Posts Made By: Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

You know the seeing stinks when Saturn looks like this even after it's 45 degrees above the horizon :-)

Hi Chris,

There are a number of things that could cause this sort of image defect. The first thing to do is verify that the the defect is present on the negative and not just on the print. I've attached an image of what it would probably look like on the negative. If it isn't on the negative, it is a problem with the lab's printing machine and/ or a fogged batch of paper at the lab. If it is on the negative there are several possibilities. The most likely is that the film was fogged, either in the camera or during processing or during manufacture (the last two are unlikely given the pattern of the stained area). Considering the nature of the defect, I find it very unlikely that it is a stain on the film from processing. So, if you would, check and see if the defect is on the film or not so the cause can be narrowed down.

Joplin

Fed Ex and UPS have too many extra fees for shipping to Canada (and probably other countries as well). I have shipped to several different countries via insured Air Mail Parcel Post and EMS (Global Priority Mail) with values as high as $800 and I've never had a speck of trouble. Of course it also helps to make sure that the recipient understands that all import duties are their responsibility.

Joplin

Darren,

Have you had any issues with the tripod mount on yours ? I work at Wolf Camera (owned by Ritz) and we couldn't get any of the samples that arrived at the store to fit securely onto a tripod. It seems that the threaded bushing isn't threaded very well. Just for kicks I compared one of the Meades to my Tasco 9VR (60mm F5 made by Vixen in Japan) and came to the conclusion that the optics on the Meade are pretty decent and the plastic focuser on the Meade is terrible.

Joplin

Hi Doug,

I recommended the CGE 1400 to my friend in the local astronomy club who was considering the purchase of a large SC. Actually he was considering the Meade 14 " LX200GPS but I steered him away from that scope since he wanted to be able to set it up himself. He ended up getting the CGE 1400. The major issue he has run into was a dead RA motor when he got the mount. The problem was in the electronics pier section , which Celestron replaced free of charge. The mount is quite solid with the 14" on it so the 11" would be no sweat at all. My friend just rolls the mount out on wheeled dolly he made for the tripod, does a rough polar alignment by eye, then mounts the ota and does a two star alignment. He routinely gets objects in the field of view of a 26 Nagler and most of the time in a 17mm Nagler (assuming they will fit in the fov, sometimes they are so large you have to drop the magnification just to see them ;-) The slew contols are quite nice and easy to use. One thing I have noticed about the mount is that the clutch locks require some fiddling and need to be quite tight to keep the goto alignment. You do have to keep an eye on the scope since it seems that maybe once a night it will decide to point well into the southern hemisphere (at the ground) and you have to kill the slew on it. It is either a software or cord connection issue, we haven't quite figured it out yet.

Joplin

I'm using a 1980's Meade mount that was made by Mizar in Japan with my 1278. It was sold originally with a Meade 10" SC so it actually holds the 1278 quite well. I use it with the Meade standard steel field tripod, legs fully extended and it is quite solid.

Joplin

Sounds like a Meade 97 series maksutov scope. They had a large helical (camera lens type) focus mechanism as opposed to the rear moving mirror type on the current Meade ETX series. From the telescope bluebook website:

"Meade brought its 97 90mm Maksutov to the market in 1984. It is a 90 f/11 optical tube with a large external focusing ring. It was offered with 5x24 finder and .965 eyepieces and had coated optics. Later the telescope was called the 97D. The same unit was offered as the 97E with multi-coatings on the corrector lens. Finally, a rubber covered version was designated 97ER"

Joplin

Since you are looking for a wide field scope I would rule out the maksutov scopes and stick with refractors. I had one of the Meade 1000mm Maksutov telephoto lens/ spotting scopes and it was a piece of junk. The Celestron C90 has a better reputation but still won't work well as a wide field instrument. If you plan to astrophotography with a 35mm SLR, a refractor with a 2" focuser would be preferable to one with a 1.25" focuser. I'd suggest one of the Stellarvue AT1010/ Nighthawk telescopes used on Astromart. You would need a more suitable mount to use with it though. Another option would be to get one of the ubiquitous "Short Tube 80" scopes for visual use on the tabletop mount. You could do short widefield exposures with that mount if you fitted a camera with just the standard or a wideangle lens attached (without the scope).

Hope this helps,

Joplin

The good news is that QuickSet still makes the Hercules products, they are actually very expensive when purchased new. Yours should be pretty much the same as the Mobile Pedestal # 4-54504-2 seen here:

http://www.tripods.com/hercules.html

You can also download the Hercules series pdf file which gives more detailed info on these. In short, it is rated to 80 lbs capacity which is probably a conservative estimate. The only disadvantage to these is that the fitting on top is proprietary, so a special adapter would probably have to be fitted or made custom to fit the pedestal if the user wanted to change heads. If it is in as nice of condition as you say I wouldn't take less than $250 for it and would list it for say, $300 plus shipping. If you wanted to get an idea for what these sell for new, you could contact QuickSet through their website. The tripod version of these goes for the $500 range in this condition but it is more versatile.

Joplin

The ED80 has a focal length of 600mm (12x greater magnification than a standard 50mm lens) and will yield a image covering 2.29 x 3.44 degrees with a 35mm SLR.

Joplin