wAY OT!

BOWRIDER

Member
B
Join Date
Mar 2003
Location
FLORIDA
Posts
58
I was surfing the net looking for a solar system simulator, (going to be getting a telescope soon.) I ran accross this disclaimer for one of the programs I found I thought it was pretty funny....
Disclaimer

This program is for demonstration purposes only.
It is not to be used for planning interplanetary missions or for the plotting the paths of civilian or military spacecraft or satellites.
This product does not provide sufficient targeting accuracy for Inter-Continental Ballistics Missiles.
Your future can not be predicted by the alignment of the planets or stars using this software or by any other observation method.
The alien mother ship is not hiding on the other side of the sun.
This program should not be used to predict the end of the world.
The longer you use this program the older you will get.
 
I am getting this one shown here. It's a service award from work (20yrs). I'll try it out and if I get into it I might have to give the misses a hint at christmas for a bigger one!

74105.jpg
Reflector Telescope
Meade reflector telescope has 114mm diameter reflective mirror, red dot projection viewfinder, deluxe equatorial mount with slow motion controls, 2 - 1.25" eyepieces, 2x Barlow lens, aluminum tripod, and amazing planetarium software. (Some assembly required.)
 
I picked a similar sized telescope with a go-to drive for my 20 year service award as well. I was disappointed - I should have taken the purchase/reimbursement option, I could have gotten a much nicer telescope.

The Meade scopes are nice scopes but that is a low end Meade. If your company offers an alternative purchase/reimbursement option then find out how much it covers - I'll wager its more than that scope is and it might be close to enough for a really nice telescope.

If the purchase/reimburse option is not available you can still enjoy the scope, but don't expect to see nebulae or see much detail in the Andromeda or Whirlpool galaxies. You won't see Jupiter's red spot, but you can just make out Saturn's rings. It will show lunar mountian ranges really well.

Oh, and remember turn off the redot viewfinder - it'll kill the battery in just a couple of hours. I've lot count of the number of times I killed the battery - and evertime you have to realign the red dot, its a PITA.

(ps congrats on 20)
 
Fantastic disclaimer!! Gave me a chuckle....

You can just imagine the big baddy in a James Bond film reading that and then kicking himself and having to start his calculations all over again...!

:)
 
OK, now I'm jealous.
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no need to be I ain't got it yet!

If your company offers an alternative purchase/reimbursement option then find out how much it covers
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nope they don't

Oh, and remember turn off the redot viewfinder - it'll kill the battery in just a couple of hours. I've lot count of the number of times I killed the battery - and evertime you have to realign the red dot, its a PITA.
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thanks for the tip. You sound like you know your stuff Alaric, don't be surprised if I drop you a pm in the next couple months to get some more tips!
 
Alaric said:
OK, now I'm jealous.

:geek:
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No need to be, :)

On the plus side, it picks up things like Saturn's moons or the Orion nebula (http://www.omniscopic.com/blog/labels/Hubble.html) very nicely, and objects are much crisper than what you get with a Mak-Cassegrain. And Dobs are cheap, my 12" cost a grand. Not bad...

But on the downside it's a Dob. Which means no photos, no tracking, no goto. At least not out of the box anyways. And it's huge, when I first got it, I woke up wondering what in the world was that hot water heater doing in my bedroom. :)
 
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