Parts Catalog Accessories Catalog How To Articles Tech Forums
Call Pelican Parts at 888-280-7799
Shopping Cart Cart | Project List | Order Status | Help



Go Back   PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum > General Discussions > Off-Topic Discussion

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #61  
Old 10-19-2018, 07:26 AM
t walgamuth's Avatar
dieselarchitect
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Lafayette Indiana
Posts: 38,612
Sounds like fun!

Last night I was outside with my son. It was a very clear night. There was an apparent planet near the moon. I speculated it was yellow and venus. He asked his phone and it was Mars. Fun. The Mrs. wants to get a scope so maybe we actually will. It would be fun to take it to Michagan city and look across the lake at the Chicago skyline on an uncommon very clear day.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.
Reply With Quote
  #62  
Old 10-19-2018, 09:04 AM
Botnst's Avatar
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: There castle.
Posts: 44,601
Tom, I did an awful lot of research before I bought a telescope. I highly recommend the website, “cloudynights.com” as a great source and resource for all things astronomical. Also, They have a classified ad section that’s hard to beat.

My recommendation comes from my own experience and a distillation of what I researched. Buy big aperture but not too big. Get a 6” or 8” Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian Mount. I got the 6” because of availability. It’s also light and movable in two pieces. The 8” is modestly heavier but has a lot more light gathering ability.

A new one will cost in the $300-$400 dollar range. Money well spent.

Don’t buy a cheap refractor.
Reply With Quote
  #63  
Old 10-19-2018, 10:30 AM
t walgamuth's Avatar
dieselarchitect
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Lafayette Indiana
Posts: 38,612
Thanks B! I'll check that out.
__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.
Reply With Quote
  #64  
Old 10-19-2018, 12:43 PM
Botnst's Avatar
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: There castle.
Posts: 44,601
I’d love for you to get sucked into astronomy! It will eliminate any spare cash you’re trying to be rid of!

But really, I think it would be fun to meet up with the guys here in some clear-sky area and star gaze while modestly indulging in adult beverages. I no longer have a Benz and I kind of miss belonging to a cult.
Reply With Quote
  #65  
Old 10-19-2018, 12:58 PM
Dubyagee's Avatar
All fields are required
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SE
Posts: 8,721
I have a benz you could lean on.
Reply With Quote
  #66  
Old 10-19-2018, 05:22 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Phoenix Arizona. Ex Durban R.S.A.
Posts: 6,104
Quote:
Originally Posted by Botnst View Post
“cloudynights.com” as a great source and resource for all things astronomical.
Agreed. I post there under the same usernname as here "pj67coll". I have a thread about a 6 inch Criterion RV-6 I'm currently restoring.

- Peter.
__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S
Reply With Quote
  #67  
Old 10-22-2018, 04:49 PM
Botnst's Avatar
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: There castle.
Posts: 44,601
That’s you? Really cool!

“Sporocyte” is me. Im trying to get info on using a terrestrial Gen II NV sensor for astronomy on one thread and a different thread trying to figure out mounting a Meade ETX90 on an Orion camera tripod.

Last edited by Botnst; 10-22-2018 at 10:03 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #68  
Old 10-26-2018, 09:17 AM
Botnst's Avatar
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: There castle.
Posts: 44,601
Good seeing tonight! Gonna carry my stuff into the hay meadow and get cranked up about 9 PM. I need to look up what’s coming tonight.
Reply With Quote
  #69  
Old 10-30-2018, 07:50 PM
Botnst's Avatar
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: There castle.
Posts: 44,601
Signed a contract on my house! Closing in two weeks. Most of that is going into our new construction but I’m holding a bit aside for ... ASTRONOMY! Yes folks. I’m taking the plunge.

I have an enviable dilemma: do I get a high quality GEM and slowly build a system or do I forget all the options available with a GEM-based system and go for a serious light bucket, like a 12” goto dob? I swear I’ve changed my mind every day for the past two weeks.
Reply With Quote
  #70  
Old 10-31-2018, 09:28 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Phoenix Arizona. Ex Durban R.S.A.
Posts: 6,104
Quote:
Originally Posted by Botnst View Post
Signed a contract on my house! Closing in two weeks. Most of that is going into our new construction but I’m holding a bit aside for ... ASTRONOMY! Yes folks. I’m taking the plunge.

I have an enviable dilemma: do I get a high quality GEM and slowly build a system or do I forget all the options available with a GEM-based system and go for a serious light bucket, like a 12” goto dob? I swear I’ve changed my mind every day for the past two weeks.
Very nice dilemma to have indeed. Depends primarily I think on what your interests are and the quality of the skies at your location.

For myself I'm primarily interested in planetary astronomy, just because, but also because the skies from my backyard are a complete waste of time for any faint fuzzies. There are about 13 street lights that I can see from my house including four that severely impact what I can see. So I'm confined mainly to solar system stuff.

Always wanted my own observatory but I'd never build one here now. (Scorpions...) So I might attempt to build a pier in my yard. In your case I good "light bucket" might be the way to go especially on an equatorial platform. That way you have the best of both worlds. Large aperture along with the ability to track your target as if you had standard GEM mount.

- Peter.
__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S
Reply With Quote
  #71  
Old 10-31-2018, 09:16 PM
Botnst's Avatar
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: There castle.
Posts: 44,601
If I vacillated any more I could be a power source.

I’ve been looking at the EQ6-R Pro. As I understand it (a very tenuous assumption) I can run it from the native controller or various planetarium programs. The number of objects is limited by my seeing conditions and aperture. Right now I’m mostly aperture limited on the best seeing days so there is room to grow.

I don’t have scorpions to speak of. I have rats, snakes, wasps, mice, bumblebees and humidity out da wazoo. I’m think of a solar panel to charge 12v car battery and run an exhaust fan 24/7. Also aux power for mount and so forth. Last year I did that for my pond to power a water pump for my fish cleaning table and a LED for area lighting.
Reply With Quote
  #72  
Old 10-31-2018, 10:10 PM
t walgamuth's Avatar
dieselarchitect
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Lafayette Indiana
Posts: 38,612
Quote:
Originally Posted by Botnst View Post
If I vacillated any more I could be a power source.

I’ve been looking at the EQ6-R Pro. As I understand it (a very tenuous assumption) I can run it from the native controller or various planetarium programs. The number of objects is limited by my seeing conditions and aperture. Right now I’m mostly aperture limited on the best seeing days so there is room to grow.

I don’t have scorpions to speak of. I have rats, snakes, wasps, mice, bumblebees and humidity out da wazoo. I’m think of a solar panel to charge 12v car battery and run an exhaust fan 24/7. Also aux power for mount and so forth. Last year I did that for my pond to power a water pump for my fish cleaning table and a LED for area lighting.
You have scorpions in LA? I thought they were mainly in dry areas. ...only place I ever saw one was Morrocco.
__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.
Reply With Quote
  #73  
Old 11-01-2018, 06:30 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 5,924
I am not into this interest... Yet the clarity of some skies in some regions of the world is beautiful. That has to be very humbling as well.

The winds prevail here from the west. Has had to have a haze effect on the atmosphere from the industrial areas. Personally I suspect the acid rain alone resulting has done some damage here. The population of trout in the brooks and streams is almost non existent now here for example. So the ph of the waters has probably been changed substantially.

The closest major pollution source is perhaps 600 miles away. The trout were abundant here sixty years ago. The population has remained static in numbers over that period so they were not fished out.

It also makes a good illustration of just how much influence man has on the planet with so many of his activities. Even the oil companies past warnings about the long term effects of airborne pollution go unheeded. The interest you fellows follow is perhaps one of the ones that make you aware of this. Where it seems lost on the general public. We on the east coast of Canada. Took a lot of fallout from the pollution generated from the smokestack industrial centers of north America. This I believe is also documented.

Last edited by barry12345; 11-01-2018 at 06:41 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #74  
Old 11-04-2018, 10:23 PM
Botnst's Avatar
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: There castle.
Posts: 44,601
Quote:
Originally Posted by t walgamuth View Post
You have scorpions in LA? I thought they were mainly in dry areas. ...only place I ever saw one was Morrocco.
Yes, we have a couple of species, iirc. The most frequent is the Woods scorpion. Tends to live under logs and deep leaf cover. They sting about like a wasp. Not like the desert baddasses that will kill you and all your descendants. We also have at least one tarantula species. I’ve seen a couple on my farm. And the superbadass tarantula wasp. You’re a bmf when you get on the ground to tussle with a tarantula.
Reply With Quote
  #75  
Old 11-04-2018, 11:18 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Phoenix Arizona. Ex Durban R.S.A.
Posts: 6,104
Quote:
Originally Posted by Botnst View Post
Yes, we have a couple of species, iirc. The most frequent is the Woods scorpion. Tends to live under logs and deep leaf cover. They sting about like a wasp. Not like the desert baddasses that will kill you and all your descendants. We also have at least one tarantula species. I’ve seen a couple on my farm. And the superbadass tarantula wasp. You’re a bmf when you get on the ground to tussle with a tarantula.
My wife was stung by one of the scorpions we get here on the side of her face some time before I met her. She says the only way she can think to describe it is as being hit very hard by a sledgehammer. Had a colleague who was hospitalized by one a couple of years ago as well. I have no desire to experience that for myself.

I assume you mean your a bmf if you tackle a tarantula wasp rather than the spider right? As I understand it the spiders are not poisonous and their bite is little more than a bee sting.

I actually saw my first ever example in the wild while hiking up near Flagstaff a couple of weekends ago trying out my new Germanic hiking rig

It was about half the size of my hand and not particularly energetic. Probably on account of the cold.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:25 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2024 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Peach Parts or Pelican Parts Website -    DMCA Registered Agent Contact Page