Posts Made By: William Paolini

Not deleted and still there...

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1467733/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/all/vc/1

Not sure how to take his comment as needs a bit more qualification? These days saying "Ortho" or "Plossl" IMO has a lot less meaning as each manufacturer seems to have tweeked things some. It seems the ZAO-II Ortho design is tweeked as the specs on it say it is corrected down to f/4 on-axis. In my f/4.7 Dob the correction off-axis compared to the ZAO-I was noticed to be better. On-axis both looked great and zero CA on any object.

I do think it's important though to validate as much as one can the contributions for abberations from the eyepiece. Would think if you don't see CA on-axis using whatever in a Newt, you wouldn't see it in your refractor unless it is a byproduct of the main objective (assuming all else being equal of course).

FWIW, I don't think it's odd to *not* consider the eyepiece in the final view. IMO, the scope is the car and the eyepiece is your driving glove. Look for performance from the car and the glove is a personal thing...plus have gloves to suit the mood. Everything has got it's plusses and minuses...scopes and eyepieces...and neither can be perfect for everyone.

Well I had great seeing and transparency for the event. And even though well into daylight at the East Coast, and not seeing any plume, I did learn how increadibly nice just after daylight observing of the Moon can be when you get the exit pupil down. After no-joy looking for the plume I tunred to nearby crater Moretus and was treated to astounding levels of details with the rock steady seeing :-)

Tom,

I think a little more definition of what you mean by "portable" would be useful to understand to better hone a recommendation. By my own standard, if you are talking about taking a quick 30 minute jaunt in the back yard to view Jupiter then for me a 4" is actually too big for that, at least an f/8 like I have.

I have both a 102mm and 80mm APO and for those quick looks where I don't plan on being outside more than an hour, the 80mm often wins...even for Jupiter. So if this is the type of portable you mean, then by all means the smaller the instrument's physical size all the better so I might start considering something like the TMB92SS, TMB80SS, APM 80/480, etc. I would also probably put a binoviewer on it as your brain lets you see more with two eyes so helps overcome the limited aperture. Or, if you have the time and money, get on the list for the TEC110 if one still can for a nice ultra-short and convenient larger aperture scope.

btw, when using the smaller apertures, especially the 80mm class, I find top notch eyepieces really make a noticable difference for planetary...so something like TMB Supermonos, ZAO-IIs, Pentax SMC Orthos, etc. really let you squeek out the last bit of performance from these smaller apertures and I find it is quite worth it. All this is getting expensive though :-/

If ultra small size is not necessary, then I'd say try to get above the 4" mark a little, like with the new TEC110 already mentioned as a potential, or the new TSA-120 which is only a few incehes longer than the TSA-102. These 10 to 20 more mm of aperture will make a difference, especially on Jupiter. If your seeing conditions are usually very stable then the 3-4" class should do well, otherwise a little larger aperture and resolution will be appreciated if the seeing is often not so great as I think you mentioned. Caution though that getting up over the 4" mark means instruments will need a little cool down time for optimum performing. My 4" works pretty good right out the door, but it's at the limit I feel and larger glass may have more noticable immediate thermal issues.

Good luck,
-Bill

I disliked it (although I like the SG-1 series and SG Atlantis series). I felt the SG-U pilot felt too much like Battle Star Galactica with the internal sub plots of people jockying for power and influence, and being underhanded at times (i.e., the soap opera paradigm). So felt more like BSG to me in SG clothing. Was hoping for some new concepts instead of rehash of old.

Jim,

About as good of a pic of this subject as I have ever seen! Excellent work. Especially like how the contrast was not pushed too much as most people do an over-saturate the photo. Also, the darker sky as it appears in the reflected water, showing more cloud details, is a real treat. Overall wonderful shot - congrats! As a side note, there is quite an unusual shot within the shot also. In the attached photo all I did was to flip your photo and show the reflected image as if it were the primary and upped the brightness and contrast just a tad, with no water reflections to the composition. As you can see, you have here a photo that quite increadibly looks like a fine oil painting! Wow!

-Bill

Wow. That is a completely surrealistic looking image. Quite cool. Thanks!

Jud,

I don't think it's wishful thinking. I've caught it several times from my back yard using 400x in my XT10 Dob. Of course it was on evenings of very stable air so while catching Enke was a treat, details on the entire planet were fabulously better than typical from the back yard. Last time I glimpsed it was using a 6mm TMB Planetary on top of a no-name 2x Barlow. Atmospheric seeing is really everything...more important than aperture IMO

-Bill

Maybe one of these would work? Just cut it to shape and apply.

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/73359-1.html

http://www.rubbercal.com/Santoprene_Rubber.html

I'd forget about the finder scope and mount a Telrad on there instead - I have both on my XT10 and the caps never come off the RACI finder now.

Not inexpensive as you want, but after trying zillions of wide field EPs in the 20-30 range, really the only one's I've been satisfied with are the Pentax 20XW and the TV 24 Panoptic. Both expensive unfortunately but worth it. If I had to go with less expensive then probably the Titan-II ED 30mm 70 deg 2". Should do fairly well without a Paracorr.

As for the 1 more powerful EP, would probably go with the Meade 5000 6.7mm Ultra Wide Angle (82 deg). Have one now I'm running thru the paces and increadibly sharp across the FOV, nice build and ergonomics, and only $140 new. Does quite well on planetary as well (to my surprise). So this, or the older TV T1s in 9mm or 7mm as already mentioned if you want to go retro (eye relief a bit tight on these for me though).

If you got the 20XW then this barlowed very well so would give you a nice 10mm with barlow. The 24 Pan is picky with a barlow so you'd need a Telecentric (i.e. TV Powermate) instead so more money.

If all this is too much money, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a few TV Plossls and a barlow. I would do the 32, 25, 20, & 15 TV Plossls then a TV 3x Barlow to get you to higher powers and keep some nice eye relief. Regardless of how you build your wide field collection of EPs, always nice to maintain a set of Plossls also as they are often handier for quick views being so small and light and still being able to put up fantastic views.