Posts Made By: Martin Willes

Hi John,
Try the program again. This morning like magic it was updated along with the normal updates. Martin

I think you caught one of those turtles that hold the whole universe up ;-)

Honestly what ever it was was there for the duration of your exposure because the same pattern is found on the surrounding stars and the coma of the comet. It looks like a bright star to me. Martin

Head first and don't look back!

That’s really terrible news. I use to listen to him when I lived near Chicago on WGN radio. I really enjoyed his stories and his shameless plug for those magic mattresses he use to peddle. Anyway Paul (long dramatic pause) “good day”.

If your conditions don't normally allow for a focal length shorter than 9mm I'm not sure you're going to gain anything with either U.O. that the Meade ortho or Nagler offer you in the same focal length. The Nagler is a pretty nice eyepiece. I've heard the difference between the original U.O. and the HD is slim. For $20 I'd just buy the HD, it's not going to break the bank.

There are three prominences visible now in that group that only had two. The prominences are real easy to see against a black back ground because there is no obstruction scattering orange light all over. Even the chromosphere layer can be separated from the “surface” of the sun with a small black line. Solar surface detail is easy too, just wait for some sunspot groups to appear later as we approach maximum. What a wonderful solar scope with only 50mm of aperture. Martin

I agree it would be very difficult to keep track of all those eyepieces but the author seems to be very comfortable multi tasking all of his observations. I couldn’t do it and can only focus on two or three eyepieces. I see the difference in eyepieces spread even further when I use my 160 as well. When I move to the 12.5” cassegrain seeing comes into play. I don’t live by the ocean but at 7000 feet above sea level the transparency is excellent and throw in good seeing and dark skies the experience is satisfying. My experience last night did mirror Paolini’s illustrations of the moon. I compared SPL’s to Tak LE’s and the difference was subtle. A slight edge for contrast and sharpness went to the SPL’s. I used a Baader V bino and had each eyepiece side by side so comparisons could be made in less than a second. I thought seeing was average until I popped in a ZAO II. The image was sharp as a tack and the surface of the moon looked 3D with all the different colors in maria clearly visible. The colors in the maria were washed together in the SPL and Tak but were there if you searched for it. Regolith was bright white in the ZAO’s and seemed to rise from the surface and appeared more tan colored in the other oculars. The differences were in no way subtle and may not be what you see at your location with your instruments. When I lived in the Midwest the difference in eyepieces was in fact subtle due to elevation and seeing. I think Paolini document well what he saw with his equipment and I’ve had a very similar experience with my equiptment. Martin

Jay,
There has been some very nice prominences on the limb of the sun in the past few weeks, you should be able to see something with any eyepiece. Don't use too short a focal length as this will cause the faint prominence to wash out. Also you may try draping a towel over your head to block out light and improve contrast, don't laugh it works.Slowly tune the PST until you see something on the limb. Forget about seeing any surface detail with the PST until the most prominent filaments and sun spots appear as we get close to solar maximum. Even then the PST is made for prominence's and just doesn't have the band pass for surface detail. What you eye can see and a camera can see are two different things. The camera can take a picture that looks like a red blob and with some processing the photo can reveal some interesting detail. While visually observing the sun try moving the PST around the sun a little as this model only has a small part of the FOV on band. As you move across the sun prominences will appear and then disappear. If this doesn't work send it back to the guy you bought it from. You can always cross reference your observations with the SOHO live pictures at
:http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/eit_304/512/

Martin

Another wonderful eyepiece report! I looked through a set of ZAO’s at the WSP a few years back and was blown away at the crisp view and contrast like no other ocular in my eyepiece case. When the ZAO II’s became available I jumped on it hoping they would be as good as the originals. I’m slowly selling everything in my eyepiece case that I use in my bino except my ZAO II’s and 24mm Panoptics. It makes no sense to keep the other eyepieces when I know I’ll never reach for them again. I’ll keep the 13mm Etho’s for a large 25” f/5 reflector but the ZAO II’s along with a Zeiss barlow are really the final word in eyepieces as far as I’m concerned. Nice review Greg and I agree they are worth every penny especially when some wide field eyepieces cost just as much money. Martin