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From: "Tony Hallas" <tonyhallas@foothill.net>
astro-photo@seds.org<astro-photo@seds.org Subject: Re: [APML] Van Slyke "Slider" Date: Saturday, January 19, 2002 9:49 AM Hello,
No offense to Paul, but
you might miss the enormous significance of his product... so from the viewpoint
of someone who's "been there" I have summed up why this deserves your
attention.
1. Trying to find a dim, obscure object? No
sweat... pull in the mirror, put in a 35 Panoptic (with a filter if need be) and
locate it or a dim star field no sweat. The ocular holder can be adjusted so
that its center is the center of the photographic field.
2. Need to knife edge your focus? No sweat...
pull in the mirror and center a good star in the field... it will be in the
center of your knife edge device when you slide the mirror out.
3. Find a guide star? Piece of cake... I use
the STV. Just move the small mirror around the field till a nice one shows up on
the screen and lock the mirror down. NOTE that once the STV is focused with the
camera knife edged (or CCD) it never has to be removed! The STV can guide in any
alignment and you find the guide stars by looking at the screen. It will always
be in focus when the camera is in focus. And... no more "compromises" because
there simply wasn't a guide star in the "right" spot!
4. Want to guide on the stellar head of
a comet? Easy with this... just rotate the pick-off mirror till you have it...
this device can see 100% of the photographic field!
5. Want to check out the seeing before
shooting? Just slide the mirror in... likewise if you want to take a break and
do a little viewing of the planets or whatever... nothing has to be taken
apart... you just move the mirror in and out!
6. Need to make an airtight chamber for
nitrogen? Paul can modify the camera connection tube so all you have to do is
glue a 52mm multi-coated UV filter into the front and drill and tap a small
quick-disconnect nipple into the side of the tube.
When I think of all the
years I have been struggling with clunky OAG systems... often too burned out to
go through the tedium of taking everything apart, rotating the OAG, then
back to see if the object is still there after I have a guide star, then off to
knife edge focus, then back to the object, then focus the STV... arghhhhh!
Tony
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