Posts Made By: Larry Seguin

Hi John,
I'm enjoying the night skies through a pair of 55 year old eyes, been at it now for about ten years. I got started back in Detroit, when I remembered I liked to read about astronomy as a boy. I tried to get my (then) ten year old son interested with a 60 mm refractor. The boy took a couple of looks, said "that's nice dad, thanks" and went his way. I however got the bug again. Thankdfully, I was able to move from Detroit skies (UGHH!!) to Taos, New Mexico where I can enjoy mag 5.5 skies or so from my front yard through a 14" and 8", darker skies for about a half hours drive! Still looking for people to infect with my passion!
Larry Seguin
Taos, New Mexico

Hi Itz,
If you ask three astronomers, you'll get four opinions! Here's mine: I've got both of them, and I use them both regularly. Which one is best for you probably depends on your current eyepiece selection, and the magnifications you want to achieve. I don't think you would be disappointed with either of them.
Larry Seguin
Taos, New Mexico

Just for fun.....

lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

Larry Seguin
Taos, New Mexico

Larry,
I regularly barlow a 10.5 XL for 320X on the planets through one scope and for 350X on another. The wide field is marvelous on an undriven dob, and the views are comparable to any other eyepieces I've tried...just a little shy of what an ortho will provide. How it would work on a refractor diagonal, I couldn't say.
Larry

According to Phil Harrington, in his book Star Ware (second edition, 1998)the Ultima line was made in Japan by Vixen optical corp. I wonder if they then sold them unbranded to Antares and Orion?
Larry Seguin

I agree, Alan, I find an exit pupil of .8 or so to be about as small as I can go without those bothersome little fellows showing up. Based on Todd Gross's findings I did switch to a binoviewer for all my higher magnification planetary work and bingo--no more floaters. That was really a pleasant discovery!
Larry Seguin
Taos, New Mexico

Hi Rich,
This might be a little out of the way for your friends, but the El Valle Astronomers will be hosting a public star party on Friday October 20th. The event will be held at the Northern New Mexico University campus, by the Observatory, in El Rito. Sunset is at 6:23 pm, and the skies are gorgeous! Yourfriends would be more than welcome!
Larry Seguin
Taos, New Mexico

Peter, when I saw these in Orion's catalog, they reminded me strangely of a Burgess super-wide 32 mm I owned at one time. I went to "The Other Site", pulled up Mike Hosea's review comparing the Burgess SWA's to the Meade QX's, held the Orion catalog opened to the Q70 page next to the screen, and waddya know! Externally at least, these seem to be the SWA's with the Orion label on them. If they ARE the same design, then you might be interested in Mike's comments on them. My SWA wasn't bad...nice wide field, with decent eye relief, but the outer edge was pretty soft. I eventually traded up to a 35 mm Panoptic, and never looked back. Still, not a bad deal for the price.
Larry Seguin
Taos, New Mexico

Yes, definitely better at longer focal ratios. My scopes were f/6, and f/4.7, hence the edge softness.
Larry

Okay, here's a report...
Been doing astronomy for about ten years now, so I guess I qualify as an experienced beginner. Used a variety of 60 through 90 mm long focal ratio refractors. a 4" apo, 8" inch dobs, a 12.5" dob, and now a 14" dob. Last night I took my newest scope out--an 80 mm short tube on a camera tripod. What a blast!! I brought it home in a Toyota Celica. Travel scope? Oh yeah! Carried it outside in one hand with an observing chair in the other hand. Lightweight, quick look scope?
Oh yeah! Began observing immediately, with no waiting for cool down. Allright, so it's not a 14", the images aren't as bright or detailed. But in the time it took me to set up the 14", I observed M-31, M-32, M-81, M-82, M-45, M-42, the Belt stars, and Saturn! It's kinda of a charge to see how much detail can be seen through smaller aperture, once you know what's already there. When the scope needs to be moved to access a different part of the sky, I just picked it up and walked with it, no EQ aligning to worry about. I know this is starting to sound like a mini scope review, but the point is this: It can be a blast getting out under the sky with minimum aperture and doing a quick tour, just to see what you can see. All in all, I had a great time last night, visiting some old friends, and seeing them in a new way!
Larry Seguin
Taos, New Mexico