colorado

Wow I did not know we had this many people were into it that's some cool stuff you guys have... here is my latest telescope. ( helis are now ALOT cheaper than this beast)..

Meade LX200 12" GPS UHTC


09-20-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Travis F
Senior Heliman
Location: Battle Creek, MI

I have a meade LX200 8" non-GPS. Got this when meade was offering a free set of eyepieces. Great telescope - but hard to find time to use it. Also have an orion full aperature solar filter, have taken some decent pictures of the sun with sunspots.

Actually considering selling it.

Travis




09-20-2003 Over year old.
 
 
serious_sam
Senior Heliman
Location: New York

Quote 
Wow I did not know we had this many people were into it that's some cool stuff you guys have... here is my latest telescope. ( helis are now ALOT cheaper than this beast)..


shortly after i wrote my previous message i placed my name on the astro-physics 130mm f/6 apo-refractor waiting list. hopefully by the time of shipment (late 2005?) i'd have saved enough for this baby.

now helis ARE a lot cheaper by comparison

i took a good look thru a 12" SC-UHTC once. it's a sweet scope! too bad it won't fit thru my roof hatch
09-20-2003 Over year old.
 
 
jackheli
Elite Veteran
Location: Vancouver - Canada

I also own an ETX-125.

One question for you guys: when the manual states you should align the scope with the north do they mean geographic or celestial. I ask this because by aligning my scope with the geographic north on start-up I can't get it to track earth's movement well.



Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new - Albert Einstein
09-21-2003 Over year old.
 
 
serious_sam
Senior Heliman
Location: New York

it means true north (not magnetic north) or celestal north, where the polaris is.

if you get the the star alignment done well the mount can track fairly accurately.
09-21-2003 Over year old.
 
 
jackheli
Elite Veteran
Location: Vancouver - Canada

That means I need to have the scope in equatorial mode and not altazimuth ?

Or, if in altazimuth mode: the polar north star is high above in the sky. How do you point the scope in that direction and still keep it horizontally level?



Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new - Albert Einstein
09-21-2003 Over year old.
 
 
serious_sam
Senior Heliman
Location: New York

in alt-az mode, the scope should be horizontally pointed north (true or at polaris), but the tube should remain level at "home" position. to be honest this method is approximate at best, but if you can do the 2-star alighment well the GOTO and tracking functions should be fairly accurate.

in equatorial mode, you should point it such that you can see polaris in the finder.
09-21-2003 Over year old.
 
 
midwestpilot
Elite Veteran
Location: Crystal Lake, IL

here to dumb it up...

I'd point that thing at my neighbors house...hubba hubba she is hot.

Oh....astronomy!!! I thought the topic was Anatomy

In life there is no spacebar!

Rich Erikson AMA 6175
09-22-2003 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Travis F
Senior Heliman
Location: Battle Creek, MI

Astro-photos

So....

Does anyone have any interesting astro-photos that they would like to share?

I know first hand that taking photos is VERY time consuming and difficult. So please; Let your efforts show!

There are some that really enjoy this.

Thanks,
Travis
09-23-2003 Over year old.
 
 
MAH
Senior Heliman
Location: Galesburg, Il.

I have tons of astrophotos going back nearly 30 years. Most
were taken on good old reliable Kodak Tri-X. Some on hypered
Tech-Pan. Some color.

Unfortunately I dont have many prints. Most are just the negatives.
The only ones I have handy that were printed and scanned
are a couple shots I took of comet Hale-Bopp and comet
Hyakutake.

You can see them here:
http://home.grics.net/mhammer/pic.htm

Mike Hammer
Galesburg,IL
09-23-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Cal30pilot
Heliman
Location: East Peoria, Illinois

I have an ETX125 myself, i love it. dont get to use it much thanks to my college schedule and my helis.
09-23-2003 Over year old.
 
 
serious_sam
Senior Heliman
Location: New York

if you think college eats up your time, you'd hardly have a chance to breathe once you start working

enjoy it while you can
09-26-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Hughes500Pilot
Key Veteran
Location: Anaheim, CA

Question For ETX Owners

Question, is there an adapter that you can add to an ETX series telescope (I'm looking at the ETX 105) that "turns it in to a spotting scope?" I would like to use it for terrestrial views as well. I dont want to see everything upside down... If so, what part is it (part number) and is this scope any good for earth views? Thanks. -Steve

09-26-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Cal30pilot
Heliman
Location: East Peoria, Illinois

i believe what youll want is the #932 45 degree erecting prism. as for terrestrial viewing im not sure. Ive never used mine for it. I dont see why it wouldnt be good for it though. these scopes have really nice optics for their price range.
09-26-2003 Over year old.
 
 
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