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Re: Sportsman's Guide 10x50mm binos, 15x70mmBears
by Chuck Hards 27 May '02

27 May '02

Couple of details discovered this weekend: In my review, I docked the 10x50's for no tripod socket. Still, both Bruce and I were so impressed by the construction and image quality for such a paltry price, that we each ordered a pair for ourselves. Digging through my parts box, I found a front-hinge screw from an old, cannibalized binocular that had a 1/4-20 socket in it, and it fit the 10x50 unit perfectly! My pair is now tripod-adaptable. The little plastic cover that protects it when not in use has "made in Japan" printed on it, now installed on a Chinese binocular! (this is probably illegal in the state of Georgia...) I did attempt to drill-out and thread the one that came with the binos, but it was made of a very brittle aluminum alloy, and fractured during threading. If a person was willing to look through the assortment of used binoculars at D.I. or a pawn shop, chances are good that you'll find a unit with a tripod-socket that will fit the S.G.10x50's. Used or damaged binos can be had for as little as $5 at pawn shops, which would still keep your total investment for the 10x50's under $30. I like this binocular a lot, even more now that it can be mounted easily. I also noticed that the dust-caps were a very loose fit. I lined them with a strip of self-adhesive flocked paper, and now they fit snugly. I have a good supply of this stuff if anyone else needs a strip. Contact me off-list. I also had the opportunity to collimate a Bear 15x70mm unit belonging to a list member (you know who you are!). This unit had some problems other than collimation, and I had to disassemble the unit completely. I discovered that the front cone that holds the objective is plastic, not aluminum. The only aluminum body part is the prism housing itself. Checking my Oberwerks, I found (of course) the same construction. This is not necessarily bad news. The plastic cones should actually take impacts better than a cast aluminum cone. The threaded portion is still a weak spot, of course, but the threads are coarser than they would be if metal, which helps a bit. This binocular had an objective cone that was loose in it's seat, not completely threaded-in, and that made it very difficult to achieve collimation until I identified the problem. Make sure your objective cones are tightly threaded into the prism housings. This binocular also had the rubber that covers the prism adjusting screw glued-down on one side, indicating that they had been serviced before they came to me. Whoever did this didn't use a fine-enough screwdriver, and buggered up the screw a bit, making it hard to turn. They also got glue into the screw-hole, which didn't help, either. If you don't have the right tools, or are hesitant about collimating your binocular, please seek-out someone with experience. There are several of us locally. The good news is that this binocular is now collimated, cleaned, and performs very well. It should be gulping the photons again soon. Chuck __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

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Lunar Eclipse Tonight?
by bruce_glad2＠space.com 26 May '02

26 May '02

-I heard there was going to be a lunar Eclipse tonight, i look for info. on the net and couldn't find any do any of you have any information on it? -Bruce Glad ___________________________________________________________________ Join the Space Program: Get FREE E-mail at http://www.space.com.

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Pre-Dawn Comet
by Phil Lowry 26 May '02

26 May '02

Pooh dooh!--BUT, I must admit I was unimpressed compared to the show I got at dusk at the Grand Canyon on April 7. It's definitely dimming. I was in Chesler Park, having run there in the dark for a pre-dawn 10-miler in The Needles, and I didn't pack my binos. Figured I could catch the comet from my backyard, as soon as the storms stop (Sunday morning?). BTW, I was looking in the right spot--just south of Cassio. Oh, well. Phil -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-admin(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-admin@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Borgione Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 6:09 PM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Pre-Dawn Comet I just got back from a business trip down to Grand County spending a night in Moab. My standard operating procedure for overnight trips is to take my 15 x 70 binoculars and a tripod, so I can spend a little quality time in the dark. This morning (4-11-02) I got up around 4:00 am and set up in a fairly dark spot east of town, on the road to the popular mountain biking mecca, the SlickRock trail. I had a great view of the summer MilkyWay, especially my favorite looks into Sagtitarius. As I swept north though the MilkyWay, I came upon the comet that we've all enjoyed for the past few weeks. What a pleasant surprise. I knew it would be shifting to an early morning object, but until I actually saw it, I hadn't given it too much thought. It's a real looker at that hour; just to the east of Cassiopia, and when I saw it, very close to M52, a pretty open cluster. It was visable naked eye from the Moab spot as a fuzzy glob; you'll need a pretty good dark sky for that. If you liked the comet before sunset, it's worth the effort to get up early and see it with the back drop of the MilkyWay.... Joe Borgione _______________________________________________ Utah-astronomy mailing list Utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

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Star Ware 3rd edition
by Chuck Hards 24 May '02

24 May '02

I have received word that Phil Harrington's book, "Star Ware" has just been printed in it's 3rd edition, and local binocularist Glen Warchol's "Crutch Mount" is featured in one of the chapters along with a few other home-brewed binocular accessories by clever amateurs. Many of you got a chance to see this same mount at the April SLAS meeting, and as I recall, Glen gave the mount away to one of those in attendance! Glen's construction article for the mounti is featured on Phil's Website, titled "Touring the Universe on Crutches". (sorry, I don't have the url handy, I bookmarked it at work. Can post Tuesday if somebody doesn't find it first.) I don't think the book has made it to distributors quite yet, but look for it soon. Glen is primarily a birder, but has been known to stare at the stars on occassion. He and I will be reviewing more binoculars in coming weeks, for NOVA and other local forums. C. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

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Fwd: Re: Thanks
by Richard Tenney 24 May '02

24 May '02

Hi all, Thought y'all might find the attached reply from S&T's Rick Fienberg interesting. And if you haven't done it yet, make sure you download the full-size (important!) recent image from NASA of the "Tadpole" galaxy and take some time to look over all the multitude of galaxies visible in the background. It will take your breath away. Hopefully your computer's RAM and/or your graphics card are up to the task (not to mention your modem!): http://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/stsci/0211a.jpg Rich Note: forwarded message attached. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience http://launch.yahoo.com

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Parallelogram finished!
by Chuck Hards 24 May '02

24 May '02

I finished the first parallelogram of the two I plan to make...well, there are a few finishing issues remaining (paint), but it is fully functional, and works smoothly in the workshop at least. Hope for clear skies tonight, for the acid test! C. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience http://launch.yahoo.com

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Fwd: Re: Thanks
by Reynolds, Rich 24 May '02

24 May '02

Please provide the link for this great photo everyone is emailing about. -----Original Message----- From: Jim Stitley [mailto:sitf2000@yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 8:45 PM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Fwd: Re: Thanks Does anyone know if this is available in a color print or poster size. Would be a waste if it weren't. Jim --- Joe Borgione <jborgion(a)xmission.com> wrote: > Couldn't agree with you more Chuck. When I saw the image > in the > latest S & T my jaw dropped and I was just mesmerized. > Those little > fuzzies in the eyepiece just blow me away everytime. > > A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.... > > Joe Borgione > > > ------------------- > > Thanks for that, Rich. Stunning, beautiful, > > thought-provoking image, one of Hubble's best, IMO. > > > > It's pictures like that, that make me think that if we > > are the only intelligent species in the universe, what > > an incredible waste it all is. It also makes me think > > that we just can't possibly be alone. > > > > Thanks also to Rick! > > > > C. > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > > Do You Yahoo!? > > LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience > > http://launch.yahoo.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > > > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > > > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience http://launch.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

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Registration deadline for ALCON 2002
by Josephine Grahn 23 May '02

23 May '02

Just a heads up to those of you wondering about attending ALCON 2002. Registration fees go up on June 3rd from $85 to $100. If you haven't checked the speaker list at www.alcon2002.org lately, you may want to. We've added a fair number of speakers, including David Malin, the astronomer & photographer from Australia, and John Dobson (who is a real character and everyone should hear at least once in their lives). Senator Jake Garn will also be speaking, although he is not yet on the list. I don't want to abuse the bandwidth for this group, but I would be happy to e-mail a complete list of speakers and subjects to anyone who would like it. At the risk of bragging, you should be aware that several of the long-time convention-goers have said that Lowell Lyon has gathered one of the best and most varied collection of speakers they have ever seen at one of these. It would be criminal to miss it when its in our own backyard. Jo

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Fwd: Re: Thanks
by William.H.Fenton＠Dartmouth.EDU 23 May '02

23 May '02

Re: astronomy software You can't lose with XEphem. Free, open source and the best thing out there. http://www.clearskyinstitute.com/xephem/

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Bruce's compact parallelogram
by Chuck Hards 21 May '02

21 May '02

Bruce says he will get together with Patrick sometime soon to get some photos of his compact, spring-balanced parallelogram. He goes on to say that he designed it some time ago, and thinks he got the idea from a commercial mount, but can't remember specifically. He also said that while he thinks it's great for a personal mount, he feels that it doesn't have quite the range for a star-party, where the heights of attendees could range to extremes. Nevertheless, I'm fairly sure he's bringing it to Binopalooza. >From memory, I'd say it should work fine for people from about 4'-6" up to about 6'-2" or so; probably about 90% of the general adult population. Since this range depends on the tripod used, and it is made for commercial tripods, YMMV. Look for photos on Patrick's site soon. Chuck __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience http://launch.yahoo.com

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