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Posts Made By: Bob Young

March 22, 2007 02:50 AM Forum: Refractors

TAKAHASHI FS 78

Posted By Bob Young
I like my FS78 a lot. It's one of the last built. Bought it used on AM.

The only APO refractor I've compared it to is my TV102. I think the image in the Tak is slightly cleaner with virtually no in-focus color. It also snaps into focus much better than the TV. Naturally, the TV will go deeper.

I only use it for visual observing.
Bob

August 6, 2007 09:09 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

1 scope vs 3 scopes

Posted By Bob Young
Whoa, David. Your post hits close to home. Seems like we've been traveling the same path.

For me: a TV102 plus a C9.25 plus an 8" Discovery Dob plus looking at FS128s equaled Conclusion: Time to stop throwing money at this hobby.

If the three already in the barn don't add up to near perfection then one (or even one additional) probably won't either.
FWIW
Bob (Learning to be content with what I have)

September 7, 2007 07:05 PM Forum: ASTRONOMY

Dimming the Sun

Posted By Bob Young
They are always big on the "man made" aspect of pollutants. Gotta emphasize that. I suppose forest fire pollutants don't cause solar dimming....or are they "man made" because we didn't put the fire out?

I suspect that if man's contributions were accurately compared to those from naturally occurring sources such as forest fires, they wouldn't amount to a fart in a windstorm.

September 19, 2007 01:24 AM Forum: Refractors

WO FLT-110 or TV-102 . . .

Posted By Bob Young
Let me get this straight. You're going from an 8" SCT to a 4" refractor and you're worried about an 8mm aperture difference between refractors?

If you think 8mm of aperture might be significant, isn't 98mm much more significant? Maybe you should stick with the SCT.

Seriously, that's the biggest drawback of a 4" APO. You just don't see much compared to an 8" anything.
Bob (TV102 owner)

September 19, 2007 01:29 AM Forum: Refractors

Favorite Grab and Go Refractors

Posted By Bob Young
Tak FS78. A little long, but very nice.

October 16, 2007 09:57 PM Forum: Mounts

AS-GT: current firmware versions

Posted By Bob Young
FWIW: 4.12 is the current Hand Controller version. 5.07 is the current motor controller version. As confirmed by Celestron customer support.
Bob

October 16, 2007 10:00 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Mount question

Posted By Bob Young
In case anyone is wondering, the Losmandy V-series dovetails Do NOT fit the Celestron ASGT mount.

As confirmed by S. Losmandy on 10/16/07
Bob

October 16, 2007 10:32 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Meade ETX 5".

Posted By Bob Young
Here's a short review I wrote in 2001 at the affordable astronomy site:
http://members.tripod.com/irwincur/meade_etx_125.htm

I was a rank beginner then...not much more now. Have looked through a few more scopes, though.

Can now say, with some confidence, that the ETX125 compares favorably with a TV102 on planets and does much better on globular clusters. On open clusters and starfields, the TV102 cleans its clock thanks to the wider FOV. On double stars, the same eyepiece that splits any given double in the TV102 will split that same double when used in the ETX....and vice versa. Not sure what that means, since the ETX f.l. is over twice that of the TeleVue.

Still have mine. Optically it's pretty sharp, it's convenient to use and it's probably not worth much used. I don't bother with GoTo any more. I just set it up in polar mode on the wedge and start the tracking motors. The basic hand controller is then used to slew to whatever target I want. The GoTo was pretty frustrating back then. The newer models are probably better.

The plastic construction was a sore point. Yet, I treated it gently and nothing ever broke.
FWIW
Bob

October 21, 2007 04:10 PM Forum: Refractors

I'm confused

Posted By Bob Young
Confused? Heck, I'm always confused.

One thing I'm straight on: An FS78 makes a heckuva nice "Grab and Go out to the backyard" scope. There's one going cheap on AM now. Jump on it.

It'll save you doing all this SD, SF, alphabet soup research and then still not knowing whether a scope is any good.
FWIW
Bob (Very happy FS78 owner)

December 31, 2007 01:29 AM Forum: Eyepieces

What a deal~!

Posted By Bob Young
Well, I skirted the developing moral quagmire here and put a 3.2mm on order. Wanted something that would push the FS78 up close to 200x on a good night. If that little runt works, maybe I'll get more. Can hardly lose at that price.

Thanks for the heads-up, Floyd.
Bob

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