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Posts Made By: Jim Moscheck

December 17, 2006 02:50 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Vixen LVW 42mm

Posted By Jim Moscheck
Hi Joe,
I used one in my 8 inch SCT also and I liked it better than a UO 40 MK70. I never really looked at the full moon through it, though, but it was a great widefield DSO EP with excellent contrast and sharp to the edge. The only reason I sold it was that I moved to dobs and the exit pupil was now too large. That said, I have a friend who is a diehard star hopper and he uses it in his 18" f4.5 as a finder EP. I am a big fan of these EPs and still have a couple ( 8mm and 17mm) I use a lot.

I ended up selling the 42mm to help fund a 26T6 nagler which is now my widest field EP.
Cheers,

January 8, 2007 05:58 PM Forum: After Dark

January's Bright Comet McNaught ( C/2006 P1 )

Posted By Jim Moscheck
I gave it a try on the 6th with no luck. Our usually cloudy skies parted at sunset to the SW and I had a real low horizon. I saw Venus and Altair became visable, but it was naught to be. (Sorry :S ) The horizon was pretty hazy and it was probably hiding there.

Anyone else have any luck spotting Comet McNaught?

January 22, 2007 02:34 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Confused again, naturally!

Posted By Jim Moscheck
Hi Joe,
I've had an ED80 and while it gave great views of the planets it was very heavy, and the tube has a much larger diameter than similar sized scopes. Maybe something to consider since you're piggybacking.

January 22, 2007 01:24 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Whats the lowest magnification I should buy?

Posted By Jim Moscheck
Casey Whalen said:

Still getting my feet wet when it comes to eyepieces.
I plan on buying a Tele Vue 2" 27mm Panoptic and a 12mm Radian. Should I shoot for a nice 40+mm ep as well? I know this is kind of a vague question but feedback would be appreciated thanks a bunch!

Hi Casey,

You have to be conscious of exit pupil. I have a 10" XTi and my 26mm is the longest I use with it. I had the choice between the Nagler 26mm and the 31mm hand grenade and chose the 26 due to its smaller exit pupil. A young eye will dilate to about 7mm. My vintage '57 eyes will dilate to a little over 5mm, so the 26mm was a better match for me. YMWV

I think your choice of a 27Pan will be a good match for your scope. You might pick up a longer EP to use as a finder EP, but the sky background will be lighter and you will waste a few photons.

Go to the TeleVue website and play with their eyepiece calculator. Plug in your scopes parameters and it will give you magnifications and eye relief among other things.

January 26, 2007 10:02 PM Forum: Eyepieces

University Optics 32mm MK80

Posted By Jim Moscheck
New price from UO is $295 + shipping. Why not just get a used 35mm Panoptic instead. The one I had was great in my 8" SCT and very good in my f4.7 dob with a little softness at the edge, but a pleasing view none the less.
Cheers,

January 28, 2007 04:01 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

does paracorr require in or outfocus?

Posted By Jim Moscheck
Tom Lacovik said:

What would happen if I add a paracorr? Would I need to rack the focuser in (toward the secondary) or out (toward my eye) when I put that same eyepiece back in the chain?
Thanks.
TomL

Hi Tom,
I'm new to the paracorr since I just got mine, but have used it in my Orion dob.

I think it needs about 1/4" infocus. I would check it to make sure, but I'm at work. I'll double check it tonight when I get home.

I am in the middle of a fast dob project, too, only f4.3. I have the benifit of having the paracorr before hand so I can just install it before I cut my poles. I plan on following K/B's advice and cut the poles a bit longer and then fine tuning balance with the mirror box before I cut the poles to their final length.

January 28, 2007 04:51 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Is GOTO worth it?

Posted By Jim Moscheck
I'll give my 2 cents. I live in Michigan and was a frustrated star hopper for many years. Trouble is in Michigan we might only get 3 or 4 good nights in a year that work out well with my job, family, and other obligations. I used to spend those nights searching and observing a few objects, but never had any consistency or speed to my star hopping. Finding objects took a long time since it seemed like I needed to relearn the sky every time out. After 20 years of off again/on again interest in astronomy I bought my first goto, the venerable 8" LX200 and have never looked back. The first night out I studied more objects with it than I had viewed in the previous year.

I've since abandoned EQ mounts and the wedge mounted LX200 and now use a 10" dob and I'm having a blast. I'm currently working on my first ATM project, a 14.5" f4.3 truss dob.



January 31, 2007 01:58 AM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

OK WHERE does it plug-in???

Posted By Jim Moscheck
Joe Lalumia said:

Well ..........I looked through the manual for my LX90 LNT and NOWHERE does it say WHERE the LNT plugs into???

The Autostar hand controller? or the AUX connection on the LX() control panel?? I dont want to burn out something by plugging it in to the wrong port??? HELP!

Hi Joe,
I can't answer directly, but when I had an LX200

http://www.mapug-astronomy.net/

was a big help in learning about SCTs.

Cheers,

February 20, 2007 05:23 PM Forum: Telescope Making

Bonding plywood panels

Posted By Jim Moscheck
Well, it looks like the sandbags did a fine job.

I got worried after reading Dave B.'s post concerning Titebond III needing 175 lbs. sq/in. pressure. shocked I guess it helps that my panels were very flat to begin with and I had a flat surface to work on. I sandwiched the panels between some extra pieces of plywood and even though I didn't have nearly enough weight as recommended the panels look real good. Thanks for all the help! grin

Hopefully I'll have the rocker together by this weekend.

February 20, 2007 06:11 PM Forum: Telescope Making

paint

Posted By Jim Moscheck
I tried to help you on this one but I can't even find the stuff on 3M's website. :S

When I did the Google for "3M Black Velvet 9560" there were a few hits, but not many.

Good luck,

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