I just watched "all your movies" in your article
section. I want to commend you for your absolutely excellent
site, incredibly professional storytelling and absolutely
vital "knowledge", not just information, that
you provide. I am a novice to astrophotography and I have
the same mount as you, the SVP. After 3 months, I have not
been able to figure out how to track properly, drift align
or anything else for that matter. After reading your material,
I am ready to try this properly.
Your site has been an absolute life saver
for me. Without it, I was ready to give up on my SVP 127mm
Mak and return to my 8" Dob photographing only the moon
with it. Now, I feel I have just received an injection
of knowledge that may just get me to track properly, though,
I do not yet have an illuminated eyepiece nor a polar alignment
scope. But I think I will get them in order to match your
instructions. They are absolutely excellent!
Thank you very much for your comments. And thank
you very much for your site. - Enrique M.
I've just watched your collimation video and
think it's the best tutorial on simple collimation I've
ever seen.
I am chairman of the York Astronomical Society,
and, with your permission, I'd love to be able to show this
video at our next meeting, and also at our Christmas "how
to look after your new telescope" workshop, which we
hold each year.
Is there a way I could download the video so
I can play it on my laptop when off line? Many thanks and
very best wishes. - Paul B., UK
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I just wanted to say THANK YOU! Your collimation
video is very newbie friendly and was a life saver
for me! - Josh
GREAT movie you made! After
6 months struggling understanding Dobs / skys / eyes / stars
/collimation the last part has become completely
clear. Thanks!
- AJ
Man what a great website. It was recommended
by Jay Ballauer because he knows I'm a beginner. But WOW,
I'm impressed with the site and photographs. Great work.
- Rogez
A very nice site with some
great articles - videos thanks for putting them on
the web for all of us to look at. - Larry
This is one of the coolest
websites I have been to. It is amazing to see what is
really out in "our" skies. Good work! - Jessica
P.
Hi Uncle Andy! You're site
is awesome. It looks like you put a lot of long hours
and hard work into it. My dad is interested in this same kind
of science, as well am I. Sometime soon we'll have to come
down and personally see your telescope. Well take care and
keep up the good work! - Haley R.
Great Website! The new
collimation video was a Godsend. - Steve F.
Just wanted to thank you for
your Collimation explanation. It really
helped someone like me who bought their 8"
Dob last week. Keep up the great work! - Rob S.
Thanks for a great, informative
website.......and for demystifying telescope and mount
set ups. - Jim O., Cumberland Astronomical Society
Great site! I especially
liked the tutorial on collimating, great job! - Ed C.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank
you for creating the collimation movie. I have owned my
new 8" Orion for over
a week now - and due to the great British summertime! have
not yet been able to look through the eye piece. I did however
manage to get a gap in the cloud long enough for me to see
how bad the star image was.
I tried to follow many directions on various
websites, including the absolutely useless manual that came
with the scope but failed to understand if I was doing it
correctly.
After stumbling across your movies I haven't
had this confusion again. My scope now appears to be collimated
as good as can be visually, although this is yet to be proven
in the night sky. If these clouds ever disappear - and I'm
doubting this! I will be able to see the improvement. Anyway
enough of me blabbering, thanks for your help here! - Luke
L., Hertfordshire, England
Stopped by your site for
a quick look and stayed for an hour! - I don't even remember
where I found the reference to it now because I found your
site so interesting! Just wanted to say "thanks"
for the site. I found it very helpful, visually pleasing,
and quite informative. - Scott
Nice web site! I've just recently started with
a SkyWatcher 8" F5 newt. I learned a few things
going through your instructional movies. And your
photos give me inspiration. I'd sort of been scared
away from astrophotography - "Oh, it's really hard and
really expensive...it'll turn you off astronomy!" Nice
to know my Canon G3 Powershot digital might take some useable
photos. - I'll send you some when I get 'em! Thanks again!
- Doug M., Canada
Your article on collimating
was the best I have ever read. You have removed all the
fear I had in collimating. Bravo! - Nick
Thank you very much Andy. I know it will be
very much appreciated by many of our members who are always
asking for guidance with collimating
their Newtonians.
I will or course give you full credit and point
people to your excellent web site. I was very impressed
with your site,and especially your Cannon digital camera
images.
Very best wishes and clear, dark skies.
- Paul B., York, UK
Great site and information! I personally
like the articles. I'm a newbie interested in getting back
into Astronomy - spent many a long night as a kid with the
neighbors scope looking at the moon. I'm planning on doing
a lot of due diligence - reading, picking vendors brains and
going to an astronomy organizations scope outing next week.
- Paul R.
I suspect you get a lot of complimentary emails
and you can add mine to the list. An absolutely great site.
I really appreciated your movie on the drift
alignment. Thanks - I know I will be returning to your
site often. - Tom E.
Unfortunately while away on business my wife knocked over
my Skyview
Pro mount on its tripod and the result was the end of
the declination worm gear assembly was bent so If I have the
gear on it for the motor it will not engage properly. Anyway I called Orion tech support who
are sending a part out…when asked how to fit it they
said well you can either send the whole thing back to orion
and we will do it or…there is a great web site
called…yes you know whats coming …. andysshotglass
:-
You're famous…the engineer at orion was
Marshall. - John O. |
I just found your site as I joined the Chinese Reflectors
Yahoo group today and saw your post. Rather than drag up a
2-3 week old thread I thought I would congratulate you directly
instead. I am not a fan of Flash/Shockwave normally but your
tutorials really make good use of it. When I strip
down and re-grease my EQ3-2 mount - CG4 equivalent in the
near-future I will definitely refer back to your experiences.
I also think the idea of limiting people to
a maximum cost for your photo of
the week feature is a great idea. Too
many people just throw money at their problems to make them
go away when it can be as easy as a little extra work to overcome
the same thing. I have just started a project to build a periodic
error correction system to my mount, fully independant of
a PC/laptop and I am setting myself a budget of just $50 to
do it with! It helps that I am a programmer and have a little
experience with microcontrollers, but you just can't beat
that feeling of sorting it out yourself. Thanks for putting
up your site!
- Dan B.
Wonderful web site.
It can be done on a budget, and you're doing
a very nice job, my friend. I am working on getting going
here myself, maybe with a web cam, but it seems all so complex.
I have the 100mm refractor and
the 10 inch Dob both from
Orion. Both are great scopes for what they cost and never
a problem with either. Nice to meet you and looking forward
to keeping tabs on your web page. - Mike
Like you, I only use low-cost
equipment for my hobby: see my website. I visited your website
and am impressed with what you have achieved!
Your collimation animation is superb
- nice to hear your voice too :- I immediately added a link
to your page from my collimation page: http://www.madpc.net/~firmament/collimation.html.
All the best and clear skies! - Jan T., Netherlands
Excellent and informative site Andy,
thanks for sharing your knowledge.- Steve H., New
Zealand
That's a great tutorial!
I sort of suspected a lot of what you said but it was nice
to get it confirmed and put into a practical order. Many thanks!
- Paul G
GREAT movies, I particularly was interested
in the Drift
Alignment
article. The movie is worth a million words.
I have a Ultima 2000, using the fastar F/1.95
attachment and a Starlight CCD MX716 camera. I've always used
a polar finder, and have had excellent luck with astrophotography.
Since seeing your movie, I'm going to try doing a drift
alignment, to see how long I can extend my exposure
time. www.malta-skies.com - Paul C.
Congrats. This is the best
amature astronomy site I have come across to date. Excellent
use of multimedia thoughout. Keep up the great work!! -
Doug M., Canada
Lovely website, The content
is good and design is amazing. The astro-images looks
great as well. Looks like i could use a tip or two on html
from you.
I like the mission statement
on your website and incidentally all my images happen to fit
in that sub $2500 categories as i use mainly a LX90 to do
imaging.
I added your site to my Favorites and
will be looking fwd to more updates. Good luck in imaging
messier objects.
- Matthew Chang
We met you Friday night, we
were the couple with the little white dog Molly. Thank
you, Thank you, Thank you, we had a great time and learned
alot. I have been going through you web site and am enjoying
it very much. Thanks again! - Charlie & Allison S.
I found your website, which
I might add is perfect for me. I also bought an Orion
80mmED and am very much a newbie.....Thanks Andy! -
Eric S.
GREAT website!!! I
am a newbie to astronomy and still trying to learn the night
sky so I know which stars are which, so I can align my scope
correctly. - any tips?... I really enjoy the movies you have.
Great job and thank you again. - Jimmy Ray P.
Hey, thank you for your great website,
and I decide to buy an Atlas 10
EQ from Orion Company; so can I get images as same as
your images in your website? Thanks again, and happy days
for you. - Ali
ANDY... I just emailed Orion support on the
question of how to get the wiggle out of the DEC in my Skyview
XT EQ for my 8" scope. The tech guy emailed me back
with a link to your article.
Wow! Thanks for having that on the web. I was about to
toss the Orion and spring for a Losmandy mount.... - not!
Thanks again. - Richard G., McAllen, Tx
WOW best site I have seen
so far!!! I was, to say the least, confused about what
scope to get for trying my hand at some astrophotography
and having it work. I was looking at the SkyView Pro before
hand and just knowing it is possible to take a decent picture
at an affordable price is all I needed to hear. I love
the video's and as a college student in computer information
I know how long it must have taken to make a site of this
quality and design. I thought a nice 'thank you' would at
least let you know how wonderfull your site is to others.
- Travis
This is a very nice web site!
Thanks! - Judy C
Your site has turned my scope searching pain
into a good laugh from your
sarcastic and realistic view of introducing one's self into
this hobby. I am 26, and grew up on science. My father
is a science teacher and my uncle just broke the world speed
record at edward's with his scramjet design. I have decided
to buy my father a scope so I could spend more time with him,
and do what we always wanted to do when I was younger. We
had gone to a few star parties, but never had a chance to
dive in. Well, here we go. I came accross yoursite by searching
for the Orion
Skyview Pro 8 EQ. - David B., Portland, Oregon
Andy, great m51! Absolutely
incredible for such an affordable scope. Congrats. Also
the Comet shot very nice. Keep up the great work, it is inspiring
! - Paul Z.
Great job! With this site
you'll no doubt bring a lot of inspiration to struggling
amateurs around the world. Your stories,
articles and pictures bring back a lot of those painful
and embarrasing moments that we've all endured in our quest
to become semi proficiant at this hobby.
I really enjoyed your article on collimating a newtonian,
and your photos are great. Astrophotography is one of those
things that I really want to dive into, but am still unsure
of where to start.
I am going to add your website to my
list of recommended resources for new observers in our local
club - Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Calgary
Centre. Your site let's people know that it's okay to be
a beginner, and that there are lots of people out there who
truly want to share their knowledge and abilities.
Thanks for your dedication
and contribution to amateur astronomy. - Duff
C., Calgary Centre, RASC
Andy, congratulations on your fine web site.
I was going to put together the definitive presentation on
Newtonian collimation, until I discovered that you'd already
done it! - Geoff M., Foxmead Observatory, Coldwater, Ontario,
Canada
Awards & Recognition
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