Image of the day

Captured by
Yue Ma

HFG-1

About Astromart

My Account

New to Astromart?

Register an account...

Need Help?

Posts Made By: Craig Smith

July 19, 2005 08:20 PM Forum: Refractors

2" mandatory?

Posted By Craig Smith
I'm going to get a short 80 mm scope, and I currently only have 1.25 accessories. With a 480 mm scope, the max field is about 3.25; with a 600 mm (ED80), the max field is about 2.6. Will I be wanting a wider field? I know some of the open clusters won't fit in this field. A wider field might negate the need for a finder, but it's a pretty big price jump to 2". No photography, just visual.

July 22, 2005 05:16 AM Forum: Maksutovs

Small Mak advice needed

Posted By Craig Smith
I would like to get a small scope for quick looks, travel, and daytime. For planets, what kind of magnification can be typically used with average seeing with an Orion 90/102/127 Mak for example?

Anyone use one for daytime as well? They're sold as spotting scopes, but a 30mm eyepiece gives 40-50x, which seems kind of high as a starting point. Are they really practical for this?

Thanks.

July 23, 2005 05:13 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Refractor vs Mak for planets

Posted By Craig Smith
How would a Mak 102 or 127 compare to an SV/WO 80 mm f6 "semi-apo" for viewing the planets? Larger aperture, no CA, but less contrast. Which one could you push to higher magnifications?

Of course the refractors can also be used for wide-field work, and the WO has superb mechanics, which might be an advantage when focusing, but I'm just curious about the optics for planetary work at this point.

Thanks.

October 26, 2005 06:29 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Mars eyepieces and filters

Posted By Craig Smith
A bit basic, but I have a couple questions in preparation for Mars observing (if the weather ever clears). First, I have an 8" SCT. I have Parks Gold Plossl eyepieces of 20 and 15 mm and a Parks Gold 2x barlow (which yields up to about 267x). It's always seemed that my barlow degrades the image, more than just the effect of magnification. Is it worth getting a new eyepiece to yield 200+ magnification without a barlow?

I enjoyed viewing it in its natural color, but of course it was much too bright. I tried my Meade variable polarizer but it seemed to soften the image a lot. I'm thinking of trying a regular moon filter. Would you recommend 25% or 50% light transmission? Or is there something better that doesn't give too much of an artificial appearanc

Thanks very much.

May 18, 2006 06:35 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Carry-on vs checking on airplane

Posted By Craig Smith
I have some back problems and need to sell my LX200 and get something lighter. I've thought it would be nice to have something I could take on plane trips anyway, so at this point I'm leaning towards the small carry-on-able refractors or maybe a mak. But I'm wondering if it would be worth getting something a little bigger and checking it. Reasons I can think of for sticking with a carry-on are:

1) Damage. But I would think there would be relatively little risk with refractors, and even mirror scopes are shipped regularly through means that may treat them worse than airlines.

2) Theft. More important if the scope is not replaceable. Not sure what airline reimbursement limits are.

Is checking it really that bad of an idea?

May 22, 2006 09:39 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Light gathering - compound vs refractor

Posted By Craig Smith
To compare light-gathering ability of a compound scope versus a refractor, shouldn't the area of the secondary mirror be subtracted? Don't compound scopes really only have the light gathering ability of a 10-15% smaller refractor?

May 22, 2006 10:52 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Nexstar 5 on an airplane?

Posted By Craig Smith
Has anyone taken a Nexstar 5 on an airplane? I'm trying to find as large a scope as practical for travel.

June 21, 2006 05:05 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Red-dot finder suggestions?

Posted By Craig Smith
I'm looking for a unit-power finder for my WO Zenithstar 80 than I can also use in the daytime. I want something small that I fit in the case, perhaps in a 2" eyepiece hole (the hole is deep).

The scope has just a single screw mount point for the finder; aside from the WO unit (which is out of stock) and Rigel (which probably doesn't work in the daytime and might need to be placed further down the tube), most of the finder mounts have two or more screws, or aren't curved, or don't have a quick-release, or something. I'm not anxious to use tape. I wish finder mounts were more universal. I assume they're all similar and maybe something would fit in a WO base, but I can't tell from the pictures. Any suggestions? Thanks very much.

June 21, 2006 05:53 AM Forum: Eyepieces

WO vs TV/Vixen zoom

Posted By Craig Smith
Considering an 8-24 zoom eyepiece. I thought they were all the same, but the William-Optics version advertises 8 elements in 5 groups where the TV has 7 elements in 4 groups. Any comparison of the two?

October 6, 2006 04:49 AM Forum: Solar System Observing

Sun Spots?

Posted By Craig Smith
I'm doing something at my daughter's school this coming week. Are there any sunspots visible right now?

Funding Member

Sponsors


View all sponsors

Search