Agronomy - Page 4

ewmayer · 2015-08-13, 07:54

Meteor time! How to watch the big Perseid shower - San Jose Mercury News

[That 'tomorrow' refers to tonight]

Went out at 11pm for around 30 min - very difficult to find a reasonably dark area where I live. Only saw one bright meteor during that time, but 1 is better than 0.

ewmayer · 2015-09-11, 01:52

My mom (who lives in Ohio) is in the process of preparing to sell the house she and my late father (d. 2002) shared for the last 15 years of his life, and move into a domicile better sized to a single elder person. That means disposing of the remainder of his possessions, some of which he willed to us kids. In my case, I inherit his home-built 10" Newtonian reflector. As I have limited real estate for storing such a beast, I am leaning toward telling Mom to ditch the large and heavy old equatorial mount he used for the 10", just send me the optical tube assembly, and I will build (or buy) a more-compact Dobsonian base. Since I plan to use the scope only for recreational 'targets of opportunity' observing rather than precision work (dad was a lifelong AAVSO member), I don't need the EZ-earth-rotation-tracking feature of the equatorial mount, and leaving it behind would surely save greatly on shipping costs.

Still, it would be nice to keep my future options open - been doing reading, seen various articles about 'equatorial wedge' add-ons for Dob. mounts, and also 'smart Dob. mounts' which use a laptop or smartphone to interface with the mount to rapidly go to any desired point in the sky. Some comments on such things and sources for good compact basic-mount designs from any active amateur stargazers here would be appreciated!

TheJudger · 2015-09-11, 17:33

Hi Ernst,

I think this depends on you. I've bought an EQ mount for my Dob last year, while I costs a huge amount of money I still would do it again. Actually I can use my classic Dob mount and my EQ mount.
Dob: easy to use, less parts, less work before observing (but mirror still needs at least an hour to cool down...)
EQ: image doesn't move, you can leave the eyepiece and object will keep in view, photographs possible.
A goto-function is really nice.

Oliver

ewmayer · 2015-09-29, 03:33

Thanks, Oliver.

On the compact-size and 'go-to function' fronts, astro-buffs may be interested in this Singapore start-up: http://tinymos.com/

2015-08-13, 07:54	#34
ewmayer ∂²ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 2²×2,939 Posts	Meteor time! How to watch the big Perseid shower - San Jose Mercury News [That 'tomorrow' refers to tonight] Went out at 11pm for around 30 min - very difficult to find a reasonably dark area where I live. Only saw one bright meteor during that time, but 1 is better than 0.

2015-09-11, 01:52	#35
ewmayer ∂²ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 10110111101100₂ Posts	My mom (who lives in Ohio) is in the process of preparing to sell the house she and my late father (d. 2002) shared for the last 15 years of his life, and move into a domicile better sized to a single elder person. That means disposing of the remainder of his possessions, some of which he willed to us kids. In my case, I inherit his home-built 10" Newtonian reflector. As I have limited real estate for storing such a beast, I am leaning toward telling Mom to ditch the large and heavy old equatorial mount he used for the 10", just send me the optical tube assembly, and I will build (or buy) a more-compact Dobsonian base. Since I plan to use the scope only for recreational 'targets of opportunity' observing rather than precision work (dad was a lifelong AAVSO member), I don't need the EZ-earth-rotation-tracking feature of the equatorial mount, and leaving it behind would surely save greatly on shipping costs. Still, it would be nice to keep my future options open - been doing reading, seen various articles about 'equatorial wedge' add-ons for Dob. mounts, and also 'smart Dob. mounts' which use a laptop or smartphone to interface with the mount to rapidly go to any desired point in the sky. Some comments on such things and sources for good compact basic-mount designs from any active amateur stargazers here would be appreciated!

2015-09-11, 17:33	#36
TheJudger "Oliver" Mar 2005 Germany 10001011011₂ Posts	Hi Ernst, I think this depends on you. I've bought an EQ mount for my Dob last year, while I costs a huge amount of money I still would do it again. Actually I can use my classic Dob mount and my EQ mount. Dob: easy to use, less parts, less work before observing (but mirror still needs at least an hour to cool down...) EQ: image doesn't move, you can leave the eyepiece and object will keep in view, photographs possible. A goto-function is really nice. Oliver

2015-09-29, 03:33	#37
ewmayer ∂²ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 11756₁₀ Posts	Thanks, Oliver. On the compact-size and 'go-to function' fronts, astro-buffs may be interested in this Singapore start-up: http://tinymos.com/