Fred Ley

Oh brother, don't these guys at the International Astronomical Union have anything better to do with their time? They need to get a life. Nuff said! -Fred

Hi Telemahos, I hope that what you have found turns out to be a meteorite. I have been a collector of meteorites for the past 25 years. I did find part of a stony-iron in California and an iron in 1995, which is in need of verification, in Greece. I have a metal detector that I use when searching for meteorites. The two that I found were found using my eyes. -Fred

Hi Dimitri, You may find some assistance at this link... http://www.mapug-astronomy.net/ragreiner/LXcircuits.html#Top I went into the MAPUG site and typed in "LX200 schematic". This cover the original LX200 instruments. -Fred

Hi Dimitri, I am sorry to hear that you are encountering problems with your LX200. I can't help you diagnose where the problems lies-unfortunately. But, by chance, have you visited the Meade Advanced Products User Guide? This site has a lot of input form many individuals that have LX200's. I hope that a solution to your dilemma may be found there. They are located at http://www.mapug-astronomy.net/ I would suggest, and I am certain that you have done so, that you go through the installation instructions word for word. I do that with product manuls where I am not familiar with the product. Sorry that I can't offer you anymore suggestions except for positive thoughts to reach a happy conclusion. -Fred

Hi Georgym, You will enjoy reading Stalight Nights. I read it many years ago and it was a pleasure to read. Unfortunately, Leslie Peltier passed on in 1980, but we have this gem of a book of his. Hope you are able to secure a copy. I am aware that is available as a softcover book, but I spent years trying to locate the original hardcover book-and finally found one, and it was a never read copy with cover too. Clear Skies. -Fred

Hi Panaiotis, -Hope you can read English. One option for your rooftop pier could be a steel cylinder filled with fine sand. You could have someone cut the appropriate size piece of steel and roll it, then have it welded together along with a top and base plate. A hole could be cut on the side of the pier, towards the bottom, threaded, and have a plug threaded on. This would allow one to "drain" the sand at some latter point in time if the pier required relocation. An adjustable plate could be fabricated to go on top of the pier and interface with your mount, the design of the plate would depend on the make of mount that you are using. Fine sand acts as a decent dempener of vibrations. Hope this is of some help to you. -Fred

Hi Dimos, Yes, you are most certainly correct, it was John L. Swigert, Jr. that forgot to get his tax form in on time. Found this brief note about this particular situation, which I have added below. -Fred Out of the Country John L. Swigert, Jr., the Apollo 13 astronaut who went to the moon in 1970, recalls how his job almost interfered with filing his federal income-tax forms: “On the second day of Apollo 13, April 12, I asked Mission Control to begin work to get me an extension of the filing date for my income tax. Since I had been a last-minute substitution on the Apollo 13 flight, things had moved so fast that I didn’t have a chance to file my return.” The IRS didn’t have to make a special ruling to grant Swigert a two-month extension because of his I’m-on-my-way-to-the-moon excuse, though. There was already a regulation that provided an automatic extension for anyone out of the country. Clyde Haberman and Albin Krebs in New York Times

Hi Draculas, What you wrote (I can slowly read Greek, but cannot write it-hope you read English) reminds me of a humorous event that happened to Fred Haise of the Apollo 13 mission. It was launched on April 11, 1970. Shortly into the misison Fred Haise remembered that he had forgot to file his yearly income tax form with the government and had to ask from space if he could file for an extension. The income tax due date is April 15 and he would still be in space and be unable to get the form in on time. -Fred

Hi Kostakis, Yeah, I've heard a lot of gripes about customer support over the years from lots of people. For what it's worth, is your question a "simple" one that I might be able to answer? Just thought I'd give it a shot. -Fred

Hi, I am still interested in this item. Would you be willing to sell it for cash, and what is the asking price? Fred

Hah! This reminds me of when I ordered a 6-inch f/10 mirror with a 1-inch diagonal from Coulter Optical in 1974. I was living here in Athens at the time. I went to the post office to pick it up. When I got home and opened the package, to my dismay, some jerk in the post office, who obviously didn't know squat about optics, had placed their fingerprints all over the surface of the 6-inch mirror. I can just think of the acid on their fingers eating away at the coatings. Oh well, that's my two cents worth.

Hi Panayiotis, Congratulations on your new telescope. You will have thousands of observing hours ahead of you with this telescope under dark skies. Enjoy. -Fred