Bill Kocken
super member
Reged: 08/07/04
Posts: 192
Loc: Coon Rapids, MN
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Post deleted by Bill Kocken
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16"F4.5 Homebuilt Truss Dob
2 - 8"F6 Homebuilt dobs
Member, Minnesota Astronomical Society
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csa/montana
Wild Spirit
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 40123
Loc: montana
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Kerry, I've got to try it! Never dawned on me to look for Stars during daylight!
Carol
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Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Pentaxes; 5XW, 7XL, 10XW.
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
TV Panoptics; 22, 35
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
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csa/montana
Wild Spirit
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 40123
Loc: montana
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Hi Bill, you can PM Kerry with info such as this, that way the subject of the thread remains intact. 
Thanks!
Carol
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Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Pentaxes; 5XW, 7XL, 10XW.
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
TV Panoptics; 22, 35
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Quote:
Kerry, I've got to try it! Never dawned on me to look for Stars during daylight!
Carol
Carol, I've heard there are several dozen that are bright enough to be seen. Arcturus at -0.07 mag. was pretty easy to see as well as Venus at -4.44 mag. (duh).
It might be fun to see who could spot the faintest star during the day.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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csa/montana
Wild Spirit
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 40123
Loc: montana
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Soon as my skies clear up, I'm going to give it a try! This is a fantastic idea Kerry, thanks!
Carol
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Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Pentaxes; 5XW, 7XL, 10XW.
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
TV Panoptics; 22, 35
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
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derekm
journeyman
Reged: 08/22/07
Posts: 7
Loc: Scarborough UK
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Referring back to my post of 22 August, suggesting the program "Astro Helper".
If you set the time on the program to Universal Time and ignore the "DST" box on the location editor, all is well.
If however, you tick the "DST" box, the daylight saving time appears to go the wrong way!! Here in UK we are on the zero meridian. DST is UT + 1hr, but astro helper says it's minus 1 hr!! Took me a long time to get my head around it, comparing it to Redshift 5 and our local time. Some of you may have been caught out and "binned" the program as no good. Simply set it to UT, without the DST option and all should be well. The Alt/Az values it gives vary slightly from Redshift, but still put objects in a 1 or 1 1/2deg field. Which is correct, AH or RS5, I don't know.
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8" Skywatcher dob.Meade ETX 80. Dreaming of 16" Lightbridge!
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csa/montana
Wild Spirit
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 40123
Loc: montana
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Thanks for the helpful tip!
Carol
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Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Pentaxes; 5XW, 7XL, 10XW.
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
TV Panoptics; 22, 35
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
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DaveDog
sage
Reged: 06/15/07
Posts: 413
Loc: near Blue Ridge Mts, VA
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Follow up to my post of 9/20/07 about the adjustable degree circle on the Z10.
It works just fine. I am able to find everything I point it at using the az/el numbers from Cartes Du Ceil. I usually use the 24mm first and move up to the 13 and then 8 if the seeing is any good.
The only thing I would change is to make the 5 degree marks between the 10deg numbers bigger or thicker. It is hard to just quickly go to say 177 degrees. If the 5 degree marks were more obvious, it would be easier to count up from 5 to 7 rather than from 10 down to 7. 6 is even harder. I am still thinking about a pointer or light projected on the circle. Right now I am using the right side of the cut out for the registration mark. Make sure when you cut out the top base so you can see the circle, you cut out enough so you can see more than 10 degrees. That makes it easier to see where you are. If you can only see one 10 degree mark, it is not always obvious which way you need to turn without first turning it.
All in all, it has improved the scopes usefulness enormously for me. About as good as adding a real good EP, except it only costs about $50-$60 including the Wixey.
Dave
Z10
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csa/montana
Wild Spirit
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 40123
Loc: montana
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Dave, thanks for sharing your "upgrade" to this great addition to Dobs! It is appreciated.
Carol
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Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Pentaxes; 5XW, 7XL, 10XW.
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
TV Panoptics; 22, 35
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
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Tom Andrews
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/25/07
Posts: 1003
Loc: Homebase - Albuquerque, NM, cu...
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Quote:
The only thing I would change is to make the 5 degree marks between the 10deg numbers bigger or thicker. It is hard to just quickly go to say 177 degrees. If the 5 degree marks were more obvious, it would be easier to count up from 5 to 7 rather than from 10 down to 7. 6 is even harder.
Dave,
I agree. I took an extra thin Sharpie and extended the # 5 lines up to the circle line. On mine, the Sharpie lines are just slightly fatter than the others so between that and being longer, they stand out easily. I did this on the lamination and the Sharpie ink sticks/absorbs very well, just give it plenty of time to dry.
For those of us who also use binoculars for astronomy, I'll be posting a new project on the "Binoculars" forum today or tomorrow (with pictures) of a parallelogram mount with this "Push-To" system on it.
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Tom
The Secret To Life:
Focus on what you have, not on what you don't;
Focus on what you can do, not on what you can't.
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2007 Discovery 12.5" PDHQ Split-Tube Dob w/manual setting circles/Telrad/Zhummel 8x50 RACI finder scope (*For Sale*)
Coulter Odessey 8" Dob
Celestron C11-SGT
Garrett Optical 15x70 Gemini Binoculars on homemade Parallelogram w/Setting Circles
The Albuquerque Astronomy Society (TAAS)
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DaveDog
sage
Reged: 06/15/07
Posts: 413
Loc: near Blue Ridge Mts, VA
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I'll try the sharpie on the lamination. Sounds like a plan.
Thanks,
Dave
Z10
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m.r.memarian
super member
Reged: 10/01/07
Posts: 121
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Hi,
I Edited original file and made a Degree Circle for 8" Skywatcher Dobs.It seems that the base of 8" skywatcher dobs
are a bit larger than others. Diameter=51.6cm or 20.3".The Paper Size of file is A1 (a standard paper Size).
Because this file has a 300dpi resolution,it has a size about 2.6MB.I upload this file to my Sharing spaces on 4shared
and Rapidshare.(CN has 100KB upload Limit).
Download Liks:
51.6cm Degree Circle on Rapidshare.com (higher speed)
51.6cm Degree Circle on 4shared.com
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csa/montana
Wild Spirit
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 40123
Loc: montana
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Thanks for the links! This is good to know that your base is larger than the file we have for the 8".
Carol
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Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Pentaxes; 5XW, 7XL, 10XW.
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
TV Panoptics; 22, 35
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
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coopman
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/23/06
Posts: 1544
Loc: South Louisiana
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Can someone that installed the fully rotating degree circle on their base describe to me how they made that happen? Thanks.
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Regards,
Clay
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalms 19:1
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Quote:
Can someone that installed the fully rotating degree circle on their base describe to me how they made that happen? Thanks.
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Regards,
Clay
Clay, I'm not sure if you are refering to mine or not...or what kind of dob you have. If yours has the center lazy-susan like the LightBridge, then you can see how I did mine in the next five photo's.
I really like the fully rotating degree circle because you just plop down the dob in any position and do the first star alignment with no limitations.
The first photo shows the .090 aluminum disc being cut on the high speed router table. It could be cut by hand using a jig-saw, but with a little more labor in filing and smoothing.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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This photo shows the cut aluminum disc with the adjustment tab sticking out off the side. The center hole was cut to give only a 32nd inch play so it would rotate around the lazy-susan freely.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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In this photo, I took my laminated degree circles and used the #77 spray adhesive to attach it to the alum. disc. I then trimmed the inside and outside edges with a razor knife.
I also bent the tab over the edge at this stage and found the center as it lined up with the top edge of the dob base.
The finished laminated alum. degree circle is thinner than the lazy-susan assembly, so that no contact is made with the bottom of the top dob base.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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At this stage I drilled the hole for the locking bolt\knob (1\4x20tpi) and JB welded the nut over the hole. I use this to rotate the degree circle around the base, and when its aligned, I screw the knob in until it makes contact with the edge. This holds the circle in place while the dob is rotated to find objects.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Then I made my lit sighting "hole" and centered it to read the degrees as its rotated.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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DaveDog
sage
Reged: 06/15/07
Posts: 413
Loc: near Blue Ridge Mts, VA
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Kerry,
Holy Cow! That was a very nice job you did.
I took a simpler way and printed a 22" circle for my Z10. Cut out the center portion and the outer part of the circle so I had a 22" donut that was flat and only about 1" across. Then I made 4 clear plastic clips by gluing them on the bottom base with epoxy after setting the circle in position. The plastic has to be thicker than the laminate. The Z10 with the lazy susan has quite a bit of clearance, so that was not a problem. Then I cut out a section of the upper base below the Focuser about 4" long and 1 1/4" deep, putting the rubber bumper back on the inside of the cutout.
I use the right side of the cutout for the registration mark. As you say, just plunk down the dob, find a convenient star, center it, look it up in CDC and align the circle using your finger with the correct azimuth and you are set to go.
The picture shows one of the clips I made.
Dave
Z10
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