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Posts Made By: Andrew Riehl

April 13, 2002 10:53 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

9.25 on LXD55?

Posted By Andrew Riehl
the lxd-55 looks to me like nothing more than a renamed cg-5; I think you would have the same issues; yet I have not actually seen the lxd55, so I can't say for sure. My fraction of a dollar.

April 15, 2002 04:04 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

collins I3 eyepiece

Posted By Andrew Riehl
I don't own one, but did have the opportunity to have one in my scope for an hour or so at a star party last year. It is to say the least, very, very cool. It does take some getting used to; but it's amazing what you can see. I personally don't like the whole T.V.-watching effect too much, but it is neat to see so much more. The key to outstanding performance is dimming down the backround sky; UHC, broadband, or OIII's or the like are a necessity if you've got any kind of light pollution. Overall impression--I personally would spend that kind of money on other things, but I would LOVE for a buddy to buy one....

April 23, 2002 10:52 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Curved Vane Spider in S&T

Posted By Andrew Riehl
a curved vane spreads the diffracted light over a large area, opposed to focusing it into bright spikes. The result is a very dim glow around stars (usually undetectable visually, but would turn phtographs into a nightmare) instead of bright spikes that radiate from the star. There are many sites on the web that talk about curved spiders, just do a web search. M2C.

June 10, 2002 04:34 AM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

Lumicon GEG

Posted By Andrew Riehl
the camera adapter is independent of the rest of the guider for radial adjustment. The bushing at the end of the camera adapter is threaded for 48mm filters. You will not be disapointed with the GEG; it is one truly top notch piece of equipment and I'm sure other owners will say the same.

June 24, 2002 11:45 PM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

Better instrucment for film astrophotos?

Posted By Andrew Riehl
especially when working with film several of your options aren't so hot. Aperture doesn't always win in astrophotography--speed and optical design do 99% of the time. The Mak-cass is a little on the slow side in my opinion. The mak-newt has speed, but the tiny secondary that gives it such great eyepiece views leads to severe vignetting on film, provided it's designed with the right focal plane distance to let you focus. The 8" and 9.25" SCT's would do well, but the 6.3 reducers out on the market are really crappy in my opinion...The 10" would let you use a Giant easy guider (one of the finest astronomy accessories out there). Guide scopes don't work too well with SCT's, I'd highly reccomend going with an OAG. Out of your list, I'd reccomend the 10" SCT (or an 11" Celestron). I'd also reccomend a few refracotrs you haven't mentioned as well.

August 1, 2002 10:58 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Re: Conrando or Thousand Oaks

Posted By Andrew Riehl
The lumicon/thousand oaks prominence filters are not at all worth the money (IMHO). If you're going to spend the extra money for an h-alpha filter, go for sub-angstrom (coronado/daystar). Daystars are phenomenal, but EXTREMELY expensive. Coronado solarmax filters would be my suggestion; the 40mm is VERY affordable is is quite an impressive view (I own one of these myself). The mak you have isn't a very good match for it though. My overall suggestion for someone wanting to test the waters of h-alpha is to buy a Coronado Solarmax 40mm filter with a borg 50ED or Coronado's maxscope (unless they already have a decent short focus refractor). Dedicated scopes for h-alpha are really great, you end up using them a lot more. My 84 cents.

August 11, 2002 01:16 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

last nights project part 1...

Posted By Andrew Riehl
I did some work with 'the sky' and used the image's field of view to calculate the f/ratio to be f/6.5 in this configuration--I need to get an extension tube for the GEG to speed things up more when desired.

August 15, 2002 09:13 PM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

16mm shot of Milkyway

Posted By Andrew Riehl
what f/ratio is the lens set at? that may have something to do with the lack of meteors. 800 film is still a little slow for meteors, depending on f/ratio. also, are you scanning prints or negatives?

August 17, 2002 12:40 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

nebula filters for binos?

Posted By Andrew Riehl
don't know exactly what you want to know; a direct querry to howie glatter (I know he makes and sells them) may answer your questions. www.skypointer.net has his email address there.

August 24, 2002 11:25 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Meade Field De-rotator on 10" LX 200 GPS Alt Mount

Posted By Andrew Riehl
they work buy rotating the camera as the scope tracks in alt-az. This allows imaging while in alt-az (without a wedge). Yes, you need to guide, just as you will ALWAYS have to do with any kind of long exposure imaging. Is it worth buying? I say no. get a wedge. Look around the web and magazines to see how many of the really good SCT imagers are using de rotators. None. Just a marketing ploy.

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