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Subject: etx telescopes By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.140.133) Date: 06/02/2002 11:47:05 am PST The etx scope is more of a joke than anything else. It doesn't matter how many objects a telescopes computer data base has. If it doesn't have near enough apeture to access them. Anything smaller than a 8" that is go to is a waste of time, and these scopes have created nothing more than a mindless generation of new observers. Most go-to ownwers couldn't find a deep sky object dimmer than m-42 if it fell out of the sky on them. And this generation of observers is definitely not going to get together with a bunch of activists to fight light pollution and other real issues that afect our endangered hobby. Subject: Re: etx telescopes By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.10.71) In Reply to: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.140.133) (Original Message) Date: 06/27/2002 09:07:47 am PST >The etx scope is more of a joke than anything else. It doesn't matter how many objects a telescopes computer data base has. If it doesn't have near enough apeture to access them. Anything smaller than a 8" that is go to is a waste of time, and these scopes have created nothing more than a mindless generation of new observers. Most go-to ownwers couldn't find a deep sky object dimmer than m-42 if it fell out of the sky on them. And this generation of observers is definitely not going to get together with a bunch of activists to fight light pollution and other real issues that afect our endangered hobby. I agree. As an owner of two GOTO scopes in the 4-inch size range, one an ETX and the other a Celestron NexStar4, I am selling both of these. I can't stand the computer problems, the random rebooting, the misalignment with true north, the noisy slewing, and the deprivation of knowing exactly how and where to find an object. It took me 2 weeks of nightly practice to learn EXACTLY where the Ring Nebula lies and to spot it consistently in ANY scope. That mastery and challenge alone was worth a lot to me. Especially since my instrument of choice was a 76mm APO refractor (Borg 76ED). I suffered horribly from light pollution however, and much of my training now consists of teaching myself to remember exact high magnitude star patterns (say Mag 8,9,10) in order to compensate for the blanket of white invisibility that cloaks most sky objects when viewed from nearby any major city. Subject: Re: etx telescopes By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.10.71) In Reply to: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.10.71) (Original Message) Date: 06/27/2002 09:13:00 am PST One more thing. Taking matters a step further, I am now using SCT optical tube assemblies in Dobsonian mounts. All you REALLY need is a scope. No clock drive. No slow-mo controls. No filters (well, almost). No heavy tripods. My favorite scope is the AstroScan 2001, a scope similar in size to an ETX-90 except that it operates around binocular magnification (16x). Sadly, the AstroScan is pretty useless in the city. The light pollution makes almost every scope useless. But in the dark sky areas of the national forest here (Los Padres, near Los Angeles) I was able to see M51 no problem. Page 1 of 1 | ||||||||
