I just wanted to say thank you to all who chimed in for your helpful and generous comments, both on and off the list. Dion ________________________________ From: Richard Tenney <retenney@yahoo.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 5:27 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Frustration at the eyepiece: help! I'll second Brent's "shameless promotion" by telling you his telrad finder charts are excellent -- highly recommended. I like having a telrad AND an optical finder scope -- the telrad will get you close, and an 8x50 will show you many of the brighter M objects; if the two are in sync, it makes finding objects much easier. I also really like printing up the latest edition of skymaps.com monthy star charts -- it's a two-page pdf file that's free and shows you a nice sampler of what's up, divided into categories -- naked eye, binocular objects, and stuff for small telescopes. I have an expensive laser collimator that I really like, but you certainly don't have to go that route to get your scope collimated well. Best thing is to have someone with experience/knowledge of collimation techniques and inexpensive tools show you how (that would NOT be me however!). I also recommend getting to know your way around the night sky WITHOUT a telescope -- familiarize yourself with the constellations. Best book I know for that is H. A. Rey's "The Stars -- A New Way To See Them". Copies are available at the Clark downtown. It's the book that cemented my interest at a young age in fact. /R ________________________________ From: Brent Watson <brentjwatson@yahoo.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 12:54 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Frustration at the eyepiece: help! Dion, I also recommend the Telrad as a finder. It really helps to be able to see the stars visually and the target superimposed on them. That's what the Telrad does the best. You can also purchase finder charts that have a correctly placed and sized Telrad target already printed on them for individual objects. I have found this system really works for folks who are just starting, and those more experienced also. Now for the shameless commercial portion of the message. I almost hate to mention this part, but this system works really well. My wife and I have a small company that sells Telrads, and we also publish several sets of the finder charts referenced above. You can go to our web site to get a sample. It is www.sky-spot.com. We are local and so can get you the stuff pretty quickly. We sell mail order to a large part of the world, and have many dealers as well. If you google Telrad Finder Charts you can find testimonials. One person at Riverside a few years back came up to me after using the charts for one noight and told me of finding over 40 Messier oobjects in just a few hours where he had not had particularly good success before. On May 17, 2013, at 10:36 AM, Dion Davidson <diondavidson@yahoo.com> wrote:
I need help with a few things that are causing frustration for me at the scope this year:
Battery: I bought a Ryobi battery/light/tire pump to use as an power source for my scope. But it is always dead! Useless. Even if I charge it for 2 days prior to an event, it will be dead within minutes of using it. Suggestions for a better battery? My old Meade 2120 10 SCT uses AC power, so I use an inverter between the battery and the scope. Know of anything better for sale?
Viewfinder: I have the straight-through 8x50 viewfinder that came with my scope. It works fine but I have a hard time finding stuff, especially when looking up. I'd like to get a right angle correct image viewfinder. Suggestions? Know any for sale? If I bought a non-Meade one, could someone show me how to connect it to my tube? Would I have to drill holes?
Collimation: I think my scope is ok (I had it collimated at Scope City when I bought it), but I've heard other opinions from SLAS members. Could I get help from someone who knows what they are doing on a) determining if my scope needs collimation, and b) how to do it. I have read a bunch online and watched youtube videos but I'm none the wiser.
Finding stuff: I would love to have a class/lesson/tutorial on how to find cool stuff in the sky. I struggle to find anything but the most basic things in the sky. Having the image inverted/upside down in my viewfinder doesn't help, and it seems I can always see more stars in the eyepiece than I can on a star chart, which makes it difficult to know if I'm in the right area. I probably need some basic instruction on star hopping and recognizing star magnitudes, fields of view, map orientation, etc. (FYI: I can usually find the moon, planets, and some familiar deep sky stuff: M8 (Lagoon), M31 (Andromeda), M13, Orion Nebula, and even M57 (ring nebula)).
I spent a beautiful weekend in Montana this weekend under dark skies and spent a few hours one night looking for stuff and finding none of it! (I looked for M51, M81, M82, M101, M108. I even looked for PANSTARRS). I went back out early in the morning on another day and did see M31, M57, and got M81 and M82 in the same field of view. So, some redemption.
Thanks for listening. Dion
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