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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Fwd: Rigel and companion
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 13 Oct '03

13 Oct '03

Hi Chuck, Thanks for the info. It does help. Did you like the picture? I thought it was cool. Debbie

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Columbia/NASA multi-media site
by Jim Cobb 13 Oct '03

13 Oct '03

Regarding "a question of perception," I agree with the site author; it sounds like "feelin' that heat" to me. Jim On Saturday, October 11, 2003, at 09:54 AM, Chris Valentine wrote: <excerpt>Here is a website some of you may find of interest. If you check it out make sure you read "a question of perception" the link is at page bottom. <underline><color><param>1999,1999,FFFF</param>http://www.angelfire.com/film/sts107/ </color></underline> -Chris Valentine (one of the Columbia reentry videographers) _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy </excerpt>

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Fwd: Rigel and companion
by Debbie 12 Oct '03

12 Oct '03

Chuck, How do you make an apodizing mask? Debbie --- In digital_astro(a)yahoogroups.com, Ginger Mayfield <chikadee@e...> wrote: After having pretty pitiful results with my Mars imaging tonight I did a little viewing of the Moon, still poor seeing, so waited a little longer. Decided to try Rigel and companion just for the fun of it. I got a lucky shot of it with my C-2100 right after I first got it so this time I wanted to try the D60. Didn't know what settings to use and so tried a lot of different ones. At first I wasn't getting the companion at all but finally started to see it at around 1 sec but it wasn't truly split. Decided to use the apodizing mask to see if I could get a split and sure enough, that worked. So here is the result. Rainbow colors are from the mask. Hey, they're psychedelic. Well, what did you expect, I'm an old hippie! ;-) D60 with Denkmeier OCS through a 14.5" Starmaster tracking Dob Homemade apodizing mask in place Single 1 sec exposure, 200 ISO No processing except cropping Doubles are really fun! Now I know I need a Powermate! http://velatron.com/dca/ginger/rigel101203.jpg Ginger --- End forwarded message ---

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Ebony Star
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 11 Oct '03

11 Oct '03

Chuck, What is PPE and where do I buy the acetone? My Ebony Star probably could use a cleaning and waxing. Thanks, Debbie

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Ebony Star
by Josephine Grahn 11 Oct '03

11 Oct '03

Debbie, Acetone can be fairly nasty. You don't want to get it on your skin, or inhale it. I use it for a variety of things, but cleaning your ebony star surface is not one that I would recommend. Really all that is needed is to clean the laminate with windex, or anything you would use to clean a countertop. Acetone softens the surface of the laminate, and easily removes the upper layer . I know, because I have used it on our lab benches to remove nasty chemical stains :). It removes the stain, but leaves a slightly matte finish area, where the surface is compromised. As far as wax, you may want to look into any of the car waxes that contain silicone. They make for a nice slippery finish. We keep a bottle in our trailer for that purpose. At 03:24 PM 10/11/2003 EDT, you wrote: >Chuck, > >What is PPE and where do I buy the acetone? My Ebony Star probably could use >a cleaning and waxing. Thanks, > >Debbie > >_______________________________________________ >Utah-Astronomy mailing list >Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > >

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Columbia/NASA multi-media site
by Chris Valentine 11 Oct '03

11 Oct '03

Here is a website some of you may find of interest. If you check it out make sure you read "a question of perception" the link is at page bottom. http://www.angelfire.com/film/sts107/ -Chris Valentine (one of the Columbia reentry videographers)

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Ebony Star
by Chuck Hards 11 Oct '03

11 Oct '03

I didn't start using Ebony Star until the mid-nineties. My all-fiberglass 10" scope (10 built and sold) used plain Formica for the azimuth bearing and polished aluminim for the altitude bearings. Both work well, but need cleaning about twice a year. A wipe with a rag moistened with acetone (use PPE) removes all residue and dirt, then another wipe with carnuaba wax gives the bearings just the right "feel". Recently I got the idea to groove the Teflon instead of using a pebbled surface laminate. I "lap" the altitude bearings by wrapping a strip of 60-grit sandpaper to the trunion, gritty side out, and moving the scope up and down a few times until it's well-seated. This grooves the Teflon and improves smoothness noticeably, as well as making a perfectly-conforming bearing surface. Another method I've only toyed with so-far is using the router and a veining bit to make the Teflon surface resemble rows of little pyramids, rather like the face of a meat mallet. This shows great promise, I might use it on a planned 12.5" Newt. C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Ebony Star
by David L Bennett 10 Oct '03

10 Oct '03

I'd have to agree with that recommendation whole heartedly. Each time I set up my dob I try to remember to take a pocket knife to the altitude's teflon pads and scrape off the built up grime down to a fresh layer of teflon. For azimuth, I do the same with the additional step of cleaning the (un-textured) formica with some windex and a paper towel. Obviously it's more difficult to get to azimuth pads (at least on my rocker) but done every few trips keeps it nice and smooth. Dave On Friday, October 10, 2003, at 05:05 PM, Jim Gibson wrote: > Just as a point of interest, in the October 2003 issue of Sky & > Telescope there is an article by Martin Lewis entitled Better > Dobsonian Bearings. Lewis makes this interesting observation: > > > > ìPrevious experience has shown that textured laminates, like Ebony > Star, perform better than plain onesÖ. > > I believe that the main reason that plain laminates have a reputation > for inferior performance is their susceptibility to fouling from dust > and other debris. With textured laminates dirt is pushed into the > troughs in the surface and out of the way, where with untextured > laminates it simply builds up. This difference between laminates > didnít show up in my tests because they were conducted with clean > bearings surfaces. If you keep your bearings clean, untextured > laminates are worth trying.î > > > > So, Three guys, Brent, Chuck and Martin all saying the same thing. The > neat part is that we have best experts right here on this list. > > > > Jim

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Ebony Star
by Jim Gibson 10 Oct '03

10 Oct '03

I have been looking around through Lowe's and Home Depot for Ebony Star laminate. They never seem to carry any, and it seems to cost just under $50.00 per 4'/8' sheet. Someone out there must have some smaller quantities for sale. Any one know a good source? Jim --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Apollo XVII astronaut - Dr. Harrison Schmitt to speak at USU - Oct14th
by Dale Hooper 10 Oct '03

10 Oct '03

This will be in room 103 of the new engineering bldg. Our PR person here at the Space Dynamics Lab said that it was discussed in the Deseret News. Probably by Joe? I've got a map to the location but I need to rescan it and get it compressed a bit more. I'll get it sent out late tonight or tomorrow morning. I hope to see some of you there. Clear skies, Dale. P.S. For me this is kind of like the excitement I felt when I went to see the Apollo 11 command module at the Utah capitol building - many, many years ago. > -----Original Message----- > From: Dale Hooper > Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2003 2:27 PM > To: Utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Apollo XVII astronaut - Dr. Harrison Schmitt > to speak at USU - Oct14th > > > Hi All, > > I hope you don't mind me sending this out with only partial > info. And apologies to OASers who are - of course - getting > this twice. > > Dr. Harrison Schmitt - Apollo XVII astronaut and the only > scientist to step on the Moon, will be speaking to the public > at Utah State University on October 14th at 2:30pm. I don't > have the location of where on campus yet, but I wanted to let > you know about this as quickly as possible so that you could > set up your plans. > > I'll send the rest of the details as soon as I have them. > > Clear skies, > Dale Hooper. > > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > >

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