Last night was a pretty good night and myself and two friends took advantage of it. We went out to a Private Wildlife Preserve near by and set up our scopes. We had a 15" f/4.2 Split-tube Discovery, a 10" f/5 Hardin and my 14.5" f/4.3 Starmaster.
I was doing a test for someone of the Antares 25mm W-70 EP and I wanted to try it in more than one scope and with more than one set of eyes.
I was also wanting to give my Starmaster a good run after making some changes to the Alt bearing Teflon surfaces and reworking the primary mirror clips. Plus I wanted to try the EQ Platform again after making a few changes on it as well.
We waited for darkness to fall and then started with Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter was a bit low and want to clear so I waited until later for it to rise. Saturn was looking good.
After it was fully dark I began looking at Galaxy Alley near M-86 in Coma Berenices and there were so many Galaxies present that I lost count! I had 9 in the FOV of the 20mm Nagler at one time. 8O
I tested the 25mm W-70 in this region and found it to be fine for an inexpensive EP. It did not compare to the 24mm Panoptic, but the inner 60% or so of the FOV was quite good. It did loose its edge though, especially in the f/4.2 and f/4.3. But overall I would give it a thumbs up in throughput and contrast, with a good rating overall in FOV compared to the WO Swan or the GSO Superview.
I also worked for a while getting my friends 10" Hardin collimated precisely, so that we could do so testing of the optics. After a good collimation and a couple of hours cool down, we tried many EPs and object to evaluate it. Pleasantly surprised, he found that the views in the scope were actually quite good.
We have worked on the movements in the Dob for a while and also on stiffening the rocker box. It seems we have made some real improvements.
The viewing got very good around 11pm and I spent quite a while comparing the view between the Discovery and the Starmaster on many galaxies, globulars, nebula and the comet. The Discovery did quite well, but no doubt about the Zambuto mirror outperforming the Discovery in contrast and overall quality of image. But, the Discovery was very good really.
I am becoming a big fan of the EQ Platform. It performs quite well and tracks very accurately over its 1 hour and 15 minute cycle. I am very happy I made the jump and bought it. I would recommend this as an alternative to the expensive Go-To systems for those who can not afford to spend the extra cash. It is a great substitute when combined with DSC.
I was doing a test for someone of the Antares 25mm W-70 EP and I wanted to try it in more than one scope and with more than one set of eyes.
I was also wanting to give my Starmaster a good run after making some changes to the Alt bearing Teflon surfaces and reworking the primary mirror clips. Plus I wanted to try the EQ Platform again after making a few changes on it as well.
We waited for darkness to fall and then started with Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter was a bit low and want to clear so I waited until later for it to rise. Saturn was looking good.
After it was fully dark I began looking at Galaxy Alley near M-86 in Coma Berenices and there were so many Galaxies present that I lost count! I had 9 in the FOV of the 20mm Nagler at one time. 8O
I tested the 25mm W-70 in this region and found it to be fine for an inexpensive EP. It did not compare to the 24mm Panoptic, but the inner 60% or so of the FOV was quite good. It did loose its edge though, especially in the f/4.2 and f/4.3. But overall I would give it a thumbs up in throughput and contrast, with a good rating overall in FOV compared to the WO Swan or the GSO Superview.
I also worked for a while getting my friends 10" Hardin collimated precisely, so that we could do so testing of the optics. After a good collimation and a couple of hours cool down, we tried many EPs and object to evaluate it. Pleasantly surprised, he found that the views in the scope were actually quite good.
We have worked on the movements in the Dob for a while and also on stiffening the rocker box. It seems we have made some real improvements. The viewing got very good around 11pm and I spent quite a while comparing the view between the Discovery and the Starmaster on many galaxies, globulars, nebula and the comet. The Discovery did quite well, but no doubt about the Zambuto mirror outperforming the Discovery in contrast and overall quality of image. But, the Discovery was very good really.
I am becoming a big fan of the EQ Platform. It performs quite well and tracks very accurately over its 1 hour and 15 minute cycle. I am very happy I made the jump and bought it. I would recommend this as an alternative to the expensive Go-To systems for those who can not afford to spend the extra cash. It is a great substitute when combined with DSC.
[SIZE="Large"][/SIZE][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR] Floyd Blue
Amateur Imager
