Posts Made By: Nattee Chotinun

Gerry,
There are at least two reviews of the Orion V-Block in the Chinese_Refractor forum on yahoo.

Nat

My 10" SCT used to be fork mounted (LX50). I did not care for the weight either. Now it's mounted on a CI-700. The heaviest component is the EQ head. It weights 35 lbs.

The optics in mind are superb. I got Bob's knob for it and did the critical collimation on a steady night. I have done side by side comparison with my 5" Mak-Newt (MN56). The 10" SCT shows far more details on Jupiter. On very steady nights, I have observed Jupiter at 313x.

On DSO's, it's not even a contest. I'm working through the Herschel 400 with my 10" SCT, so far I observed 291 objects. I can see dark lanes on some of the galaxies and features on some of the planetaries. After hours of observing the H400 objects, Messier objects now appeared really large and bright with lots of details.

However, because I am starting to see details on the H400 faint fuzzies with the 10" SCT, I now have serious aperture fever. I managed to overcome my ladder phobia and now seriously thinking about 18-20" DOB (with tracking, of course). I spent some time with a friend's 16" dob last summer and thought that it's not for me. I loved the views, just not the hassle and the user interface. That was at a fairly dark sky site in Northern California.

I now live at 6300 feet about 7 miles south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The skies to east, south and zenith are very dark; structures in the Milky Way are clearly visible. My 10" SCT and CI700 are now on a home-made wheelie bar. Now that portability is no longer an issue, I find myself looking at big dobs in a very different light. Imagine yourself just rolling a fully assembled 18" dob out of the garage into a dark sky site. Aperture fever has found some powerful allies.

I will attend a few star parties this summer and look at big dobs with the intention of trying to rekindle my ladder phobia. I have this feeling that it is a waste of time. Aperture fever + dark sky home may have cured me of ladder phobia permanently. A change of environment can really change your likes and dislikes.

Nat Chotinun

I have the 10" LX50, sort of. I took the OTA off the fork and put it on a CI700 GEM. The fork and OTA combination was just too bulky and heavy (about 56 lbs). I did not like heaving that thing on to the wedge. Trying to line up the bolt with the slot on the wedge is not the kind of excitement I want from this hobby. In its present configuration, the heaviest single component (EQ head) is 35 lbs.

Your 8" dob may actually require less space. The forks, OTA, tripod/wedge on the 10" LX50 takes up quite a bit of space. I would save my money and keep the 8" dob.

One other thing, the fork mount on the 10" LX50 will not be as stable in the wind as your 8" dob. This is another reason why I dumped the fork and put my OTA on a GEM. If you want tracking, why not get an EQ platform for your dob?

Nat Chotinun
Santa Fe, NM

I use a Short Tube 80 with a 26 mm ep as my finder. It's mounted on my EQ mounted 10" SCT. I use it in conjunction with a Telrad. I use the ST80 for starhopping. I put together a piggyback mount for $25. Here's a link to my webpage showing the mount:

http://www.belayslave.com/astronomy/ST80piggyback/st80piggyback.htm

Nat Chotinun
Santa Fe, NM

I would recommend that you try one or buy it used. I bought one and sold it after 2 months. I used it in a Pronto and a MN56 Mak-Newt.

I used it exclusively for lunar and planetary observing and found that the 3 mm position was useless. I compared it to the 4, 5, and 6mm Orthos and found that it was not as sharp. I sold it and now my collection consists of a 4mm and 5mm orthos and a 6mm Clave. I don't wear glasses so the eye-relief is not a problem. What's important is sharpness. For high power lunar and planetary, my 6mm Clave is the first one I reach for.

You may find that the 3-6 Nagler zoom is fine for your purpose.

Nat C.

I have a pix in my old ad:
http://www.astromart.com/viewad.asp?cid=173725

I use the TeleVue 2x and 3x barlows on my MN56 Mak-Newt for prime focus webcam imaging. If you have enough focus travel, it should be fine. I found the image too dark for a 26mm eyepiece. I use the eyepiece to center the image for my webcam.

Nat Chotinun
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Great news, thanks for posting.

I take it that the 1278 will work with binoviewers equipped with a corrector lens? I am waiting for the 1278 and the Denk II. When I read that you want to cut 6" off a perfectly good scope for binoviewing it made me curious. You want a configuration that does not require corrector lens or diagonal?

CS,

Nat

I just went through a similar excercise. I was using a 5" f/6 EQ mounted Mak-Newt as my quick look scope. This is fine for planets and the moon, but for deep sky it was not satisfactory for me. For short sessions, I usually just look at familiar, brighter Messier objects. My other scopes are 15" dob and 10" EQ-mounted SCT. They are both fully assembled and can be rolled out, but their size made them unsuitable for 1/2 to 1 hour session, especially when it's windy. I need the ability to put the scope in a part of my property that is protected from our ever-present high desert spring and summer wind.

My solution was to take advantage of Orion's sale on their XT dob in July and bought a 8" f/6 dob. I can park the dob anywhere out of the wind and point it at the part of the sky that's visible. Now I have a quick look scope that satisfies my deep sky cravings. The view of the Messier objects in the 8" dob is far more satisfying than in my 5" MN.

A 10" dob it will be so much better on deep sky that a 5" at the cost of a little more weight and bulk. But these thing are somewhat relative anyway. What's a pain for one person is no big deal for another. Some people are satisfied with views of deep sky with 4-5" scopes, some require more aperture.


Nat

Santa Fe

I use both a telrad and a Short Tube 80 as finders on my 15" f/5 dob. I use a 32 mm TV plossl and a correct image diagonal on the ST80. That gives me about 3 degrees FOV. The star chart I use is Cartes du Ceil. This combination is a joy to use. I can scale Cartes du Ceil to match the FOV in the ST80. It's bright and wide in the ST80 which makes matching the star field near the target faint fuzzies quite easy. I use a 35mm Panoptic in the 15" dob during the search.

I mounted my ST80 near the eyepiece which did upset the balance of my dob. I cured this by attaching a small basket to the rocker box. I put soft weights in the basket to balance the dob. The weights are from ankle weights that you can buy at sporting goods store.

Enjoy your new light bucket!

Nat