Posts Made By: Randy Roy

I am so excited. Last night I took my new "under $200" Chinese binoviewer and made the split. It was confirmed by a friend who was especially excited since this was his first time to look through a telescope (the new ETX90 was his). What was really surprising was how easy it was to make the split. The Pup was really bright last night, though the skies were unsteady and I would say seeing was no better than a 5.

I just received the binoviewer yesterday and my heart nearly sunk after dropping it on the concrete before ever getting a chance to use it. No problem though--I picked it up, placed it in the C90 and made the split--no harm done.

After nailing Sirius B we observed both Trapeziums in M42 and discovered that Jupiter has a sister planet that must be normally be hidden from our view. Also, all 8 major moons were clearly visible.

I would say April is certainly off to a good start!

Randy

Herb,

I am tired of old acquaintances I've not seen in years coming up to me at restaurants, shopping malls and movie theaters, saying "Hi Randy" as if I should remember their names. To fix this, I am considering having my name legally changed and unlisted. Only my immediate family and closest friends will be given my new name and anyone else who presumes to know me will be answered with, "Randy who? I don't know anyone by that name! Get out of here before I call the police and have you arrested for harrassment."

My question for you is, will the name change affect my status on Astromart in any way? I assume not, but wanted to make sure before I commit to a change.

Sincerely,

(name withheld for reason of privacy)

8) (time to fire up the 'ol Starmaster!)

I have the 50, 30, 24, 18, 12.5, 7.5 and 5 LEs and my Televue Bandmate filters fit onto these nicely. It is interesting how Tak only gives you a couple of threads to use, however. I've heard this is to cut down on internal reflections.

Randy

Lukman,

On at least three occasions I can remember, I made the deal and when I got ready to ship received emails asking me to mark the shipment as a gift or otherwise lie about the amount of the transaction so the recipient would pay less duties and taxes. When I refused nicely, the buyer responded angrily or sarcastically. I now only trade with U.S. buyers or overseas buyers whom I've traded with previously, or buyers whom I have a good history of communicating on group like this (like yourself!). I hate to generalize these problems over a lot of really good people, but it is easier just not to sell outside the U.S.

Randy

Mark,

Resolving power refers to the theoretic smallest angle between two stars that a telescope can separate. The formula is

R = 125/D arcsecond

D is in mms. Therefore a 100mm scope would have a resolving power of 1.25 arc seconds. A 145mm scope would have a resolving power of .86 arc seconds, therefore could "resolve" the separation between closer stars than the 100mm scope. This means the 145mm scope is capable of seeing finer details than the 100mm scope.

Hope this helps.

Randy

Mark,

You named many of them. I've spent hours on the phone speaking with Rick Singmaster (Starmaster scopes) and found him to be witty, knowledgeable, always willing to help and having a certain home spun, no nonsense nature pertaining to scopes. I have learned a lot of practical things about telescopes from Rick.

I consider myself friends with Vic Maris and he is the most giving and generous person I know in the business. He makes the scopes and then makes himself available to observe with his customers. Flying from Memphis to Joshua Tree to observe with Vic and a some of the Stellarvuers is one of the highlights of my 44 years in the hobby.

I've spoken to Al Nagler on the phone several times. He is one of those guys whom, although friendly and approachable, gives you the sense that you are in the presence of one of the all-time greats in the business.

I've never met Roland Christen, but have studied his postings over the years. I've probably learned more from his writings than anyone. He has the ability to explain very difficult concepts in such a way as to bring them down to earth. Just let me say, his place in history is secure.

We are lucky to have so many good guys in the astronomy business today.

And that is all the kissin' up I plan to do today!

Randy

Just got mine today. I am a harsh Meade critic at times and pretty much a Televue bigot when it comes to eyepieces and barlows, etc., but this thing was too pretty to pass up. 4 elements and advertised a flat field, sharp to the edge, no lateral color marvel. I'll be out all night howling at the Perseids and giving this new toy a shake out.

Ok, I admit it, I just wanted to change the thread. . .

Randy 8)

I purchased the Televue A and B filters and sold the A, keeping the B. It definitely helps bring out the contrast on Mars (Jupiter, too!) with my 3" and 5" APOs.

As for my 16" Starmaster, I have to agree that no filter seems best. The unfiltered views give the most details with the larger aperture.

Randy

Along with dark skies, a good bit of what you will see has to do with your level of experience. Newcomers might have difficulty seeing galaxy detail even in the brighter galaxies even in a much larger scope. The more you observe, however, the more you will identify and recognize the amount of detail that is present. Of course, this is true for all visual objects. At a star party last year, I got very excited at the view of Stephan's Quintet (Galaxy cluster) through my 16" Starmaster. My novice friends looked through the eyepiece, were underwhelmed and thought I was nuts. The same thing occured a few weeks ago looking at the Horsehead neb. I thought it was the best view of the HH I had seen and so did my experienced observing partners. A few newbies came along and said very frankly they could only see a few uninspiring stars and could not understand what we were shreiking over.

Herbert,

This brings back memories. I built my first ATM scope in about 1970, grinding the 8" F8 mirror using a kit I got from Edmunds. I also made a couple of Ramsden eps and fabricated an EQ mount, complete with RA tracking. Although it took a year to complete, the end result was, well . . .pretty ugly. Nevertheless, I learned a lot.

My Ramdens gave clear images, but also had very narrow fields and plenty of lateral color. I believe they had an AFOV of 30°. I remember getting my first Kellners (40°). I thought I had found a super wide field ep (I couldn't afford an erfle). When plossls (50°) first became popular, I was convinced a wider field would never be needed. I chuckle now when posters refer to plossls as like looking through soda straws, etc.

The worst eyepiece I ever owned was a Huygens.