Time to Gloat

I have had a new house built, primarily for my wife (who is tired of
suburbia)--but the upside is that it is under a sixth magnitude sky.
We had a brief break in the weather Saturday night, so I drove up to
the new house to roll out Big Bertha from the garage. Big Bertha is a
17.5" Dobsonian that reminds you that brute aperture is SOMETIMES an
adequate substitute for quality optics. (I have it stopped down to 15"
because the Coulter mirror has a turned edge.)

The Milky Way was oppressively bright--and it was almost impossible to
find most of the constellations because there were suddenly so many
other stars distracting me.

I have always relied on the "twinkle test" for distinguishing planets
from stars. Stars twinkle; planets (except under really awful
turbulence) do not. But I could not identify Saturn--because NOTHING
was twinkling.

I also discovered that I don't have an adequate stepladder to reach the
eyepiece for objects more than 45 degrees above the horizon. But M42
was visible--and it was so gloriously bright!

I think I will get used to this.

On 24 Jan 2006 14:19:14 -0800, wrote:

I have had a new house built, primarily for my wife (who is tired of
suburbia)--but the upside is that it is under a sixth magnitude sky.
We had a brief break in the weather Saturday night, so I drove up to
the new house to roll out Big Bertha from the garage. Big Bertha is a
17.5" Dobsonian that reminds you that brute aperture is SOMETIMES an
adequate substitute for quality optics. (I have it stopped down to 15"
because the Coulter mirror has a turned edge.)

The Milky Way was oppressively bright--and it was almost impossible to
find most of the constellations because there were suddenly so many
other stars distracting me.

I have always relied on the "twinkle test" for distinguishing planets
from stars. Stars twinkle; planets (except under really awful
turbulence) do not. But I could not identify Saturn--because NOTHING
was twinkling.

I also discovered that I don't have an adequate stepladder to reach the
eyepiece for objects more than 45 degrees above the horizon. But M42
was visible--and it was so gloriously bright!

I think I will get used to this.

Sounds awsome. Per chance, where are you located???

Sounds like a winner, gloat away. The air was particularly steady out
here in W Colorady last Sunday, and we had some of the best views of
Saturn I've enjoyed since a trip to Chiefland FL many years ago.


wrote:
I have had a new house built, primarily for my wife (who is tired of
suburbia)--but the upside is that it is under a sixth magnitude sky.
We had a brief break in the weather Saturday night, so I drove up to
the new house to roll out Big Bertha from the garage. Big Bertha is a
17.5" Dobsonian that reminds you that brute aperture is SOMETIMES an
adequate substitute for quality optics. (I have it stopped down to 15"
because the Coulter mirror has a turned edge.)

The Milky Way was oppressively bright--and it was almost impossible to
find most of the constellations because there were suddenly so many
other stars distracting me.

I have always relied on the "twinkle test" for distinguishing planets
from stars. Stars twinkle; planets (except under really awful
turbulence) do not. But I could not identify Saturn--because NOTHING
was twinkling.

I also discovered that I don't have an adequate stepladder to reach the
eyepiece for objects more than 45 degrees above the horizon. But M42
was visible--and it was so gloriously bright!

I think I will get used to this.

Big Bertha is a
17.5" Dobsonian that reminds you that brute aperture is SOMETIMES an
adequate substitute for quality optics. (I have it stopped down to 15"
because the Coulter mirror has a turned edge.)

Must be a very bad edge to require that much blocking out. In my
experience a turned edge only needs 1/16" to 1/8" run round with a felt tip
to make it useable. Sounds great though ;-)
jc

About 20 miles north of Boise, Idaho.

I may not need to stop it down quite that much--I just haven't had the
time or patience to make progressively narrower posterboard circles. I
had not thought of using a felt tip marker, however. Does this really
do the job adequately? It would certainly simplify the process--just
keep spiraling in until the problem goes away.

I put mine on a record player turntable and worked in, tests out OK.

--
John Carruthers
http://mysite.freeserve.com/jc_atm/
wrote in message
oups.com...
I may not need to stop it down quite that much--I just haven't had the
time or patience to make progressively narrower posterboard circles. I
had not thought of using a felt tip marker, however. Does this really
do the job adequately? It would certainly simplify the process--just
keep spiraling in until the problem goes away.

Originally Posted by Mike Wood

On 24 Jan 2006 14:19:14 -0800, wrote:

I have had a new house built, primarily for my wife (who is tired of
suburbia)--but the upside is that it is under a sixth magnitude sky.
We had a brief break in the weather Saturday night, so I drove up to
the new house to roll out Big Bertha from the garage. Big Bertha is a
17.5" Dobsonian that reminds you that brute aperture is SOMETIMES an
adequate substitute for quality optics. (I have it stopped down to 15"
because the Coulter mirror has a turned edge.)

The Milky Way was oppressively bright--and it was almost impossible to
find most of the constellations because there were suddenly so many
other stars distracting me.

I have always relied on the "twinkle test" for distinguishing planets
from stars. Stars twinkle; planets (except under really awful
turbulence) do not. But I could not identify Saturn--because NOTHING
was twinkling.

I also discovered that I don't have an adequate stepladder to reach the
eyepiece for objects more than 45 degrees above the horizon. But M42
was visible--and it was so gloriously bright!

I think I will get used to this.

Sounds awsome. Per chance, where are you located???

Give us the co-rds and we'll look you up on Google Earth!

Nytecam

john carruthers wrote:
I put mine on a record player turntable and worked

What's that? ;-)

Shawn

"Shawn" sdotherecurry@bresnannextdotnet wrote in message
...
john carruthers wrote:
I put mine on a record player turntable and worked

What's that? ;-)

Shawn

Tell me sonny, do you know what a valve is ?


I remember the "Great nail shortage" of '62 you know.




What was I saying.....?
--
John Carruthers
http://mysite.freeserve.com/jc_atm/