Space Forum / Amateur Astronomy / September 2004

Is there a reference for adaptive optics implementations on amateur
telescopes? Is there a solution for <$10K?

My club has a Edmund Scientific 4" edscope.  The focuser gears seem to be stripped.  I'd like to replace it with a standard 1-1/4"
focuser, but need one to hold the single stalk diagonal.  Question.  Does anyone have such a focuser or know where I could find one?
Just wondering.. ...

I need to build an accessories case for everything I need when I travel to darker skies. Things like eyepieces, power chords and everything should be there.
Does anyone know a site on the web with drawings on how to do that?
thanks a lot
Nicola

I'm thinking of going on my first eclipse jaunt:  October 2005 Madrid
for the annular.  It's supposed to be a dry run for the following
year's total in the Mediterranean.
I have a Televue 76 and am intending to use it on a suitable mount -

Hello, all,
    What in your opinion or experience is the minimum aperture necessary
for satisfying views of globular clusters and galaxies?
Thanks,

Is there a simple way to take some digital photos through a PST?  I have the
Steady Pix and a Canon A40...any suggestions on settings?  Should I use an
eyepiece or just a Barlow?  Or nothing?  I also have a Phillips Webcam but
haven't used it yet...

This picture shows tracks made by dust devils.  Was it these tracks that
were
mistaken for canals by Lowell? Could he have resolved large ones with his
Clarke 20"

Where oh where can the new Rukl's be???

An unusually bright supernova has appeared in the nearby galaxy NGC
6946.  Extragalactic supernovae are typically fainter than 15th
magnitude, but this one is mag 12.8, due to the proximity of the parent
galaxy.  NGC 6946 is currently well placed in Cygnus for evening

Just thought I let you guys know about my new and improved space
wallpaper site.  You can now register on the site, post comments and
rate the images.
The url for the site is www.finalfrontier.za.net or

Great. A clear night happens only to be intruded upon by a small well lit
city travelling across the skies.
It is quite something how much reflectivity that globe of silica hammers
out.  It's magnitude is -14 or so?

Like multiple exposures during the eclipse, etc?

I'm helping a friend get started and he has a small short tube
refractor in mounted via a fixed clamshell to an EQ mount.  The
problem is that the refractor can't be balanced on the mount (always
tips towards the eyepieces) as the finder stalk / dovetail gets in the

Hey Folks,
I have a Toshiba 5200/100 laptop with a Red Gas Plasma VGA display.  The
display is PERFECT for Astronomical applications (the display is the same
colour red as a Meade Autostar display).

Just curious about an article I saw yesterday in the Dallas Morning News.  It
was about the recently discovered interaction of "colliding" galaxy clusters.
The article states that the clusters are 800 million light years distant, and
the "collision" took place 300 million years ago ...