Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Cloudy Nights - Official Forums of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu.... uh, User   You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Equipment Discussions >> ATM, Optics and DIY Forum Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: << 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | (show all) Anonymous Unregistered Re: Darker oils? [Re: Tom L]       #664573 - 10/30/05 10:56 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Tom, you need an airline-compatible travel scope in the worst way... OK guys, tonight's the night. Clear skies, scope's up, and getting a near-perfect star pattern. Just a couple more hours and Mars will be high in the sky... Post Extras:       MMICKELS Aluminum Knight Reged: 01/20/04 Posts: 25198 Loc: The Land of Shake and Bake Re: Darker oils? [Re: ]       #664582 - 10/30/05 11:09 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Doug, it's good to see you posting again. Don't let the Martians take you away from the ATM forum again! -------------------- Mark "The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on forever." Herb Caen Post Extras:       Tom L Reged: 01/07/04 Posts: 29817 Loc: Sunny Oregon Re: Darker oils? [Re: MMICKELS]       #666041 - 10/31/05 09:06 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hope the seeing was good and MArs was awesome! I'm still rained in... -------------------- Tom Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount Post Extras:       Anonymous Unregistered Re: Darker oils? [Re: Tom L]       #666346 - 11/01/05 12:25 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The seeing was good, just a slight rippling at the edge around 250-300x around 10pm. Must be lots of dust storms, no polar caps in sight, just a darkish flattened "X" across the middle (rather amusing, actually, "X" marks the spot). I even cranked it up to 400x just for kicks, which was too much, except for a couple of "moments of exceptional clarity" that were really quite thrilling. I learned a few other things as well: * With no shroud, it's really easy to get body head into the light path - just placing a hand on the lower tube can do this (easy to see in a star test). When Mars was lower, I ended up sitting sideways in the chair so as not to have my legs under the scope! * The scope does need to be recollimated when moved around - if the primary is miscollimated, a bright planet appears sharp on one side and blurry on the other. (Good to know) * Diffraction spikes aren't always the result of your equipment. I panicked over a big spike that appeared when I first started viewing, only to figure out that Mars was being clipped by the rain gutter on my house Defocusing showed clearly the clipped view, which slowly transitioned to a disc as the planet rose. * Late into the night, with Mars higher and the mirror cooled down, I found I was very pleased with the performance of the Protostar curved vane and scope as a whole - just a nice sharp-edged disc of a planet there, with practically no diffraction to speak of. The biggest challenge was trying to see the low contrast features through the planet's brightness. Wish I'd had some filters to try out! Doug Post Extras:       Tom L Reged: 01/07/04 Posts: 29817 Loc: Sunny Oregon Re: Darker oils? [Re: ]       #667621 - 11/01/05 09:02 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   It makes me think that Daniel Mounsey knows what he is talking about... There are a lot of dust storms on Mars, from what I've read. Still...wish I could take a gander with Endurance...I have no time for my hobby other than wandering around cloudy nights on nights with clouds! (Which is every night now!) Seriously, let's try for another Bay Area lunch soon! Glad you got to see the "X"! -------------------- Tom Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount Post Extras:       Pages: << 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | (show all) Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 18 registered and 6 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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