MnAstro Forums

Maybe also be aware of any gaskets or "shims" between the corrector plate and the OTA (optical tube assembly) My Celestron had several paper "shims" stacked up. You'd want to make sure if your Meade has something similar they remain in place and do not fall onto the primary mirro...

Well, better late than never. I'm finally getting around to doing some cleaning, and here's a picture of what I was talking about so long ago. It looks like a hazy layer on the plate. Both inside and out. You'll need to remove the corrector plate to clean the haze on the inside. Just mark it carefu...

Just a note for everyone on the forums to check that their "Notifications" are active. We are working on making at least some minimal notifications be the default, but until then please check these are set to your preference. At the very least, check that topics you post to, subscribe to o...

I saw this last week, excellent program. Definitely worth seeing, or seeing again.

Merle

zimitsj wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 5:09 pm I connected with the student and completed this yesterday evening.

Thank you John. Would love to hear your responses to her questions... or do we need to wait for the book?

Merle

FF2Rydia wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 5:30 pm Should this appear in the Outreach forum?

It's just an astronomy question, seems like the appropriate place for a response.

Merle

Updated finder chart for the next couple weeks of viewing, before the moon becomes an issue again.

Merle
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Steve, regarding your answer for Q2, what's the best for splitting doubles? Regarding the double stars, I saw this on Cloudy Nights forum: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/515923-magnification-preference-for-double-star/ or https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/615832-splitting-double-stars/ or http...

FF2Rydia wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:47 pm Steve, regarding your answer for Q2, what's the best for splitting doubles?

A good refractor...

Rob, meet Tom. Tom, this is Rob

viewtopic.php?t=13864

Is this on anyone's radar? Comet (C/2022 E3) ZTF. Closest approach to earth Feb 1st at .283 au (26,000,000 mi) According to "Wiki", the comet is expected to get brighter than magnitude 6 and thus become visible with the naked eye from a dark sky site... but more likely you'll still need bi...

Nourin wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 9:57 pm Thanks for the quick reply. I would like the possibility of hyperstar in the future, so unfortunately this won't work out. Best of luck, sir.

FYI...

Starizona has a Hyperstar conversion kit for $300.

https://starizona.com/products/hypersta ... ron-11-sct


Merle

Hmmm... 1x magnification is the same as no magnification. Since nothing is zero then in this case 1=0... hmmm. Got it... 1x is no magnification, but what if you had .9 magnification? We're now in the wide angle realm. .9, .8, .7, increasing the angle view until you reach .1, .01, 0 when you would s...

Hmmm... 1x magnification is the same as no magnification. Since nothing is zero then in this case 1=0... hmmm. Googled it and found this at https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/astronomy-hacks/0596100604/ch04s11.html "Install a Unit-Power Finder" - Find deep-sky objects quickly and easily....

For cleaning the corrector plate, here's a video I like. There are many others too, key point would be to not "over clean" and be gentle. Would be nice to see a picture of the amount of dust you have. A little dust shouldn't be a problem and not worth messing with. https://www.youtube.com/...

Special Event public star party on December 3, 2022 for the opposition of Mars. Event starts at 7:00 This event will be CANCELLED IF CLOUDY . Mars comes to opposition, a position directly opposite from the sun, approximately every 26 months. This year Mars at its closest will have an angular size of...

Still not making out the poles, but can see light and dark patches. I noticed there wasn't much for polar caps too. In looking at the orientation of Mars being nearly "vertical" I wouldn't expect to see as much of a cap. Compare to 2020 or 2003 where there was more of a view of the south ...

Darcy, Not surprisingly, this topic has come up before. Here's a link to posts from last year. https://forum.mnastro.org/viewtopic.php?t=13049 Here’s a list of what to look for in any telescope. 1- A strong, stable mount 2- A clock drive to follow the sky 3- “Large” aperture, light gathering 4- Foca...

This is the last weekend for our Apollo landing site display: Due to storage constraints, we will be permanently dismantling the module display after this weekends events. As part of the Minnesota Astronomical Society (MAS) 50th anniversary celebration, we have once again set up our lunar module moc...

To provide more opportunities for the public to experience the lunar module, I’m adding an additional and unique full moon public star party this Saturday. Impromptu Public Star Party Saturday October 8 From 5:00-10:00 Apollo 11 landing site, lunar module mock-up on display. We have a nearly full sc...

Still having trouble with attaching images. even though the "allowable" file size says 512 MiB, I constantly get an error. ...and again, why don't these show up as pictures instead of a link? Screen Shot 2022-10-03 at 11.45.21 AM.png I'm still noticing old ELO photos on the new website. C...

Very interesting....

Merle

Upon further review, couldn't have been the planetarium, built in 1960. Seems there were 6 possible Minneapolis libraries built prior to 1940's Bill could have been at. Might just have to ask him directly. As far as I know, this also pre-dates any local astronomy club I can find, certainly the TCAC ...

The article starts off by saying Bill attended a Minnesota Astronomical Society lecture when he was in middle school. If he is 91, it's hard to believe he was still in middle school when our club became the Twin Cities Astronomy Club. Clearly he attended an astronomy club lecture, but what was the ...

I also changed the "MAS Electronic Media & Book Group" moderator to Lilah.

Do you see any others Deane?


Merle