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Domain: astro-physics.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to astro-physics.com.

Comments · 8

  1. Re:How this for an astronomy hack? by burris · · Score: 1 · on Astronomy Hacks

    Don't be silly. Even if it doesn't burn out your CCD, you need more resolution than you can get with a pinhole lens. Leave the lens on and use some readily available solar filter material. Constructing a cell for your filter would certainly qualify as a hack.

  2. You can buy scopes better than that! by burris · · Score: 2, Informative · on 4-inch Telescope Finds New Planet
    When it comes to 4-inch refractors, there are dozens of choices available to the amateur. High color correction probably isn't that critical for the transit surveys so the scopes used probably aren't as good as the high-end apochromats available to amateurs. Astro-Physics, Takahashi, Televue, and Thomas M. Back are just a few of the better ones.

    This assumes that you consider $3,500 to be an "amateur" telescope. Serious amateur, yes. Note, to get serious about high quality imaging you need to spend at least as much on your mount. Then there are the Peltier-cooled CCD cameras...

    burris

  3. AND the MOST BIZARRE thing about those PRICES by deathcow · · Score: 4, Informative · on Folded Newtonian Telescope

    This looks like low quality or poorly made stuff. Basically, in Astronomy, you get what you pay for. Quality is going to be LOW at these prices.

    $250 for a binoviewer will get you crap! The good ones are about $900 - $1500 for a Denkmeier or for a Baader Planetarium model.

    Focusers for $49... to $140 for a 4" model? puh-lease! Superb Feathertouch focusers are going to run you $300 at least for a 2" model. Clement Focusers are going to be around $400. AP focusers are going to be $400 - $700.

    And the biggest problem of all. 16" mirror for $900?? 18" DOB for $2200?? Go fish! Some crackpipe dreams here. Superbly figured mirrors, which focus light superbly well, in well built dob structures, are going to run you into bucks. A quality 18" dobsonian telescope like a Starmaster is going to run you $6,400 without any options, a far cry above $2200.

    I'll put my refractor up against this guys mirrors any day! ;)

  4. AND the MOST BIZARRE thing about those PRICES by deathcow · · Score: 4, Informative · on Folded Newtonian Telescope

    This looks like low quality or poorly made stuff. Basically, in Astronomy, you get what you pay for. Quality is going to be LOW at these prices.

    $250 for a binoviewer will get you crap! The good ones are about $900 - $1500 for a Denkmeier or for a Baader Planetarium model.

    Focusers for $49... to $140 for a 4" model? puh-lease! Superb Feathertouch focusers are going to run you $300 at least for a 2" model. Clement Focusers are going to be around $400. AP focusers are going to be $400 - $700.

    And the biggest problem of all. 16" mirror for $900?? 18" DOB for $2200?? Go fish! Some crackpipe dreams here. Superbly figured mirrors, which focus light superbly well, in well built dob structures, are going to run you into bucks. A quality 18" dobsonian telescope like a Starmaster is going to run you $6,400 without any options, a far cry above $2200.

    I'll put my refractor up against this guys mirrors any day! ;)

  5. For the best amateur (MARS) pictures, go here. by deathcow · · Score: 4, Interesting · on Close Encounters Of The Mars Kind
    These guys are using some of the best cameras and telescopes that amateurs can buy. (Or at least, hope to buy, since there are multi-year long waiting lists.)

    MARS 2003 Pictures

    Every year, amateurs and their techniques are improving. This team of Germans, with their Astro-Physics 10" Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope are on the cutting edge of amateur astrophography.

  6. For the best amateur (MARS) pictures, go here. by deathcow · · Score: 4, Interesting · on Close Encounters Of The Mars Kind
    These guys are using some of the best cameras and telescopes that amateurs can buy. (Or at least, hope to buy, since there are multi-year long waiting lists.)

    MARS 2003 Pictures

    Every year, amateurs and their techniques are improving. This team of Germans, with their Astro-Physics 10" Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope are on the cutting edge of amateur astrophography.

  7. Spent all that money and ended up with a Meade? by LongShip · · Score: 1 · on Serious Home Observatories
    If I were going to spend this much I'd have gone with a good refractor, like an Astro-Physics, Takahashi, or maybe something radical like an APO Max. Any of these would be worth a wait. If I absolutely had to have big aperture, I might choose one of the big Dobsonians like a Starsplitter or an Obsession.

    With this guy's telescope budget alone, one could have a great Dobsonian plus a phenomenally performing APO refractor plus have enough left over to throw in a pair of good astro binoculars with a nice parallelogram mount. That's a whole lotta astronomy, much of it portable.

    The Meade 16" is an impressive looking piece of equipment, and it does a job. But being impressive looking doesn't equate to impressive performance. I suppose some people are seduced by fancy advertising claims and the look of a beefy fork mount and pier. But the status of a fixed observatory is outweighed by the fact that astronomy is the most fun as a movable hobby/profession. Plus there's still the problem that a SCT has technical issues that limit its use. One could still spend $150,000 for an observatory for the binoculars + APO refractor + Dobsonian, but one doesn't need to. I'd spend much less on the observatory and use the savings to go to places of optimum seeing, taking my observatory with me.

    To some people everything is form over function. This guy now has a minimally useful east coast observatory that cost him nearly $200,000. What a waste. I'll bet his friends are impressed, though. So maybe it serves it's true purpose.

  8. OK, my UPS war story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on How Not To Ship Computers

    I am a rather avid amateur astronomer, and so had lusted for many years after an Astro Physics 155mm EDFS apochromatic refractor. I got on the waiting list to get on the waiting list way back in 1994, was able to place my order in 1995, and 20 months later, my new telescope was ready to ship. It was well-packed, and prominently marked ADULT SIGNATURE REQUIRED.

    UPS left it on the porch. I lived at the time in the middle of Hollywood, CA, and the porch was three feet from the street, and the largish, longish box was plainly visible to passersby.

    Fortunately it was still there when I got home from work. It wasn't the money that bugged me, the shipment was insured for full replacement value. But had it been stolen, two and a half years' wait would have been down the tubes, and I'd have been at the back of the line again.

    I have avoided UPS ever since. FedEx is the way to go. They have never disappointed me, nor have they ever delivered a package that required a signature, without obtaining one.