Posts Made By: Jason Lane

Where do you think it comes from?

(I'm in the process of selecting one for my 8" f/6).

-Jason

Which is best for planetary viewing? The straight vanes give diffraction spikes, but the curved spreads the diffraction around the object. Anybody have experience looking through telescopes w/ both types and can comment on the differences? I'm at a conundrum deciding which to put on the scope I'm building. I was leaning towards Protostar's but... *shrug*

Thanks!
Jason

Hi,

I'm looking around for a good observing guide. I have been using the Peterson Field Guide, but it leaves something to be desired. Any recommendations?

-Jason

Wow what an eyepiece! I was able to compare it to a 14mm Meade series 4000 UWA on my scratch-built 8" f/6 and it simply blew the Meade out of the water. It also compared very favorably to my UO orthos of similar size, except of course the amazing AFOV and eye relief. Awesome seeing too last night. I saw stuff on Jupiter that I've never seen before...at magnifications of 350x-plus.

-Jason

edit: these were among my first real looks through super-wides (not including my antares w70).

So..how much does CaF2 cost?

I've heard $300 / lb, but who knows if that's correct.

-Jason

Hello,

Now that I finally have an internet connection at our new home, I can share with you some photos I've taken during the past few months.

First is a view of the Eastern Sierra Nevadas in California, taken from our home outside of Inyokern, CA.

Caption reads:
View out the front door of our new home, looking northwest. Mid-November 2006
Olympus OM-1 on tripod
Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 operating at f/8, 30 minute exposure.
Kodak E200 Color Slide Film
Note the red-tinted foreground due to excellent red response of the film

-Jason

Very cool comet!

I just got done observing the comet as it went down over the eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range in Eastern California. Very low on the horizon but as arthur says, very nice.

I spotted it with my hand-held 8x50 Vixen viewfinder at about 5:20 PM Pacific Time, about 20 degrees west (to the right) of Venus and 10 degrees below, which meant it's down in the orange afterglow of the sun. Bright nucleus with a short, curved tail. I was also able to observe with my naked eye. Very cool! Not quite bright as Venus, but brighter than any other stars I could see in that direction.

I grabbed my Olympus camera that already had some film loaded, and took a couple of 10 & 15s exposures to see if I could capture anything. The photos will probably be washed out from overexposure, but it's worth a shot (oops, sorry for the pun!). Be a nice one with it setting over the mountains. Gonna try again tomorrow night.

Hope everyone else gets to see it! It's definitely misnamed (should be Comet McGrand) I missed the big comets of the 90s (my primary hobby was beer at the time being that I was in college), so it was pretty awesome to see this one.

-Jason

Hi all,

Took this back in December using Fuji Super HQ 200 film. I didn't write down exposure time, as I snapped off some shots right before I headed out to work.

Hope you enjoy it!

-Jason

oops, forgot to add that it was taken with an Olympus OM-1 and a Zuiko 70-210mm zoom lens. Hooray for film!

Ron, I deleted your post because I believe your comments were unproductive and uncalled for. If you have something positive to add to the discussion of film astrophotography, then by all means post away.

Regards,
Jason Lane
Your Film forum moderator.

Tonight is first light for my new permanent pier setup at my new home. I use a Vixen VC200L on a Losmandy G-11. The pier is a 7" diameter thick-walled steel pipe backfilled with sand for vibration dampening. You only see about half of the pipe. The other half is underground and is held in place by a 2'x2'x2' concrete base. I also ran electrical out to the pier, running the line 18" underground in conduit. I plug into an outlet on the back porch.

Next year I will start working on the observatory proper, but for now I think this will suit my needs.

The attached photo shows the setup and the view to the northwest. Those are the Eastern Sierra Nevadas in the background.