Posts Made By: William Rose

Mark,
You're not the 1st to ask this. Obviously no one scope meets everyone's needs any more than one car meets everyone needs. My problem with answering your question is what price range?
That said, my favorite is an AP Starfire. If a 6" APO is too pricey I'd stick with my C9.25 for a mounted OTA. If 'best optics' are your goal, I'd keep my 12.5" Starmaster.
Personally I like using a refractor - like driving a sports car instead of a 4 door. The Starfire is exceptional for planetary, lunar, and terrific on doubles. It's just plain fun to use but certainly not for everyone.
SCTs are often called great "one size fits all" scopes but masters at none. IMHO the C9.25 might be the exception that proves the rule. My C9.25 is a great planetary/lunar scope yet still provides excellent DSO viewing. It's large enough to go after some faint fuzzies but still small enough to be easily handled. Price is reasonable and a mount won't break the budget.
The 12.5" Starmaster with ZOC mirror beats the others on performance. It's a typical truss DOB meaning it takes more fiddling (parts, collimation, etc.). It's not as easy to transport due to volume. The Starmaster with proper EPs is exceptionally for planetary, lunar, & doubles and provides great DSO viewing. It has the typical drawbacks of the DOB design.
Hope this helps.
Clear Skies, Bill

FWIW
Some links you might like to wander through regarding filters

http://www.lumicon.com/faq.php?p=faq-f
http://www.lumicon.com/filterspec.php (look toward the bottom)
#80A Blue
Moon: Feature Contrast
Jupiter: Belts, Rilles, Festoons, Great Red Spot
Saturn: Belts, Polar Regions

For Nebula
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/raycash/filters.htm
http://www.ilddat.demon.co.uk/filters.html

CS, Bill

I thought I'd stir up some discuss about University Optics eyepieces manufactured by Gailand.
In the attached a photo are 5 different 'versions' of UO eyepieces built prior to '89. They represent “vintages” of UO EPs.
All of these versions have been represented to me, by well meaning people, as 'UO eyepieces made by Gailand."
So which do you think were manufactured by Gailand and why?
Legend/Notes:
-EPs in Column "A" embossed U-#### are the same vintage/version.
-EPs in Column "B" embossed König are the same vintage/version.
-The 16.0mm König at the top of column "B" is not the same vintage as the eyepiece labeled "E".
>Look closely & note the 16.0mm König at the top of column "B" has a slight 'flat' area around the eyelens (more clearly seen in the 8 & 12mm König EPs). The taper on the eyepiece labeled "E" goes up to a rolled edge.
>You can't see that the EP at the top of Column "B" has Nickel Plated Filter Thread & Anti-Reflective Coating Reflections of Purplish on the eyelens & Deep Green as a 2nd, internal reflection. The EP labeled "E" has Blackened Filter Threads & AR Coating Reflections of Blue on the eyelens & Yellowish-Green as a 2nd, internal reflection.
-The eyepiece labeled “D” has a black ring at the bottom. It's the edge of the field stop. EP has no filter threads. (maybe a clue?).
So what do you think? Clear Skies, Bill

Recently I happened across a pair of 8mm Plössl by Carton. They're a great Plössl and for $20.00 each brand new they're a steal!
They have about a 45° FOV but there is very little edge aberration. There's only the slightest amount of softness at the very edge of the FOV. Detail and Contrast are very good and light transmission is excellent. With an f/7 achromat on the Moon there is very little chromatic aberration, just the slightest of fringe on the outside and nothing noticeable at the terminator. This eyepiece doesn't enhance CA like some of the less expensive Plössl I've tried. On the Orion Nebula the eyepieces are as good at showing detail as a pair of TV 7.4mm Plössl. I haven't had a chance to try them out on a good planetary target but I suspect they'll do fine.
The drawback to this eyepiece it's the eye relief & eye point. Eye relief is only a few millimeters and it blacks out easily. If you wear glasses you're not going to be able to use this eyepiece and you won't like it if you're a novice not used to holding eyepoint.
Without A-B testing it's hard to say but my feeling is the high end Plössls will out perform this one. Then again for 3 or 4 times the price you'd hope they'd do some things better. Overall it's a fun and inexpensive eyepiece at a not so common focal length for a Plössl [or they're expensive dust caps for my BT-80s! :S ].

Happy Holidays & Clear Skies, Bill

Just got a Celestron Stereo Binocular Viewer.
It doesn't work on a C-8, CR-150 HD, C102HD, ETX-125 or Orion by Vixen 102M.
I can't focus in far enough on any of them to bring any eyepice to focus. Have tried over 15 EP's now to no avail. Celestron Tech Support says, "It Should Work." That's about it so far. Let you know if they come back with anything more.

Hi Mike, I have both. The BTs are more of a binotelescope with a narrower field of view and much larger & heavier than the Exceed BS-77i. The Miyauchi are smaller, lighter and more of a traditional "binocular". The Miyauchi only allow 20x & 30x with their EPs. The BTs use standard 1 1/4" EPs. I've used the BTs with 7mm Naglers and 8mm Radians and they hold up the image fairly well. My 6mm Carl Zeiss A-6 starts to break down in all but the best seeing conditions with the BTs. The BTs surprisingly have better Yellow Fringe characterisitcs than the Miyauchi but a pair of low Minus Violet filters (MV-1, quality UV camera like B&W) help the BTs on bright objects like the moon, especially at higher powers. The Miyauchis I have were purchased in late 2003. I sent them back because of the extreme amount of Yellow "Fringe" on really bright objects like the moon. The 2nd pair was checked and 'verified' "perfect". They do the same thing. Really bright objects give you a strong Yellow Fringe.
Overall the Miyauchi's have better Objective lenses than the BT-80Ms as far as Contrast and Definition as well as a wider field of view. For fun I mounted the Miyauchi's on a Meade 2000 Goto Mount atop a TV panorama tripod. Nice combination and a great attraction at public star parties. Each of these binoculars will have their own advocates depending on what they're looking for. Wide view binocular style or heavier telescope style. Your chioce. Hope this helps. Clear Skies, WD0FLX

As always, there are those who prefer a wider field of view or some other characteristic(s) but the Siebert binoculars are light, well made, and have excellent image qualities for the price. As Floyd Blue indicated in a recent post, 'I'd rather see a crisp 2.2 degree FOV than a soft 2.8 degree FOV' (paraphrase as I don't remember the exact quote). These binoculars will meet that expectation.
I'll try and put together a write-up when I return from Kwajalein. For those of you who love to debate technical points etc. please take the opportunity to look up Kwajalein Range Services (KRS) on the Inet and research their Optical Sensor Arrays.
BTW - I have no ties or relationship with Mr. Seibert in any way. This is the first purchase I've made from Siebert Optics.

Dan,
Sorry to hear about your trials, but like Peter you had me LOL!
Who knows, it may show up some day assuming no one tries to sniff it, light it, or whatever.
Several decades ago I acquired a spent 80mm Motor Round while serving in Vietnam. It was a dud that a DOD friend had disarmed. We cleaned out all the explosives and anything harmful so it was just metal. Being the dumb 20 year old I was, I figured I'd ship it home and make a lamp out of it.
Boxed it up, filled out the manisfest with exactly what it was, stated on the manifest that it was a Used 80mm Motor that had been completely disarmed and that it was not a "DX Item" (reuseable since it had been fired). Put a letter inside explaining the whole thing along with a standard "War Trophies" form and shipped it off from Ben Hoa to Chicago, Ill. via Army Post.
6+ month later it showed up in a different box with different packing, etc. There were all kinds of notes on my letter & WT form were about 30 different people & departments had checked and guess what? It's not illegal to ship home an 80mm Motor Round that's been fired & disarmmed.
My wife hates the lamp so it's in the attic now. :-( Oh Well! Maybe your Zip Locks will show up in 4 or 5 months too!
Clear Skies, Bill