richardn22@No-Spam wrote:
> Other than a telescope, what have you built to aid or improve
> your night out observing?
A spectacle lens that fits over the top of my 20mm Erfle eyepiece,
to correct for astigmatism and near-sightedness. It allows me to see
the full 75 degree field. Slip it off and the scope is in focus for
most people.
A switchable red/white flashlight, in 1974 when such thing was not
marketed. Rechargeable from 110vac or 12vdc.
I collected a set of the centerfold all-sky charts from a year of
Sky & Telescope magazine, and made up a table to show which one to use
during both day and night hours. Later I found a planisphere that
properly shows the southern sky, and use that instead. (Dave
Chander's "The Night Sky")
An occulting mask to search for faint companions of double stars,
such as Sirius (succeeded). Also used it to spot 7 moons of Saturn,
when the ring was edge-on. Used it to find one moon of Mars.
A pole-finding reticle for my 50mm finder. It has a circle whose
radius is the distance from Polaris to the pole, and radial tic marks
every two hours, built by Kevin Medlock to my design. Must be scaled
to the focal length of the finder's objective lens. Includes cross
hairs with degree marks.
Installed a tiny LED to edge-illuminate the above reticle.
Cleverly hid the electric wires.
A computer program to calculate the RA, Dec, Alt, Az, and
elongation of planets and some bright stars. Includes lunar phase,
Julian vs. Gregorian date conversions, etc. Later ported from IBM
mainframe to the IBM Personal Computer. I still use it occasionally.
A set of wood blocks in 1, 2, and 4-inch thickness, to level my
telescope. Drilled a shallow hole in each so the scope's feet will
not slide off.
An adjustable north foot for setting elevation.
--
Jim Van Nuland, San Jose (California) Astronomical Association
<http://www.svpal.org/~jvn/index.htm> JVN's web site
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Received on Sun Mar 02 21:52:19 2008