From: chaloux@accordion.mitre.org (Dave Chaloux)
Subject: Some Observation and Equipment Tips
Reply-To: chaloux@accordion.mitre.org (Dave Chaloux)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Va
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 20:03:45 GMT

I thought I might share some tips that I have either read or run across
myself that have been useful to me in the hope that they might help
someone else.

1) Old electric blankets make a tremendous source of heat wire. The
temperature reached can be controlled by the power of the transformer
used to drive it and the length of wire you cut. On the other hand, if
you don't know what you are doing with electricity don't use this tip.

2) Telrads have to be one of the best and worst inventions in astronomy.
For me it is definitely love hate. Specifically, the attract dew even
faster than the collector plate on a SCT. My solution is to put a
stocking hat on mine when not in use. This is much cheaper than 10$ one
of the dew covers that are sold for them. Furthermore the slanted piece
of glass and lens that collect the dew are NOT precision optical surfaces.
If I do get some dew the hat wipes it clear in a jiffy.

3) The Celestron 26mm Plossl works pretty nicely if you wear eyeglasses.
Plenty of eye relief and I can see the whole field even with my glasses.
I normally prefer my 24mm Televue Widefield but not use with my glasses.

4) If on a newtonian your low profile focuser doesn't have quite
enough in travel for an eyepiece. You might get the needed distance by
turning all your collimation knobs in say 1/4". Obviously you will need
to recollimate but this might save you some money buying an ultra low
1 1/4" adapter. I know it did me.

5) My Novak diagnonal holder on my Dobsonian doesn't quite have a long
enough shaft to preperly get my diagonal centered under the squared
eyepiece. The holder has the stem with a triangular plate drill for the
three collimation screws. These attach to a plate in the actual holder.
The triangle plate has a bumb that mates with a dimple in the other
plate. I got an extra 1/4" for now by inserting PLastic wrap folded
up in between the dimple and the hole. Collimation is still easy and the
mirror isn't shifting. I will probably order a plate with a longer rod
but this works for now. (Make sure that enough of the collimation screws
are still in the plate that it won't fall off. That could be a very
expensive mistake. I Warned You.)

6) Use more than one star atlas. This is particularly true if you use
a Telrad. I have Uranometria which is great for starhopping through the
scope and making positive identifications. It is useless for use with a
Telrad. Get a Mag 6 atlas for the Telrad.

7) 15 Watt deep red aquarium bulbs work reasonably well for reading
atlases if you have access to electricity at you site. Make sure the bulb is
shielded so you don't look at it directly.

8) This one is from the Backyard Astronomers guide, a great book. Barlow
lenses can be used before or after a diagonal with a Refractor or SCT. They
work at rated power after the diagonal and about 50% more power before.
If you are a dummy like me I always used it in the "wrong" position before
the diagonal until recently.

9) If a eyepiece gives you bad results with a scope it might work better with
a barlow. Going back to that 26mm Plossl from Celestron, astigmatism at the
edge is pretty objectional at F5. It works very nicely with a 2x barlow where
it is affectively working at F10 instead. This gives me a nice medium power
eyepiece with great eye relief. Ok, it isn't a Nagler but I got it free
(i.e. with a scope).

10) Remember the objective is to have fun. (Actually the objective is glass
but...) I normally do deep sky and that means I am constantly pushing my
scope looking for stuff I haven't seen before. Sometimes it can get rather
frustrating after trying to find something for almost an hour and not
coming up with it. Last night I went out to look at Saturn. I thought it
was going to be to hazy for deep sky so I didn't take out my Uranometria,
observing lists, etc. It turned out the sky was somewhat better than
expected, not great but I was there. In shorter order I scared up M15,
7331 and friends and 7217. All stuff I had seen before. Result; I had a
good time, and then went in. I think I'll purposely mix in some of this
easier but fun stuff in the future when I find myself getting frustrated.

11) Don't believe the weather reports. I have made it a habit of checking
outside when I wake up in the middle of the night even if it is supposed
to be cloudy. Some of my best nights have come up this way. After midnight
people turn their lights off and the atmosphere is steadier since the
temperature is changing as rapdily as when the sun set.

12) Snow Mobile suits are great for when it is cold outside. I have read
that construction clothes are also good but I haven't tried that yet.

13) Remember that others might not appreciate objects you do. I remember
showing my wife M51 in my 8" SCT.

Husband> See those two galaxies.
Wife> No
Husband> Let me check to make sure they are still there. Yup.
Wife> I still don't see them.
Husband> They are those two faint blobs.
Wife> Oh, I saw that.

In my experience show the illiterati A) The moon. This is a sure bet. B)
Saturn and Jupiter. C) Bright well separated star clusters. D) Globulars
if the scope is big enough to resolve them easily.
Also make sure you show them the focus knob and make clear they are allowed
to/encouraged to use it.