Posts Made By: John Rombi

Here is the offical Meade catalogue with the 16" as well.
http://www.meade.com/catalog/catalog_pdf/03_LightBridge.pdf

HI LEE,I HAVE A POLAREX 4" REFRACTOR IT OPERATES AT F/15.I'VE RECENTLY PURCHASED AN EYEPIECE MADE BY KOKASHI-KOKI IN JAPAN. THIS COMPANY MAKE 4 EYEPIECES-30MM-2"
20MM,16MM,13MM-1.25". I HAVE THE 16MM IN MY SCOPE THAT GIVES ME 92X,THEY ALL HAVE A 84 DEGREE A.F.O.V.ITS LIKE LOOKING THROUGH A HUGE PORTAL OUT INTO SPACE.I'M NOT SURE WHAT NAME THEY ARE UNDER IN THE U.S. BUT ANY OF THE LARGER DEALERS OR ONE OF THE ASTROMART MEMBERS MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP. CHEERS FROM OZ. JOHN

HI CHAS THIS IS JOHN FROM SYDNEY,IT'S GREAT TO HAVE ANOTHER UNITRON/POLAREX SCOPE EYEING OFF THE UNIVERSE.SO FAR AS THE APO'S ARE CONCERNED,WAIT UNTIL YOU HAVE THE OBJECTIVE CLEANED AND ALIGNED AND CONVERT THE SCOPE TO 1.25" WITH A MODERN DIAGONAL AND EYEPIECES, I DID THIS TO MINE AND APO OWNERS RUN FOR THE HILLS WHEN THEY REALISE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN LOOKING THROUGH A 30YEAR OLD ACHROMATIC. ENJOY YOUR GEM AND PLEASE POST HERE OR ON THE YAHOO UNITRON SITE YOUR EXPIERIENCES. CHEERS FROM OZ, JOHN.

Well done Richard,excellent images.I was considering buying a ToUCam.Now with these images it's a certainty. John

[QUOTE]Inge Skauvik said:

Two of my astro-friends I have decided to make a one week's stay at the Canary Islands next May. We have made arrangements with a person who is specialising on astro tourism, and already paid for the flights and the stay. I'm going to take my 12.5-inch with me, but there will also be other scopes available.

I have never been so far to the south before (about 28 deg north), and I have to prepare well beforehand in order to have a successful trip.

In addition to Jupiter which will be well placed for observation at that time I have already put the following objects on my schedule:

Omega Centauri, NGC5128, M83, the Messier objects in Scorpius and Sagittarius, and doubles like Nu and Xi Scorpii.

The Virgo - Coma galaxies will, of course also be much higher in the sky than what I'm used to, and I look very much forward to M104.

Anything else in this part of the sky (Centaurus, Lupus, Scorpius, Saggitarius)that shouldn't be missed? I'm interested both in the show objects and some real challenges for my 12.5-inch.

Inge S

Hi Inge, I observe with my astro club about 200km s/w of Sydney in very dark skies.Omega Centauri.Eta Carinae,ngc2516, both magellanic clouds with many good objects embedded within. 47 tucanae,Tarantula nebula, jewel box,and the southern cross.If you need further info our clubs website can help www.macastro.org.au or just post here and I would be happy to help.cheers john

Hi Chase,Fanatastic photo,I'll be venturing into webcam photography soon I hope my images are half as good. cheers, John

Hi Ron I love those photo's.quite a number of my clubs members are changing over to digital imaging, would you mind if I copied the Saturn pictures and sent them to our members.John

Erik Hammarlund said:

My criteria:
1) I've got an Ultima 18, 7.5, and Barlow.
2) I want 1--or maybe 2--larger EPs.
3) I can't spend all that much money; maybe $250.

I want some advice--but please don't everyone start telling me to go sell my car and buy EPs, or to buy this:
http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=375962, it's not going to happen... Are there folks here who can comment on the Honda Civics of the EP world? I don't want to end up with EPs taht won't work with my scope, and I'm humble enough to admit that--without help--I might screw this up.

My thoughts on possibilities in the $100 range new are (please realize I know very little about this; I'm just browsing ATWB) are:

Meade series 4000 super plossl 1.25" 32mm and/or 56mm(2"):
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product_list.asp?t=32

Anacortes house-brand 30mm birds eye view:
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=27&pid=8409&m=

William Optics SWAN 25mm, 33mm, or 40mm:
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=27&pid=8518&m=

TV 32mm plossl
(no link needed here, I think)

then there are others that I don't know well, like:
orion 35mm ultrascopic, http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=376748

or those UP 40mm mk70 Konigs that keep popping up on classifieds.

help!

Hi Erik, I purchased a eyepiece here in oz called a widescan 111. They are made by Kokusai-Kohki, Japan.They make 4 eyepieces 2" 30mm,and 20mm, 16mm, 13mm, 1.25" all these eyepieces have A.F.O.V. 84Degreesit's like looking through a porthole.I have 24mm ultima and it's a great eyepiece, but compared to w/s it's like looking down a drain pipe. The price of the 1.25" are $299, the 2" is $399. Remember this is in Australian Dollars. This will be less in U.S. dollars.I understand they are sold under the name of Magellan eyepieces in the U.S. Cheers, John. 8)

Well john,what can I say.You have a long time astronomer sitting here at the keyboard with tears in his eyes. You definitely received the best gift of all. Cheers, John.

John Dennis said:

Hi folks,
I just wish to share a gift I received Friday, Sept 30.
My 27yo daughter asked to come out with me on an observing session! What a thrill.
The sky was darkening by 1930 and the Milky Way was from horizon to horizon by 2000.
We oriented ourselves with some constellations. She knew UMa , Sag, Cas. I added Sco,Cyg,Her,Cap,Peg.
We started with Polaris as a wonderful double star.
Next was M22 + GC discussion followed by M13 and M92
M17 + Nebula discussion with and without OIII
Blinking Planetary and M57-she could see blue-

In M24 is a cool cluster NGC 6603 as well as
several Bernard Dark Nebula and a view of the
Norma spiral arm .(I hope I got that right.)
We went extragalactic and eyeballed M31 then went to the low power scope view. M81,82,51,33-and it's Hydrogen cloud.
We located Venus, Mars, Uranus, and Neptune.
She asked Questions. How do we know how far those ______
are? Parallax, Cepheids, Redshift.
How are galaxies, stars, planets formed?
-Thank Heaven for all the astronomers and writers and folks like you that have pondered, then pounded these
concepts into my head over the years. It was 3 hours
I hope to never forget.
John

Hi Greg, Great photo. "Go Aussie Go"
Oi,Oi,Oi. John ( another Aussie, as if you couldn't tell)

Greg Bradley said:

12 x 60 and 70 seconds, unguided, William Optics 80mm fluorite, TV .8X reducer/flattener, dark site, Modded Nikon D70, Images Plus software, acquired using Nikon Capture.

Greg.