Posts Made By: John Roehrig

3" Newtonian - Sears, I think. Christmas present at about 10 years old. Cardboard tube, 0.965" EP, funkiest alt-az mount ever developed.

Started my lifelong interest in astronomy and was the forerunner to my current 12.5" StarMaster and AP Traveler. I think I'm at the end game!

John

Taylor,

There are some good choices out there for your scope. For widefield viewing the TV 55mm Plossl is a good choice that is not too expensive. In the 35mm range I found the Celestron Ultima to be very good (although it has a very long eye-relief that some people have trouble with). In the 30mm range, the Apogee 30mm Widescan performs quite well. In the 17mm range the TV Nagler 17mm T4 is excellent. It was my first "upgrade" EP, and I still have it. With your 8", f/10 scope I would not go lower than 9mm - the Nagler 9mm T6 is a good choice - or a barlowed 17mm. Besides considering a barlow, remember that you can also get an f/6.3 focal reducer/corrector which will have the opposite effect (reduce the magnification of your EPs). There is a great review on Cloudy Nights about this useful accessory.

Good luck!

John

Mike,

I would go over to the Yahoo Celestron AS-GT user's group to get the answers to your questions. There have been many discussions on alignment issues with these mounts. I have one and it works very well. You should be able to solve your problem.

John

Thanks for the ideas. I'll pass them along.

John