TT Policy Statement (Revised September 14, 2004) As a reminder of this group's desire to encourage all of its members to participate in a friendly and informed...
Hi, I found this YouTube series tonight and it goes over the target and events in the night sky for each week. This week happens to be the first week of the...
Unless you and your husband are knowledgeable and are pretty sure what you want, you don't have enough time before Christmas to select a telescope with...
HK, Might as well add my 2 cents. I got into the hobby when I retired about 2 years ago with a Celestron XLT 4.7" (120 mm) refractor on a CG4 equatorial mount....
HK and Bob; The beauty of the "Dobsonian" mount is that you can easily track objects at reasonably high power. I have 2 Dobs and regularly do this manually (no...
... Hi: I have to agree with Kendahl. Since there are no perfect starting scopes and you do not have much time, it would be best to wait until you explore all...
Hi Kendahl, You offer some very good advice. I do not necessarily agree that there isn't enough time to select a telescope before Christmas, however. If she...
Julian and HK, If I would have known I could easily track a planet for 20 seconds by hand with a DOB, I would have bought the SkyQuest XT10 Classic Dobsonian...
... No matter how many times I tell people how easy it is to track planets with a Dob, some still won't believe me. For several years my primary planetary...
Bob; I've owned 2 10" Dobs and loved them both. My first was a Coulter Odyssey 10: f/4.5. I enjoyed it until I made my first mirror and then discovered how bad...
Having built a half dozen or so Dobs, I am no expert but here's my 2 bits worth anyway: how well you can track by hand depends largely on how good and how...
Tracking with an 10 inch Orion dob is easy at 170X with a 7mm Nagler. I just nudge the object to appear on the edge of the field of view and just watch it...
One of the best accessories for focusing is the Orion AccuFocus for Dual-Speed Crayford Focuser. It cuts way down on vibration and allows precise focusing. ...
Several years ago I purchased an Antares pedestal for my 8" f/6 Discovery reflector. I did order the shortest length pedestal offered by Antares which is 30...
... Many years ago, after Orion reduced the outrageously high price on it twice, I bought a Vixen pedestal. At 45", it's more suiatable for a refractor or...
... Hi Geoff: I agree with you regarding pedestals. I decided to reduce the pedestal to 22" as a length that should be adequate for the 8" f/6 reflector while...
It's that time of year when most telescopes are sold. Most are sold to be given to children or young people. I would be interested in what members think is the...
... My number one recommendation, especially for younger kids, is 7x35 or 8x40 binoculars, as these are sturdy and versatile, not limited to astronomy. Orion...
I think a 4"-6" Newtonian would be a good choice. It's easier and cheaper to build a mirrored telescope than a decent refractor. I always tell people to...
If he has been good this year why not this: http://www.astromart.com/auctions/details.asp?auction_id=6111 tony ... From: Jay To: telescopes@yahoogroups.com ...
... That's what I call a "Christen present"! I saw its twin at Starfest a few years ago, belonging to Peter Ceravolo. He had built a truss tube for it, about...
My thought is that good binoculars are a good starter for most, but if a kid is expecting a telescope for Xmas, he/she will be disappointed in getting binos....
... Thanks- I know my question sounded like one from a typical beginner with a cheap scope, but I'm actually a fairly advanced telescopist. I bought it for 2...
From: "Dave Goggin" <dg2222@...> ... This reminds me that a couple of years ago a family friend asked me to take a look at the cheap telescope he had...
