Re: Getting a bigger telescope (was: Lunatic in Palo Alto ...)

I think hat this is a feature that people fail to think about if they
can plan to observe from page to page of an atlas. It's really easy
to use an equatorial mount to move to another object (without GOTO
capability) by knowing how your field of view compares to your chart.
You can quickly move to every object on most chart pages easily within
a session and often multiple pages.

I am absolutely amazed at how many dim DSO's I can "see" just by
knowing that I am in the right place and where it should be. Many
times I can't see them but that doesn't mean that I've wasted my time.

Michelle

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 12:49 PM, Jay Reynolds
Freeman<jay_reynolds_freeman@No-Spam> wrote:
>>> D) Never argue with Jay :D ;)
>
>> .... and never enter into a singing contest with Jay either.  He'll win ;)
>
> What Michelle means is that I will be the last person left standing.  My
> singing is more than sufficient to render most people unconscious, but I
> am at least somewhat used to it...
>
> One thing that has come up in this thread, I might mention again:
>
> In my opinion, the ability to observe make observations for many minutes
> at a time, with neither observer nor field of view drifting or jiggling,
> is invaluable for viewing many kinds of deep-sky objects.  My emphasis on
> a comfortable seated observing position and a driven telescope is not
> based on laziness, but on my experience that I see more when I can
> contemplate for a long time, without losing the object and without
> teetering back and forth on a tall ladder.  I think that one of the
> reasons I have been able to push my C-14 so much is that it is driven
> and I do have a comfortable seated observing position, and a driven
> telescope.  (In considering the part about "driven telescope", remember
> that I often like to use exit pupils of around 1.5 mm when observing
> galaxies, which works out to about 240x on the C-14 and would be 400x
> on a 24-inch.)
>
> --  Jay Reynolds Freeman
> ---------------------
> Jay_Reynolds_Freeman@No-Spam
> http://web.mac.com/jay_reynolds_freeman (personal web site)
>
> ---
>
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---
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Star Party! CalStar: Sept 17-20: http://www.observers.org/CalStar
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