Actually, with a web cam set up and a Satellite dish, me and my buds can run the telescope and scan the sky on channel 3, watch 'Tool Time' re-run on channel 264, and NASCAR all from the comfort of the couch in the "Gun-geon". Now if we can just get the beer and pizza delivery folks to quick getting hung up in the razor wire and sand bags... Ah technology! Just don't get the remotes mixed up... What channel was M-13 on??? ;) Quoting Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com>:
You know, soon there will be a battery-powered gadget that will look through the eyepiece for you and say "oooh, cool", so you won't even have to open your eyes or get off the couch!
I prefer a "hard-copy" in the form of a book or atlas to a CRT or alpha-numeric display, and consider the hunt part of the fun. I suppose that's the reason I still buy the books instead of the CD's and gadgets! Instant gratification isn't a selling point for me, I suppose that too keeps me in the anachronism category. To each his own.
From: diveboss@xmission.com
Unfortunately all I have is a computer controller with an on board library containing some 147,000 objects and a few extra buttons that say besides "slew speed" and "power focus", things like NGC, I.C., Messier etc. There is even one that say's "Caldwell".
I suppose as part of the paper work reduction act, to cut down on paper waste, there is another button that gives the objects coordinates, and another button that gives a full description of the object including the time it rises and sets, it's size, distance and magnitude. Of course, the power pack could die and then I would have to be forced to go here:
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