Posts Made By: Tom Hole

SH! Free money! Whatcha gonna get with it?

Well, fate has looked favorably upon me. A nice fellow just offered a pair of 11mm Televue plossls for sale here on Astromart at a very reasonable price. So I snagged them. What are the chances of that?

I also ordered a pair of 7mm UO orthos.

I'd like to get a pair of something in the 10mm range to get a solid mix from 10-12.5. I have the 12.5 orthos already. I'm adding the 11mm TV plossls. I have the 9mm Naglers. My goal is to have a solid set of mags from 180-230x. That is Jupiter country, my friends. Seems like overkill, but as long as I stick with the less expensive pairs, it won't kill the budget.

12.5mm ortho = 165x (241x) [with 2x corrector]
11mm plossl = 188x (274x)
10mm ??? = 207x (302x)
9mm Nagler = 230x (335x)
7mm ortho = 295x (431x)

That 10mm/200x slot is a critical one for my area and Jupiter. This also gives me a beautiful spread of mags from 165x to 431x. In my limited experience, this should keep me going for a while. I'll probably add a 13 Nagler at the top for DSO.

That's my morning rambling.

Tom

A Starmaster 11" EL f/5.4 Zambuto. Replaces my XT10. Get to pick it up in person tomorrow. I bought it after I looked through a 10" Mark Harry mirror and a 12.5" Zambuto mirror on a night of great seeing.

Clear skies,

Tom

Jianhua,

What scope do you have? The magnification on a 16T5 and a 12 T4 could be very different depending on the focal length of your telescope. I'm sure you know that, but it would help us.

Clear skies,

TOm

Mike,

An affordable case can be had at Lowes hardware:

http://tinyurl.com/bw2w

It doesn't show up in this photo but it is pluck foam in the bottom. I have 5 of these. 3 for my band for microphones and 2 for eyepieces and such. They are tough and cheap. Hard to beat.

Clear skies,

Tom

Glen,

It looks like Denk is carrying one now:

http://www.deepskybinoviewer.com/accessories.html

Clear skies,

Tom

Floyd,

Average seeing in my area is a 4 in the summer and 3 in the winter (out of 10). Great seeing is a 9 (twice in past year). My scope is a 10" f/4.7 dob.

Best mag on average night (seeing=4) = 200x-230x
Best mag on great night = 400x (limited by optics)

I used a 12.5" Zambuto Portaball on an excellent night with Saturn and the best mag was 600x. 1000x was tried but untenable due to an undriven mount. Was there more detail at 600x than 400x? Yes, on Saturn. It was dimmer, so maybe it was easier to see the low contrast details. Dunno, but it was a treat. I just got my 11" Zambuto Starmaster and you can bet I'll be testing it's limits.


Clear skies,

Tom

How about a 20" f/1.5 telescope that weighs 10 lbs, fits in carry on luggage and has a perfectly unabberated view? Oh yeah, it costs $500 and has fully adaptive optics. And a bobble head dude on the OTA.

Clear skies,

Tom

Haven't heard that they are shipping yet. I'm on the waiting list for a pair.

Clear skies,

TOm

Doug,

I called Orion about 6 weeks ago to ask whcih focuser the 6" Intelliscope had on it. They said it was a 1.25" focuser. Others have gotten different info. Maybe another call is in order now that they appear to be shipping.

Clear skies,

Tom