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Posts Made By: Darren Drake

April 28, 2006 05:54 PM Forum: Reflectors

Lightbridge optics?

Posted By Darren Drake
I as well as a couple of friends are looking into these but want some serious feedback on the optics. Any reviews or first hand experience out there? Thanks.

September 25, 2006 03:19 AM Forum: Refractors

Orion 120 ED first impressions

Posted By Darren Drake
I just came from astrofest which was a very wet affair by day with a few breaks in the clouds at night. Most of the clear that we did have was quite unexpected and so very few scopes were actually going. In any event 20/20 Telescopes had their usuall impressive display of scopes for sale including the new Orion 120 ED. I took several opportunities to look through it with a 5mm Stratus during the day and looked at numerous terrestrial objects. At times there were brief sucker holes and the sun shone through which allowed me to see some glints of sunlight which produced excellent artificial stars to take advantage of. I was very impressed with the star test. There was pretty good spherical correction, actually better than my 80 ED, and there was no appreciable color to be seen. Collimation and baffeling seemed to be good as well. Overall I was impressed with this scope and if they are all like this it will be another winner and at a good price. Now if we can only see what the new 5-inch Meade apo is going to look like...

April 1, 2007 06:12 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Celestron Naglers comming soon

Posted By Darren Drake
The new Celestron Axiom LX series will offer 82 degree fovs at substantially lower costs than Uncle Al offers. Included in the lineup is a 31mm for $399. So will these be the real deal???

http://www.optcorp.com/ProductList.aspx?uid=30-718-34-1121

April 8, 2007 12:50 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Meade 18mm UW 5K vs 17mm Nagler

Posted By Darren Drake

I have a good budy who is trying to make a decision towards these two eyepieces. I have been trying to get him to go with Uncle Al but the price of the Meade is quite tempting for him. Are there any direct comparisons or reviews of the Meade out there? Thanks.

April 18, 2007 11:32 PM Forum: Eyepieces

will premo eyepieces last geologic timescales?

Posted By Darren Drake
I remember the movie Time Machine (the recent one) where the guy accidentally goes into the future 800,000 years. I wonder if he stumbled upon a case of well preserved Naglers would the glass still be good? Would it be terribly yellowed and decemented or as good as new? What do you think??

May 1, 2007 01:28 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

awesome new magazine

Posted By Darren Drake
I just got the first issue of Astronomy Technology Today. It's a new monthly magazine about astro products. It has some nice articles about the astro gear we all love to chat about.

July 21, 2007 06:38 PM Forum: Pictures of Me and My Telescope and........

astrocamp 2007 pics

Posted By Darren Drake
Last year I wrote an article here about my summer at Camp Eberhart. I'm back again this year and here is a link to some pics from astrocamp week 4. Enjoy!
http://analyzer.depaul.edu/paperplate/astrocamp07.htm

August 13, 2007 06:16 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

green laser experiment

Posted By Darren Drake
I've always wondered just how bright a green laser would appear if looked into at a substantial distance so I set up an experiment to view straight into one at a kilometer away at dusk. I aimed at a distant target and drove out to the site and was first amazed to see the effects of seeing affecting the illuminated area. This is the same effect as shadow banding just before a total solar eclipse. I then looked into the beam expecting it to be maybe -8 or -9 mag but was surprised to see that the 27mw laser was nearly to bright to look into and probably was more like -15 or so! Of course this is just an estimate. These things are really quuite amazing.

August 16, 2007 02:22 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

mirror refiguring dissapointments?

Posted By Darren Drake
I'm wondering if anyone here has had a mirror they thought might need refigureing and gone through the process of spending lots of money only to see that there was no real difference. I wonder this because I have heard reports where people have said that after having a mirror tested it would be beneficial they were told to have it redone then the owner reports no discernable difference afterwards. Thanks

August 31, 2007 02:01 PM Forum: Eyepieces

New Celestron Axiom LX pics and specs

Posted By Darren Drake
Here is the info. To me the eyelens looks to small with to little ER on all but the 31mm and the 23mm.
http://www.celestron.com/c2/product.php?ProdID=460

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