mtbc: maze I (white-red)
Mark T. B. Carroll ([personal profile] mtbc) wrote2024-12-07 05:27 pm
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Telescopes

I was taking a look at what reasonable but cheap telescopes exist these days. Some of the marketing is funny, e.g., the SkyWatcher Evostar range is probably better for objects rather nearer to us than stars. Among the first things I noticed in looking at Celestron's products was how many modern telescopes now come wireless-enabled with apps to control them. I would be less sure of finding them still usable decades later, compared with say, my father's refractor from the 1960s.

I would also be sceptical of software quality partly because, back when I worked on software used by professionals who pay many thousands of pounds for their microscopes, it was clear that the microscope hardware was often of far better quality than the software with which the manufacturers lumbered their users. Goodness knows I am not easygoing when it comes to user experience, hence my grumbling ever since smart telephones and televisions became dominant, so I am cautious when it comes to buying software-dependent products.
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darkoshi: (Default)

[personal profile] darkoshi 2024-12-08 07:37 am (UTC)(link)
This post resonates with me, as I was having trouble with my Christmas Tree lights today due to their app which lets me control light effects. On the one hand, the app and being able to customize the colors and effects adds so much extra pizazz to the light set, but it can also be a big headache sometimes. One of the prior sets of xmas tree lights lasted 30 years; no app just turning a knob to one of a limited set of effects.
mellowtigger: (astronomy)

[personal profile] mellowtigger 2024-12-10 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
About 25 years ago, I got a Meade ETX 125 telescope. I very much like the quality of the telescope itself. That Meade ETX Autostar controller, however... no. I've tried more than once over the years to ask about specifications of that telescope interface or if any new/different controllers are available, but I was always met by silence. The best pictures I was ever able to take were these, back in 2008, when I was still on LiveJournal.
https://mellowtigger.dreamwidth.org/16675.html

If I had a better controller, I'm sure I would use that telescope again. These days, though, it just sits in its box undisturbed. :(
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