HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: chaloux@mandolin.mitre.org (Dave Chaloux)
Subject: Re: SP-102F - My opinion/impression
Reply-To: chaloux@mandolin.mitre.org (Dave Chaloux)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Va
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 20:52:20 GMT

Malcolm Simpson writes:

>5. T%his is in fact the second scope - the first one was sent back 
>because the optics were not up to par, and this one is going back too.
>The star test reveals a textbook image on one side of focus and slop 
>on the other.  Celestron has not been quick with the replacement scope 
>either.

I was very unimpressed with their customer support when I was having problems
with there radial guider and micro guide eyepiece working together
(not working together). I never did get satisfaction and it wasn't thru lack
of trying. I finally figured away to rig up a solution but this should never
have been necessary.

Star tests rank among my current fascinations. I am curious by what you mean
by slop. Are you sure what you were seeing wasn't convection effects? Star
tests are very sensitive and a mirror figured to 1/4 wave (1/8 wave doubled
for the reflection) will definitely show defects although such a mirror can
be "diffraction limited". Has anyone figured out how to get a rough idea of
the wave error of a mirror or lens from a star test? In otherwords, how good
does good have to be to get 1/4 wave through the system. I have a mirror
I obtained recently that is supposed to be 1/10 wave. (1/5 wave after
reflection.) I can detect some zones from the inner interference rings. When
do you start to worry? The mirror passes the snap test quite well. It also
shows very fine detail on the moon surpassing what is in the Rukl atlas and
also surpassing the detail shown in some of Harold Hill's drawings. With no
star test I wouldn't even be suspicious but....

On a not unrelated note, if somebody in the Washinton D.C area has a
foucault (sp?) tester I could  borrow for a short time, I would appreciate
the use of same. I know how to get quantitative answers from it.
Newsgroups: sci.astro,rec.radio.amateur.misc,rec.radio.shortwave
From: oler@rho.uleth.ca (Cary Oler)
Subject: Daily Solar Geophysical Data Broadcast for 10 September
Organization: University of Lethbridge
Date: 11 Sep 92 08:14:36 GMT

!!BEGIN!! (1.0) S.T.D. Solar Geophysical Data Broadcast for DAY 254, 09/10/92
10.7 FLUX=116.9  90-AVG=124        SSN=086      BKI=4866 6434  BAI=072
BGND-XRAY=B4.1     FLU1=4.2E+06  FLU10=1.2E+04  PKI=5787 5655  PAI=090
  BOU-DEV=062,345,154,166,125,054,025,040   DEV-AVG=121 NT     SWF=01:008
 XRAY-MAX= M3.2   @ 2257UT    XRAY-MIN= B3.3   @ 0520UT   XRAY-AVG= C1.0
NEUTN-MAX= +002%  @ 0705UT   NEUTN-MIN= -006%  @ 2025UT  NEUTN-AVG= -2.9%
  PCA-MAX= +0.2DB @ 1535UT     PCA-MIN= -0.1DB @ 2300UT    PCA-AVG= -0.0DB
BOUTF-MAX=55541NT @ 0333UT   BOUTF-MIN=55318NT @ 0803UT  BOUTF-AVG=55405NT
GOES7-MAX=E:+156NT@ 0648UT   GOES7-MIN=N:-027NT@ 0328UT  G7-AVG=+062,+074,+001
GOES6-MAX=P:+128NT@ 0758UT   GOES6-MIN=E:-020NT@ 0338UT  G6-AVG=+071,+006,+047
 FLUXFCST=STD:116,115,115;SESC:115,115,110 BAI/PAI-FCST=035,020,020/040,025,025
    KFCST=2334 3222 3345 5333  27DAY-AP=013,011   27DAY-KP=3223 4422 2241 2233
 WARNINGS=*MAJFLR;*SWF;*GSTRM;*AURMIDWRN
   ALERTS=**MINFLR:M3.2/2B@2257UTC;**SWEEP:II=3@2254UTC;**245STRM:0442-0615;
          **MAGSI:54NT@0330UTC;**MAJSTRM;**TENFLR:250SFU@2251,DUR=3MINUTES
!!END-DATA!!
From: mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: More Noise from the Novice
Date: 6 Sep 92 00:06:22 GMT
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens

We've just had a flame war about this very thing.  The old saw "3-inch
refractor equals 6-inch reflector" goes back to the days when mirrors
were coated with silver (not very reflective compared to aluminum) and
were only figured to 1/4 wave accuracy.  I'd say a 3-inch refractor equals
maybe a 4-inch reflector.

The best telescope for the money is probably a Newtonian reflector, but
I'm not familiar with current commercial products.

-- 
+ Michael Covington - Artificial Intelligence Programs - U of Georgia - USA 
+ Unless otherwise noted, these are private opinions, not official statements.
+ VOTE NO GEORGIA LOTTERY - we need not imitate mistakes of other states.
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: dualist@leland.Stanford.EDU (Thomas Edward Schutz)
Subject: Report of Strange Object Siting
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 92 03:58:18 GMT


I just saw (at approx 20:25 PDT) a brilliant white object,
maybe magnitude -10, moving in a westward direction through
Ophiuchus, and trailing a broad, bright white, fan-like
tail behind it.  It was moving relatively slowly (maybe
one degree per second) and faded out eventually.  The
tail lasted a little longer, and eventually lost its distinct
shape and faded away.  There was no sound.  I am located
about 28 miles south of San Francisco, California, USA.

What was this?  Did some lab conduct an upper atmosphere experiment?
Did some satellite burn up in the atmosphere?  

Tom Schutz
dualist@leland.stanford.edu

Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.physics
From: palmer@cco.caltech.edu (David Palmer)
Subject: Re: Energy Density of Neutronium
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 22:04:43 GMT

jfreter@triton.unm.edu (The Myth) writes:

>In article <rwallace.715785439@unix1.tcd.ie> rwallace@unix1.tcd.ie (russell wallace) writes:
>>Right ... of course, there would be an initial energy release, then
>>continuous emission of radiation over the next couple of hours or so as
>>all the neutrons decayed. How much energy, though, would the initial
>>evaporation of the 1 cc release? (The energy release from the later
>>decay of the neutrons would, correct me if I'm wrong here, be on the
>>order of 1/1000 to 1/2000 of the mass of the neutrons - quite a lot
>>considering the mass of 1 cc is ~10^14 grams.)

>No idea on the "heat of evaporation" of the neutronium, but the beta decay
>of neutrons yields a maximum beta energy of .782 MeV (generally less, though
>, since the anti-neutrino carries away some energy).

The Fermi energy* of neutrons in a neutron star is a good fraction of
the rest energy (I remember a number around 30%, but don't quote me.)
The "heat of evaporation" is probably a similar fraction of the Fermi
energy, so you would probably get ~10% energy conversion efficiency
which, by mc^2, gives ~10^34 ergs.  Roughly the same as a 20 km asteroid
strike.

Elsewhere would be a good place to be.

	*Fermi Energy: A "particle in a box" (e.g. a neutron in a 1 cm
	volume) has a set of discrete states it can be in, each state
	having its own energy.  When you have N identical particles in
	a box, and those particles are fermions (particles with spins
	of n/2, with n odd, such as neutrons), no two particles may be
	in the same state.  For a "cold gas", such as neutron star
	material, the lowest-energy states are filled first, so all
	states with energy less than Ef (the Fermi Energy) are filled,
	and all states above Ef are empty.  The average energy of a
	particle is less than Ef, but not by much.


-- 
		David Palmer		 palmer@tgrs.gsfc.nasa.gov
I am now at Goddard Space Flight Center/NASA, for whom I do not speak.
Newsgroups: sci.astro,rec.radio.amateur.misc,rec.radio.shortwave
From: oler@rho.uleth.ca (Cary Oler)
Subject: Daily Solar Geophysical Data Broadcast for 06 September
Organization: University of Lethbridge
Date:  7 Sep 92 10:18:46 GMT

!!BEGIN!! (1.0) S.T.D. Solar Geophysical Data Broadcast for DAY 250, 09/06/92
10.7 FLUX=139.2  90-AVG=124        SSN=078      BKI=4442 2333  BAI=017
BGND-XRAY=C1.2     FLU1=1.9E+06  FLU10=1.3E+04  PKI=3442 3233  PAI=017
  BOU-DEV=045,068,069,016,017,026,037,038   DEV-AVG=039 NT     SWF=12:191
 XRAY-MAX= X1.7   @ 1852UT    XRAY-MIN= B9.0   @ 0014UT   XRAY-AVG= C8.0
NEUTN-MAX= +000%  @ 2325UT   NEUTN-MIN= -005%  @ 0605UT  NEUTN-AVG= -1.6%
  PCA-MAX= +0.5DB @ 1910UT     PCA-MIN= -2.7DB @ 1855UT    PCA-AVG= -0.1DB
BOUTF-MAX=55448NT @ 0203UT   BOUTF-MIN=55380NT @ 1854UT  BOUTF-AVG=55426NT
GOES7-MAX=P:+105NT@ 1840UT   GOES7-MIN=N:-007NT@ 0543UT  G7-AVG=+079,+045,+011
GOES6-MAX=P:+111NT@ 1916UT   GOES6-MIN=E:-026NT@ 1754UT  G6-AVG=+091,-018,+035
 FLUXFCST=STD:145,145,150;SESC:145,145,150 BAI/PAI-FCST=015,020,015/015,020,015
    KFCST=3334 3333 3344 4322  27DAY-AP=010,012   27DAY-KP=3223 3232 2333 2333
 WARNINGS=*SWF;*MAJFLR
   ALERTS=**MINFLR:M1.0/1N@0203;**MINFLR:M1.1/SF@0238;**MINFLR:M2.4/2N@0519;
          **MINFLR:M1.3/1F@0702;**MINFLR:M3.3/1N@0907;**MINFLR:M4.0/1N@1158;
          **MINFLR:M1.4/1N@1313;**MINFLR:M1.1/SF@1524;**MINFLR:M1.1/SN@1714;
          **MAJFLR:X1.7/2B@1852,S11W41(7270),1841-1852-2000;
          **MAJFLR:X1.3/1N@2059,S11W46(7270),2048-2059-2114;
          **TENFLR:420SFU@1843,DUR=5;**MINFLR:M1.3@2339UTC
!!END-DATA!!
From: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de (Jost Jahn)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Sunspots at 06.09.1992.
Reply-To: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de
Date: 06 Sep 92 13:23:00 MESZ
Distribution: sci
Organization: ABBS AstroMail, D-W 2121 Dahlenburg / Germany
X-Version: ZerUU V6.45c

Sunspots at 06.09.1992., 0 h UT.

No.    Pos.  Cl.  Ar.  Mag. SF  F  M  X
---------------------------------------
7270 09S 28W Eki  270   gd  17     2
7272 12S 90W Hrx   40   a    2
7274 06N 08W Bxo   10   b
7275 10S 56W Bxo   10   b


Optical and x-ray flares in 05.09.92.

Date     Beg. Max. End   Posit. Xray Opt
----------------------------------------
05.09.92 1120 1132 1200 08S 21W M4.0 1N
05.09.92 1613 1624 1636 09S 26W M1.1 SN


 
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From: rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu (Jeff Bytof)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Asteroid explorer
Date: 15 Sep 1992 21:26:43 GMT
Organization: sio
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: lutherlab.ucsd.edu


>Along these lines, perhaps we can steer upper stages headed for
>deep space into intercept trajectories, and get some observing
>time on a big telescope like Keck or Hubble to see what happens.
>For example, could Mars Observer's TOS be steered into Phobos,
>or would we have had to tinker with TOS's navigation box beforehand?
>Do we know Phobos' orbit well enough to steer blind? 

I suspect we have to more than "tinker" with the TOS "navigation box"
to hit Phobos.  First, planetary quarentine dictates that
TOS has a less than 10^-5 probability of impact with Mars.  There will
be no Mars avoidance manuever of the TOS after separation.  Given
the expected dispersion of the injection manuever, the aimpoint of
injection is also biased well away from Phobos and Diemos.  Steering into
Phobos or Diemos would require beefed up telecommunications capability
on TOS and probably imaging to do optical navigation on the inbound
asymptote.  Steering blind will get you nowhere in particular,
ESPECIALLY at Mars. 

Jeff Bytof
rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu

 
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: mrtim@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (t.ihde)
Subject: Telescope mount question: SP?
Reply-To: tim@usl.com
Organization: AT&T
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 14:06:24 GMT

What with all the information on telescopes flying around lately, I
thought I would bring up another potentially explosive questions: mounts.
Hoping that this is not another religious issue, here goes.

I've been thinking about an 8" SCT lately, with a mind to minimizing cost
but maximizing portability.  I'm finding myself leaning towards the Celestron
super polaris with no drive, thinking that I can get a good drive later
when I need one rather than buying all kinds of extra hardware up front
when I'm not sure what I'll want to do with it.  Plus, I could potentially
use the same mount later for a Genesis or maybe a good size newtonian.

So, thinking that the 8" SCT optical tubes are pretty much alike, I'm
wondering what people think of the Super Polaris mount with respect
to a comparable fork (say the Mead 2080 or Celestron Classic) or other
GEMs.  How stable is it, compared with other options? Could I buy a drive
for it later that would be functional as PEC or the "smart drive" for
photography, or is a fork a must for camera work?

Thanks for any input!

	tim
-- 
Tim J. Ihde                                   | UNIX(R) System Laboratories
tim@usl.com                    (908) 522-5571 | Systems Engineering Department
From: rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu (Jeff Bytof)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Origin of 7-day week
Date: 16 Sep 92 00:44:56 GMT
Organization: sio
NNTP-Posting-Host: lutherlab.ucsd.edu


>Luigi M. Bianchi inquires:

>What do we know about the origin of the seven-day week?

>Anybody out there who can provide more solid information?

Of course every AstroZionist over the age of one can answer: YHWH
created the Universe in six days and kicked back a little on the
seventh!

But to give you a detailed answer, I will search for commentary
on the subject in Kabala, for more mystical insights.  Stay tuned!

--------

Jeff Bytof    (Rabbi of AstroZionism)
rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu
From: gwc@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Greg F Walz Chojnacki)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: bolide sighting
Date: 14 Sep 92 16:33:17 GMT
Reply-To: gwc@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Originator: gwc@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

From article <1992Sep14.013712.1611@cbnewsd.cb.att.com>, by lew@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (lewis.h.mammel..jr):
> At 8:04 PM CDT I saw a bright orange-yellow bolide from
> Wheaton, IL. It was just about due east near the horizon,
> south of the rising moon. It appeared to be moving towards
> the northeast. I actually saw it through a window from inside
> my house. I could be mistaken, but I've seen bolides before
> and this looked like one, for sure.
> 
> Anybody else see it ?
>
Following is an item from the Sept 14 Milwaukee Sentinel:

"The sky over Milwaukee's lakefront lighted up briefly with a burning meteor
or satellite Sunday evening.

"'The phones were ringing off the hook with reports of stuff falling from the
sky,' said Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve McAloney in Milwaukee.

"Reported sightings came shortly after 8 p.m. from Milwaukee and as far north
as Port Washington [about 25 north of Milwaukee], McAloney said.

"The Coast Guard's Regional Command Center in Cleveland sent the Milwaukee
office a message that it had detected a brief meteor shower in the
Milwaukee Area, perhaps caused by a satellite entering Earth's atmosphere,
McAloney said.

"No accidents or injuries were reported."

Missed it, myself :(

Greg
From: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de (Jost Jahn)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Sunspots at 12.09.1992.
Reply-To: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de
Date: 12 Sep 92 09:22:00 MESZ
Distribution: sci
Organization: ABBS AstroMail, D-W 2121 Dahlenburg / Germany
X-Version: ZerUU V6.45c

Sunspots at 12.09.1992., 0 h UT.

No.    Pos.  Cl.  Ar.  Mag. SF  F  M  X
---------------------------------------
7276 15N 26E Eki  210   gd   1
7277 11S 11W Bxo    0   b
7278 11N 18W Axx    0   a
7279 07S 32E Axx    0   a
7280 14S 66E Cso  120   b


Optical and x-ray flares in 11.09.92.

Date     Beg. Max. End   Posit. Xray Opt
----------------------------------------
11.09.92 0253 0302 0309  .   .  M1.0
11.09.92 0603 0609 0616  .   .  M1.4


 
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABBS AstroMail, the first and most popular German astronomical bulletin board
------------------------- for amateur astronomers ----------------------------
    + 49 5851 7896 / V.21, V.22, V.22bis, V.32, V.42, V.42bis and MNP5
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
From: thompson@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Thompson, code 682.1, x2040)
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
Subject: binary table sizes
Date: 11 Sep 92 14:33:00 GMT
Organization: NASA/GSFC-Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1

I've been following the WGAS mail forum, and there's been some discussion
lately about the size of FITS binary table files.  Several people have remarked
that binary tables take up more room than using the IMAGE extension.

I can't understand why that would be.  BINTABLE extensions use the same binary
representation as every other kind of FITS data units, and there is no wasted
space in packing the data together.  In fact, I would have said that data put
in a BINTABLE extension would take slightly less room than putting it in a
series of IMAGE extensions.

Is there something that I'm missing?  Or is this another one of those FITS
myths we need to stamp out?

Bill Thompson
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
From: freedman@cuba.gsfc.nasa.gov (Immanuel Freedman)
Subject: BINTABLES or IMAGE extension ?
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 16:16:37 GMT

From freedman Thu Sep 10 12:40:15 1992
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 12:40:09 -0400
From: freedman (Immanuel Freedman)
To: wgas@hypatia
Subject: IMAGE or BINTABLES extensions ?
Cc: ewing@aruba, freedman, kaltenbaugh@aruba, piper@aruba, turpie@aruba
Status: RO

Colleagues
 The COsmic Background Explorer project at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
would like to distribute released data in FITS format from the National
Space Science Data Center.

 Would our esteemed colleagues prefer to receive the data in BINTABLES or
IMAGE format ?

 We have determined that IMAGE extensions are more effective than BINTABLES
in terms of file size and data access time for our internal use.

 Thank-you for your replies in advance,

 Dr. Immanuel Freedman
From: ja@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Reticle question??????
Date: 14 Sep 92 21:07:02 GMT

Hello Netters,
 
I'm trying to build a finder scope from half a pair of binocs and
I need some advice.  I want to put cross hairs in and don't know
where to put them.  I tried just attaching them across the bottom
of the ocular mounting but they were not visible.  I know that with
microscopes the reticle scales are focuable. Is this just a matter
of trial and error getting this thing placed for my specific binocs?
 
Also, I was trying hair as a start then spider silk (as in WW I rifle sights)
for the final product. Does this make any sense or am I nuts to try this
and should just guesstimate the center of the field and forget the 
whole idea of homemade crosshairs.

The binocs are 7 x 50 if that's any help.
 
thanks........John
From: seymour@ast.saic.com (Ken Seymour)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Amateur Radio Astronomy Book
Date: 10 Sep 92 22:09:10 GMT
Organization: SAIC

Some time ago, I remember reading a Sky and Telescope review of a book
on Amateur Radio Astronomy.  I have looked back through the indeces of
the last 2 or 3 years and I can't find it.  Does anyone know the issue
of Sky and Telescope or the name of such a book?

Thanks in advance.
-- 
Ken Seymour
seymour@ast.saic.com
From: rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu (Jeff Bytof)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: PUTTING VENUS IN AN ORBIT SIMILAR TO THE ORBIT OF THE EARTH
Date: 15 Sep 92 20:09:29 GMT
Organization: sio
NNTP-Posting-Host: lutherlab.ucsd.edu

>...
>In addition to the energy and angular momentum problem, another problem is
>that two similar sized bodies on similar circular orbits make an UNSTABLE
>system!  The Earth and Venus would rapidly change their distance to the Sun, 
>unless the above unspecified large energy source is steadily correcting the 
>Earth and Venus orbits.  This instability explains why the planets are on
>sufficiently different nearly circular orbits; among all the possible ~circular
>orbits, only the most stable survived.  In some way planetary systems result
>from a natural selection of the most stable configurations. 
>...

If Venus could MIRACULOUSLY be placed into an Earth-Sun L4 or L5 point,
the situation would be stable.  However, the process of getting Venus
out there raises questions.  A slowly outward spiraling Venus would
certainly disrupt the orbit of Earth, until it reached L4 or L5 and 
remained at a constant distance of one AU (whatever one AU ends up being
:-)).  If you had the power to send Venus on a Hohmann trajectory, timing 
it for maximum distance from Earth, would that much power delivered in two
impulses be containable?  

Sounds like an interesting exercise in three-body celestial
mechanics and rocket engineering to determine the firing schedule to get
Venus to its destination in a way that would cause the least disruption to
Earth's orbit and the planet Venus itself. 
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: jms@spatial.com (Jim Sharpe)
Subject: Re: Advice needed for Purchase (Novice)
Originator: jms@flash
Organization: Spatial Technology, Inc. [Boulder, Co]
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 20:46:27 GMT

(J. D. McDonald) writes:
>(Michael A. Covington) writes:
>> (Michael Edelman) writes:
>>>My year of novice experience has taught me two things:
>>> 
>>>1. Buy a good pair of binoculars first, and learn the sky. See what you
>>>can do with these before you buy a telescope. I spend 10 times as much
>>>time with my 8x56s as with my 80mm refractor. When you do buy a telescope,
>>>you'll still have plenty of uses for the binocs.
>
>>Amen!  I have an 8" Meade, a 5" Celestron, and 8x40 binoculars.
>>Guess which I use the most?
>
>I disagree **VERY** strongly with this, as the original poster said
>use "by children (and me)". For children you want something that will stay
>put where you point it. I've got the same setup as Covington has,
>and guess which I use the most? The Meade. And when I am out in
>my apartment complex yard using it, I get lots of walkup folks, and
>am very glad it has a good mount and a clock drive. And also that I've 
>made **all** my eyepieces parfocal ... even the 55mm 2 inch barrel one.
>

All you need is a decent binocular stand.  Even at very low powers that
binoculars have, some sort of support is practically required, both for
the difference a steady view makes and for the ability to go back and forth
between charts and the sky, or between different viewers.  A clock drive is 
not necessary with the large field of view of most binoculars.  As you might 
guess I agree with the original post that recommended binocs as a first 
telescope.

That's the route I took just about a year ago, And wouldn't do anything 
different.  I'm still learning the sky, but the binocular program that that
the Astronomical League "sponsers" was a good place to start.  Some good
star charts and a Telrad (great on binoculars also!) helped a great deal.

As much fun as my binoculars have been, I still want something with more
power and aperature *also* (not instead).  After attending many star parties
and club meetings over the past year (The most significant was the week I 
spent at the Texas Star Party "telescope shopping").  I settled on
a 12.4" f4.8 newtonian.  Even with a full thickness Galaxy mirror (22 lbs)
The entire scope on a dob mount weighs just 36 lbs (aluminum honeycomb and
carbon fiber are wonderful things :) )  Total cost (not including eyepeices)
was right around a $1K.  First light will hopefully be the new moon at the
end of September.  An equatorial mount will probably be next year, followed by
a CCD camera.

I had plenty of time to "telescope shop" and design my first scope while
learning the sky with the binoculars.  If I had simply rushed right in 
and bought something, I know now, I would have bought the wrong one (for
my needs).  Also, if I had initially bought nothing, I don't think I would
have had nearly as good a time while I decided. 


-- 
Jim Sharpe / jms@spatial.com - 

Spatial Technology Inc. 2425 55th Street, Boulder CO  80301    (303)449-0649
Newsgroups: sci.astro,rec.radio.amateur.misc,rec.radio.shortwave