Fred Ley

I should be leaving in the next 30 minutes or so. Going up to the mountain to suck up a whole bunch of photons. Should be a blast. Oh-yeah! -Fred

Here is telescope that I would not mind owning-a Questar 12. -Fred

I will make an attemp to view Pluto at the Parnona observing site this weekend. -Fred

The transit of Pluto is under way. For those that may find this of interest, there are images posted by observers at www.spaceweather.com This is a very unique event indeed and affords many the opportunity to easily observe Pluto. -Fred

Hello Everybody, I have been following this thread with great interest. It is very heartening to see that an old wish of mine slowly been materializing after 40 years. When I earnestly persued my interest in astronomy in 1970, there was just a few individuals that I ended up locating in the greater Athens area, at that time, that were observing. I am still in contact with a few of them after all these years. It appears that this event is anticipating the presence of about 300 individuals or so. That is just wonderful and even if the weather turns out not to be the best, the gathering of everyone will be a lot of fun. Many people have given of their time over the years to bring amateur astronomy to the level that it has reached in the country. Teamwork, what a powerful tool indeed. Hope to see you all at the site. -Fred

When we would make signs, we would first score the plexiglass with a steel straight-edge and an X-ACTO knife and then leaving the steel straight-edge in place, clamp the straight-edge against the plexiglass and bend the plexiglass until it would break along the score line that was inscribed with the X-ACTO knife. I don't know if this makes any sense. If you want, feel free to send me your land line number in a message and I would be more than happy to tell you over the phone-as e-mail would be to time consuming. -Fred

On a Dobsonian, I place the ojecct to view just outside the field of view and then let the object drift across the field of view. By that time any vibrations that may be present will have ceased and allow for a pleasant view of the object. -Fred

A Swap Meet? Great! They are always lots of fun. Hope to be able to make it.

If I understand your dilemma correctly, it is with the change in balance when removing eyepieces of different weight from the focuser. Years ago a friend came up with a very good solution to this. Orion Telescopes marketed a similar item in their 1995 catalog. In your situation you could place a short strip of velcro on the upper portion of the tube. A small sewn bag of pebbles-or something similar can be fabricated and then you apply the other portion of the velcro strip to the bag so that the bag will stick. I have added a portion of the page from the Orion catalog to further explain. Hope this is of some use to you. -Fred