Posts Made By: Larry Seguin

Hi Tim,
There are a lot of parameters to consider in a scope purchase, and I don't know what those are for you. If you're looking for apo performance there are a lot of good 80 mm's out there at the five hundred dollar price point and below. As well, there are numerous long focus refractors. When I wanted an 80 mm travel scope the main issue for me was portability. Something I could grab fully loaded and go with in one hand. I also wanted as small a package as possible to make it travel friendly in a car. I ended up with Orion's ST-80. Just a cut over ten pounds WITH a Paragon tripod, only about fifteen inches so it doesn't take up much room in the car. I'd heard reports about substantial color fringing. Maybe mine is the exception, but I find the color to be really minimal...surprisingly so. It's pretty good at powers up to 80x-100x, though it performs well around 40x- 60x. It's got enough aperture to pick out the brighter galaxies, nebulas and planetaries. Where it really shines, of course, is on wide field views of open clusters and star fields. All in all, very satisfac- tory at what I'm asking it to do, and all for less than four hundred dollars. If that's in the ball park of what you're looking for, then I hope you find the information helpful.
Larry Seguin

Bill:
Interesting! Maybe if we could get Al to make a 40* Nagler....

Senior pastor at Calvary de Taos church in New Mexico.

Thanks for taking the time to make your report, Inge! Your observations confirmed for me that some of these objects are just plain hard to see, and encouraged me to try again on some that will hopefully reveal themselves now that I know what to look for. Very helpful!

Darrell,
I NEVER go out without my chair anymore. It's one of the best investments you'll ever make.
Larry

Thanks for the tip, Bill. I'll go check that one out right now!
Larry

Aaaah....back to eyepieces! At various times I've had anywhere from a dozen to two dozen to even as many as three dozen eps in my case at one time. There came a point in time for me where I was spending more time trying to decide WHICH ep to use than I was looking THROUGH the ep. At that point I started selling off, consolidating, and upgrading. Here's what I find useful for now:
1) A low power finder ep, 5-7 mm exit pupil.
2) Something about twice that power, as I find a 2x
jump significant at that end of the power spectrum.
3) Something around 2 mm exit pupil, as has been
discussed here many times.
4) Something about 1.4x the previous power.
I find that a good barlow, with these eps, gives me the powers that I use the most often. Only problem is, that wth three telescopes and a binoviewer, I STILL end up with over a dozen eps. Four will work for me on
any given night, with any given scope.

Larry

Hey James,

I can pretty much second what Jarno has said. I've never had a Denk-I've got one of those can't-be-named binoviewers, too. After playing around with them on a wide variety of objects I can tell you that I use them mostly for high magnifications on the Moon and the planets. Much easier than squinting, and if floaters are an issue for you they disappear with two eyes. Had some great views of Saturn through them on an 8" f/6 dob and a 14" f/4.7 dob
Larry

I missed the March dates for seeing the "x", but did get out last night. True, I was a couple of days past prime viewing, but there it was! It made a nice little triangle with Copernicus and Ptolemaeus, pretty as you please! Thanks for posting the information and the pictures, they really helped me pick it out. I'd never noticed it before, even though I'd been over that area many times.

The Celestron Ultima 2x, and the Klee 2.8x are both highly regarded, and both under $100.00. They often show up for sale used here on Astromart. I use both, and think you would enjoy either one.