Fred Ley

Hi Dimitri, Another way to find the true field of view is to divide the apparant field of view of the eyepiece by the magnification that you have with the telescope being used. I hope that this may be of some use. Cleay Skies, Fred Ley

Hi Rama, Sounds like it will be a lot of fun. I will check the web site further details. Clear Skies, Fred

Hi, Did anyone have the opportunity to observe the transit of Mercury? I watched through the internet with images supplied from various locations. Will anyone be posting images tken from Hellas? At least for next year's transit of Venus, I will be in Athens. Clear Skies, Fred

Hello Member 302, I would just like to agree with what Dimitri posted. Strictly speaking, for the pupose of astrophotography, any 35mm camera will do. Of course, purchasing a camera that does not require the onboard battery to maintain the shutter open during long exposures is welcome. Basically, as long as the camera is light proof and you can purchase a T-ring, you should be fine. On the other hand, if you are also looking for a camera to do general terrestrial photography with, a whole new set of issues will need to be addressed. Oh yes, I can vouch for Dimitri using his Zenit camera for all of the images that he has posted on his web site. Astro Vox is an excellent place for all of us to come to when we have questions and want to share and assist others with our experiences. Clear Skies, -Fred

Hi Nick, If memory serves me correctly, there are aluminizing services in the United Kingdom and I believe in Germany too. You may want to check out a copy of the British magazine "Astronomy Now" or do a web search. If you read French or German, there is "Ciel et Espace" and "Sterne und Weltraum" respectively. Clear Skies, -Fred

Hi Kostas, The term Equinox is from the Latin aequus (equal) + nox (night). This is the time when the sun crosses the equator, making night and day of equal length in all parts of the earth. Clear Skies, -Fred

Hi Everybody, After my last posting to the list, I noticed that there were two pages to this posting and that I left out the names of a few people in my response. My apologies to those that I left out. I am writing this in order to let anyone who may wonder why their name was left out in the beggining of my posting. It is not due to my not recognizing the validity of their posting, but simply an oversight on my part. Clear Skies, -Fred

Hi Kanal, What Anthony, John, and Petros have mentioned about a C14 is true. If you want to take the instrument to a remote observing site, I would advise leaving the telescope in its case to protect it from any perils of travel. That case is not a small case. Then, throw in the mount, the tripod, accessory case(s), a table, a chair, star charts and books, power inverter, cooler-for something to drink or eat later on at night, some warm clothing, a dew shield-if needed, etc. Then add yourself to the equation, and you will find that room in a car will be at a premium. I do not think that the C14 case will fit in the front seat of "normal" car nor in the trunk. I have a Ford Bronco II 4x4 and I have to put everything in through the rear. The side door just won't cut it. Yes, a 4x4 or a small pickup truck with a shell will do fine. I know that here one can find an older used Toyota or Nissan pickup for about $1,000.00 which will do the job for ferrying the equipment to an observing site. I do understand that cars are expensive in Greece-unless they have come down in price due to the standardizing within the EU. A C14 is a lifetime instrument and can allow one to do a lot of things, but it does have a respectable volume to it. Anyhow, it is better to ask all the questions before one puts down some serious cash for a telescope and then find out that they have bought the wrong instrument. Clear Skies, -Fred

Kanal, Yes, I can agree with the statement of Bohr. Also, Man shows up in a universe that exists and we end up spending our time having to undo what is done in order to comprehend what we are looking at and experiencing. You know, as I was reading what you wrote, a quote of Socrates came to mind. I will have to write it down phonetically for you. It goes like this... "En oida oti ouden oida" Perhaps that statement of his has some bearing on this too. You know, one person that has a really interesting way of looking at things was Richard Feynman. I have read some of his books and they are very interesting. In case you are not familier with him, he was a physicist at Cal Tech who shared a Nobel Prize in Quantum Electro Dynamics in 1965-I think. His book titled "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman" was very popular in 1985. Have you read it by any chance? Clear skies, -Fred

Hi Kanal, I can conclude that different individuals have different thoughts on what a theory is. Let me add my two cents worth. I would like ot think that a theory is an incomplete conclusion based on the known collective knowledge pertaining to an equation that is in a continual evolving process of trying to be solved. Anyhow, I just thought of that and decided to pass it on to you. Hope it helps. Clear Skies, -Fred

Hi Anthony, I was looking at your web site and came across an image that I had recently seen. I have as my home page the site www.spaceweather.com and your image of the analemma and the Parthenon was on their main page for a few days. I was impressed with the image and now know who took it. Nice work. -Fred

Hi Anthony, Sounds like it was a good time last night. With wine and munchies, I guess it was a good time. Looking forward to viewing your link to the event. Thanks! -Fred

Hi Anthony, I dropped over to your site and found a friend that I met in 1984 in Thessaloniki. That would be Athanasios Georgiou. I visited him at his home in the hills above Thessaloniki in 1994. I also know Harry Kambanis, whom I met in Athens in 1994. It certainly is a good idea to have this information out there for others to see. It is a good way to spread the word of astronomy to others. Clear skies, -Fred

Hi Pantousis, At this link, http://www.hawking.org.uk/pdf/pub.pdf you will find a reference to 184 published works of Stephen Hawking. It is a PDF file and is dated November 26, 2002. Hope this helps you out. Clear Skies, -Fred www.instrumentsoflight.com/athens1