Posts Made By: Michael Brannon

Here are a few new pictures.

Here are a few new pictures.

Here are a few new pictures.

Here are a few new pictures.

Here are a few new pictures.

Here are a few new pictures.

Here are a few new pictures.

I'm about to start acquiring my first Panoptics and Naglers, and I was wondering if I could lend on your experiences with them.
I was wondering if they are good for planetary use. I currently have Televue Plossls and UO Orthos, and I was wondering if they would be comparable to these in detail. I am trying to find out if I should replace what I have with Panoptics and Naglers, or should I keep some of the ones I have and just get Panoptics for lower powers. I am asking because I was planning on selling what I have to finance this upgrade.
Any advice I could get on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot,
Mike

I currently own a Celestron C9.25, mounted on a CG-5 with motor drives. I have a good solid tripod, but an looking to upgrade the mount/tripod. I have been looking at a Losmandy GM8, but it is a bit out of my budget at the moment. I was wondering if anyone out there has any experience with the Orion Atlas mount. It's priced at around half the price of a GM8, and already comes with an illuminated polar scope. There is a ton of experience on this forum. So, I'm hoping that someone out there could tell me if this would be a reasonable substitute for the GM8? I'm hoping for something that tracks pretty well. I don't do a lot of long exposure ccd work, but would like to take some pictures through the scope either with a webcam or my digital camera (I have a 6.3 reducer). Also, would the dovetail size work with the one on my C9.25, or is it a different size? Thank you in advance for any information you might have.

I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with Antares W70 series ultrawides. I've been considering getting one or two and trying them out. I was wondering how the image quality is and if they have abberition?
I've been trying to find reviews of them on Excelsis and other sites, but I haven't found any. If anyone here has had experience with them, please tell me what you think of them. I have an Orion ED80, and an 8" f6 dob I would be using them in. I am also building a 15" f5. They wouldn't be used for planetary observing, just wide field deep sky and daytime spotting through the ED80.
Thanks for any help you can give.
Mike