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Posts Made By: Rod Mollise

March 29, 2009 12:41 AM Forum: Mounts

I received my new Iopton Cube Pro yesterday!

Posted By Rod Mollise
David Landreth said:

I received a new Ioptron cube pro yesterday and was able to try it out with my new SV90T fpl53 Apo. My scope with clamshell, finder, 2" diagonal and 35mm Tv panoptic weighs in around 11.5# The published limit for the scope is 12#. Here is the scoop! I used it in less than ideal circumstances, it was windy around 15 to 25mph, but i had a decent wind break, my back yard fence. I extended the tripod legs to almost the maximum, mounted the 90t in the Vixen style dovetail holder with the one lock nut ( looks kind of scary) and then put the scope in the park position ( scope pointed up with the arrow on the mount pointed south) I turned on the mount and let the GPS do its work. The GPS locked in under 1 minute. I then did my 2 star alignment procedure and then told the mount to go to M42. In under 8 sconds the scope stopped in the vicinity of the nebula. I looked thru the eyepiece and the Orion nebula was not in the very center, very close. I then went to M82 and then back to M42 each time it was in the inner 2/3 portion of the eyepiece.

Thanks for the report. I've thought about these mounts (this and the mini-tower) a time or two...but from what I can tell, the go-to accuracy does not sound that good on any of 'em...you would think it would be dead-nuts on with a small aperture widefield refractor. sad

March 30, 2009 12:15 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Better than Naglers?

Posted By Rod Mollise
john raymond said:

Why? Not one offer to trade, so they must feel they have the superior ep, and is a losing deal.

If Im trading a 5 year old modern design for a 25 year old obsolete design, I must be ripping people off, right? Or has the Ethos made the Type 4 undesirable? My understanding is incomplete.

Regards
John


The 55-mm Plossl better? Waaallll...uh..."no."

The Naglers are superior to almost anything for general use. There are some eyepieces that are very close--the William Optics Uwans, for example, but when all is said and done, the Naglers step over the finish line just a wee bit before them, the Pentaxies, the Meade Ultrawides, etc., etc.

Or make that "did". Gotta be honest, muchacho: the Ethoses blow the doors off the Naglers. After observing with my 13-mm Ethos for a while on my 12.5-inch Dobbie and Tom Clark's (Tectron) 24-inch, I switched to Tom's 13 Nagler. It was like goin' back to a Plossl after the first time I used a Nagler way back when. No foolin'.

March 31, 2009 02:07 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Ethos Warning?

Posted By Rod Mollise
dan gieruszak said:

Last year about this time there was a warning about the Ethos eyepieces - I filed but can't find now. I would like to share with my Astro Club tomorrow. Does anyone have a copy of the warning? It was really well written - and should be posted again tomorrow.

Thanks in advance,

Dan

Did not see that. Here is my warning:

DO NOT, REPEAT, _DO NOT_ BUY AN ETHOS EYEPIECE. IF YOU DO SO, THE INCREDIBLE VIEWS WILL IMPEL YOU TO BUY MORE, WHICH MAY BE HARMFUL OR FATAL TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT! (Do not remove this tag under penalty of law)

LOL

April 2, 2009 11:32 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Ethos clone on the horizon

Posted By Rod Mollise
Darren Drake said:

I was aware of this earlier today and thought it might be considered an April fools joke but now I see there is proof.
http://explorescientific.com/blog/2009/03/testing-prototype-100-series-14mm.html

It can be done, as Meade demonstrated way back when with the Ultrawides. Howe'er, while OK, these oculars were never _quite_ as good as the originals. I suspect that will as true, if not more true, with 100 degreers. OTOH, lots of folks have had a lot of fun with the "almost Naglers" like the Meade Ultrawides and the William Optics Uwans, and if Scott can come up with "almost as good for less dough," I suspect the world will beat a path to his door. LOL

April 4, 2009 03:11 PM Forum: Meade

Meade LX-5

Posted By Rod Mollise
David Frank said:

Just bought a fairly old Meade LX-5 10" and am looking for a copy of the user's manual. Any idea as to what I could go? Searching Google has gotten me nowhere so far.

Thanks!

Keep huntin'...if you don't find one, email me. I have the manual, but will need to scan it into electronic format, and that will take a little while.


April 6, 2009 03:21 PM Forum: Telescope Making

Folded Refractor

Posted By Rod Mollise
Tim Abbott said:

There's not a whole lot of info to be found about this type of scope for those who'd like to build one,

Sweet. How does she perform?

April 7, 2009 12:18 PM Forum: Digital SLR AstroPhotography

autoguiders

Posted By Rod Mollise
Is "Aston Martin" your real name? If so, my apologies, but I gotta say I just feel funny talkin' to a motor car about guidescopes. Loved you in the Bond flick, though. LOL

You need to guide for long exposures because alignment errors and gear errors will always cause trailed stars without guiding.

April 7, 2009 12:24 PM Forum: SCI-FI

1953 Ivaders From Mars

Posted By Rod Mollise
John Meiners said:

Its been 56 years since I accompanied my dad to the movie theater and saw this "Scary" show.

Scared me too at a second-run house (prob'ly doublebilled with a Bowery Boys flick) in the late 50s - early 60s. Viewing today it actually holds up fairly well: body snatchers before the Invasion of the Body Snatchers

April 9, 2009 01:16 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Computerized Object Locator for hardin 8"?

Posted By Rod Mollise
mike selz said:

Im looking for a push to system (object locator) for my 8" hardin dob...using sky charts is a bit annoying for those deep space objects..especially here where i live in the burbs (south florida). is the orion intelliscope locator only for the orion scopes? Can anyone recommend a cheap push to locator? looking to spend under $150 bucks =)
Thanks!!

What you want is a set of Digital Setting Circles (aka: "DSCs"). For this price, you'll want to go used. My recommendation? Sky Commander or Argo Navis.

April 10, 2009 01:48 PM Forum: After Dark

next ethos announced...........

Posted By Rod Mollise
Darren Drake said:

Drumroll please...........
http://www.televue.com/engine/page.asp?ID=374#holefiller

Yep...and this was about what I'd expected. I hoped for "longer," but figgered 10-mm, 5-mm, or 4-mm.

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