Re: OT: Earth Hour

"M.J. Sammon" <mjps1955@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

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Kathryn Huxtable wrote:
wrrlykam <wrrlykam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
On Apr 2, 4:52 pm, Kathryn Huxtable <kath...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
wrrlykam <wrrly...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

[...] My gripe is the amount of street lighting that is used these
days. Surely in a street 100 yards long you don't need 6 lights on
all night on a street where likely no people will walk along after
midnight.
Yes! I'm an amateur astronomer and the light pollution is terrible.

There's a trick with a laser pointer mounted on a tripod which you
point at the streetlight's sensor. You can shut off a streetlight that
way. It helps if you replace the batteries with a bigger battery.

But it's really tricky getting the laser pointer aligned correctly.

-K
A neat idea that is less damaging than a house brick.

Still ring of orange that runs up from the horizon will remain from 6
large towns and 2 major cities that surround my town.

Just after posting I picked up and read (finally had time) the March
issue of The Sky at Night magazine and it featured a group test of UHC
and EHC filters to block the nasty orange glow. Look like I'll be
saving for a set of those filters to darken the view. I might finally
get to see some of those nebulas I'm told are there but are hiding
behind the light smog.

See there is no problem you can't solve by throwing money at expensive
astro-equipment (or taking out all the power for a thousand square
miles). : )

Yeah. My problem with the filters, and I have some, is that they also
reduce the rest of the light coming through slightly, so you get a
dimmer image. Clearer but dimmer.

I want one of those Dumbledore wands that snatches the light from the
streetlights until I'm done.

I have an 11" Celestron Schmidt-Cass. It pulls in a lot of light and I
can see quite a bit even within the KC sky dome, but I can see a lot
more if I drive about 70 miles. I'm usually too lazy to do that.

-Ky

i was an amaturer astronomer years ago. ground my own 12-1/2"
mirror and mounted it in a Parks tube

how do you like the Celestron brand? did you look at Meade? i'm
considering purchasing an telescope similar to yours (because of
portability) i livein NJ which is probably the *least* desirable
state for deep sky objects. however, this purchase will be for
retirement (perhaps NV or NM) where the skies are not as polluted.
any and all feedback would be appreciated.

I like it a lot. My complaint with the Meade scopes is that they're
noisy. The motors make a lot more noise than the Celestron. The
Celestron makes noise when it does a fast slew to find something, but
not while tracking. The Meade sounds like a Cappucino maker.

That said, I have friends with Meade scopes who like them a lot. I
think that Celestron is a bit more innovative in general.

I finally got an equatorial adaptor for my Celestron mount, but
haven't had a clear night yet to try it. It should make
astrophotography possible for me.

I also have a 2" diagonal and a bunch of TeleVue 2" eyepieces. The
Panoptic eyepieces from TeleVue are amazing! They have an 82 degree
apparent field of view. It's like looking directly into deep space.

If you go to buy a scope, buy from a reputable dealer, not from
Wal-Mart. The models Meade is selling at Wal-Mart aren't as good as
the ones that dealers sell. (Another crack against Meade,
IMHO. They're more about the marketing. But their medium to high end
scopes are good scopes.)

If you want to go the refractor route, I highly recommend
TeleVue. They make amazing scopes.

Also, see if you can find a local telescope club. If they have
observing nights you can try out lots of scopes. Lots of people still
make their own, grinding their mirrors or maybe buying them and
building Dobsonian mounts.

The Dobsonian is the way to go if you have aperture fever (which I
don't) because you can afford a bigger scope for less money.

I've paid my dues with years of observing with a manual equatorial
mount 6" Newtonian scope and I love just keying in what I want to look
at and having the scope track it. I hate manual alt-az mounts, though
Dobsonians are almost tolerable for me. Manual equatorials at least
only require adjustment on one axis to track a star or planet. Dobs
just require a little push with your hand.

-K

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Buying an SCT
    ... Both the Meade units, and the Celestrons, use servos. ... 'slot car' motors, and mouse encoders for the position, the latter units ... The Celestron motors are more accurate, and smoother/quieter, ... I have had a number of scopes from both manufacturers. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Orange Country Register: Celestron Down, Meade Sinking
    ... Yes, it appears, as many of us feared, that Celestron is just about ... There's been some discussion of the subject on my Meade Uncensored ... on quality scopes and turned some novices away from amateur astronomy." ... Certainly not either company's SCTs. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: A Further Comment About Meade
    ... >> RCX scopes that Celestron doesn't offer. ... >> As far as service, I've never had to have a Celestron serviced, but I ... > I did intend to mention that -- Meade has some 'research' level scopes ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Tasco telescope images, little CA considering the price.
    ... An Orion XT6 Classic dob ... I concede ALMOST all other scopes are better (except for some ... through a 6" Meade achromatic refractor ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Pennie for your thoughts?
    ... I have had this scope, some other Celestron scopes, and several Meade ... 'type' of barrel connector used on the Meade units, ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
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