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Posts Made By: Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

June 10, 2003 03:22 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Nexstar 5 Eyepieces

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
It seems that your main concern is getting a comfortable high power view through your scope. You could either barlow the 12.5mm Ultima eyepiece you have or get something more comfortable than the 5mm. I've looked through a 6mm Orion Expanse eyepiece which was pretty decent although it seemed to have a bit more light scatter than the Ultimas. The eye relief was decent but it was prone to blacking out a bit. I noticed that the 5mm Celestron X-cel is in stock at Anacortes, I would just order one and compare it to your 5mm Ultima. If you like it, get the 8mm to fill in the gap between 12 and 5. If you don't, just return it or sell it on Astromart. I've used a couple of the Orion Epic ED versions of the X-cels (same eyepieces) and was very impressed considering the price. The view is nearly as good as a Televue Radian and they are just as comfortable to view through. If you decide to double your budget, the 7mm and 5.2mm Pentax XL eyepieces are excellent. I have the 7mm and it is easily the most comfortable to use high power eyepiece I've used and has fantastic image quality as well.

Joplin

June 11, 2003 12:45 AM Forum: Telescope Making

Off axis solar filter

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
I would suggest getting some of the Baader astrosolar film and making the filter yourself. It isn't very expensive so you could even experiment with a full aperture version. Under most conditions I would think that the off axis 4" or so setup would work better. The main thing with the Baader film is that you don't stretch it when making the filter, you leave it loose (just secure to the cell well so it doesn't come off !) I have found that the image with the Baader film is superior to any glass filter I have looked through.

Joplin

June 11, 2003 04:23 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

Size of Mars November 17th, 2003?

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
It will be 12 arc seconds across on 11/17/03. It is currently 13" across and will reach a maximum of 25" in late august. It will remain at 20" or larger until the beginning of October. All data derived from Starry Night Pro Planetarium software (which always appears to match the other published data).

Joplin

June 11, 2003 09:05 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Lowe's aluminum case

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
It's outside dimensions are 18.25" x 13.5" x 6.125" and it comes with both diced foam and dividers.

Joplin

June 11, 2003 09:37 PM Forum: Chinese Optics Imports

Mount question

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
It will be fine in my opinion, you will just need to balance it well and put it on a sturdy tripod or pier. The 1278 will hang down pretty low when pointed at zenith, judging by the pictures of it. I've figured out that it will probably put the eyepiece at about 16" below the base of the SP/ GP/ CG-5 mounts. In my case, I would prefer that the eyepiece is at least 44" off of the ground. That would require a tripod that is stable at 5 feet off the ground. Of course if you are willing to get way down on the ground to view or add a bit of wieght to the focuser end of the scope (a hefty nagler would work :-) you can get by with less height. The solid leg hardwood tripod I have for my CG-5 is only good for about 41" so it looks like I'll either avoid the Zenith with the 1278 or sit on the wet grass.

Joplin

June 13, 2003 07:26 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Mak-Cass vs AT1010, Apogee 80ED, or Televue Pronto

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
I would suggest skipping the Mak (while some, such as the ETX 90 are very good, the focal length is quite long). I owned an Apogee 80ED for a while and would skip it in favor of a Stellarvue AT1010. The Apogee had ok color correction, but not great and the image was just too soft at higher magnifications for planetary vewing. I bought in new from Apogee so the quality control on those scopes is questionable. The AT1010 seems to be more consistent than the Apogee and if you bought a used one that has been well kept you should have no problems. Also, the 80ED has hardly any backfocus with a 2" diagonal (in fact a special recessed 1.25" adapter is needed with some eyepieces). The Pronto is nice but the loss of 10mm of aperture will make a difference for astronomy. I should tell you that I finally had it with the cheap small scopes and bought a Vixen FL80S a while back. While it isn't a fair comparison, the Vixen outperformed the Apogee by leaps and bounds.

Joplin

June 19, 2003 01:30 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Vehicle Recommendations

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
If fuel economy is a consideration, my recomendation is for an economy wagon. I can fit my 10" F6 tube newtonian, its equatorial mount, my smaller refractor, its eq mount, tripod for the smaller scope, lounge chair, couple eyepiece cases, and observing stool in my Honda Civic wagon. Even with all of that gear, I still have room for a passenger. Average highway/ city mix mileage is 34 mpg or better. Yes, minivans are nice for hauling lots of gear and sleeping in with the seats removed but a decently designed wagon can also work quite well.

Joplin

June 28, 2003 03:08 PM Forum: Chinese Optics Imports

A little help

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
Hi Lou,

The best dovetail system available for the Super Polaris mounts is made by Astro-Physics. It is the model DOVESP, which sells for $115. It accepts several different plates which run around $25 each. It isn't the cheapest solution but it is definitely the most secure dovetail system available for the Vixen SP. In fact there is a current ad on astromart for one these with a plate that would be suitable for the 1278:

http://www.AstroMart.com/viewad.asp?cid=200604

You might have to adapt the plate a bit to the 1278 rings (drill countersunk holes in the aluminum) but that is easy to do even with a hand drill. The other option is to get a pair of GP/ CG-5 type dovetail mounting blocks from Kens Rings that will fit the stock 1278 dovetail. I would go with the Astrophysics system since it is actually fairly reasonable and much better than the GP/ CG-5 type dovetail system.

Joplin

June 30, 2003 08:46 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Borg 50 / 76mm Front Filter Size (Need Info)

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
The 76mm objectives are threaded for 77 and 82mm filters and the 50ED objective is threaded for 52mm filters. I'm not certain if the 50ED and the 50 achromat have the same size threading but I would bet that they do. I would suggest two separate filters or a step up ring from 52mm to 77mm for the 50mm objective. The step up ring would cost nearly as much as a 52mm filter, so you might as well just get two filters and save the trouble of switching one back and forth.

Joplin

July 8, 2003 04:47 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Looking for a Macintosh stacking program

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
Keith's Image Stacker is the only one I am aware of, it is free. Here is the link to it: http://www.unm.edu/~keithw/keithsImageStacker.html

I've used it with my Mac to process a few Mars images and have found it to be relatively easy to use with very few glitches. Here's an image I used it for taken back on the morning of the 4th

Joplin

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