Posts Made By: William Rose

Interesting Alan and thanks for the pic.
I once ran across 4 Clave eyepieces that some spiders had used to build nests in. (Inside the Coulants). The Wife of the deceased owner asked if I could clean them up for sale. After a few attempts I realized all the coatings were gone from the lower lenses and the inside brass was corroded and pitted from something.
The moral here is, even stored in a box in a house doesn't always mean "Safe & Sound". Basements, storage rooms, and attics can be almost as bad as a garage or observatory sometimes.

Happy Halloween to all! Bill

Peter,
I agree with John. I have both and tend to use the powermates with the longer focal length eyepieces. For anything under 12 to 15mm I always go with a good Barlow.
Clear Skies, Bill

Chris,
I understand the desire to "get started" but Dave and Jenna are giving you the best advice.
Go look and try before you buy.

That said, I have 2 scope I use as "finder scopes" and guide scopes. As indicated you're cokmparing apples & oranges. I can tell you for a finder you usually want the widest AFOV possible becuasae you're trying to locate the object. Quality of image (especially edge quality) is secondary because you only spend a minute or less using the scope. For a guide scope you may spend hours looking through, you'll want a high quality scope that's easy to sit and look through for extended periods.
In particular I use a Zeiss Telementor and a Tak FC-60E. Both are great little scopes that are can be picked up used for a reasonable amount, tend to hold their value, and provide excellent views. The Zeiss is normally a 24.5mm and you'll probably need to purcahse a better than the standard 0.965" holder.

Good Luck and I hope you can make the next Middle Georgia Astronomical Society Star Party. Clear Skies, Bill

chris price said:

I was wondering what would make for a good finder scope to ride piggyback on a LXD75 for the best planetary views.

A Meade ETX series

A Celestron 80 ED

any Maksutov-Cassagrain

Or any other possibilties?

what do you guys think, like i said i want to get one to play around with for around $300-$400 AND later use on top of my big scope when i get it (probebly a Meade LXD75 SN). And since its going to be with a larger arpeture scope i want the best one for planetary viewing. And Im going to but used here so if theres somthing better for the money i should look into please let me know.

Thanks

Joe Conway said:

I used to use a static gun on my albums before playing them. Shoot them with a static gun, blow the dust off with a duster and play. Now you folks in humid environments are asking, what's static?

Has anyone tried this on mirrors or correctors? I didn't know they still made this particular (get it?) model, but I plan on buying one and trying it on my corrector. Couple of shots and blow.

http://www.2spi.com/catalog/photo/zerostat.shtml

edit: I happened to look at another site that uses a nuclear type tip with air, forget that. Read what they use for that since it's currently in the news (you already guessed it).

O.K. Joe,
I live in Colorado and the present humidity is less than 5% so static can be a problem.
I took my 1970's version Zero-Stat and tested it on a couple mirrors. !st it's not excactly normal for my mirrors to have a static charge but by holding the edge and rubbing my feet on the carpet I can build a decent charge up in the mirror.
Yes, the Zero-Stat does elminate the static charge just like it does on a record. I can also tell you just letting the mirror sit for awhile causes the static charge to disapate.
My suggestion is to save the $110.00 dollar. Just let you mirror sit untouched for about 30 minutes accomplishes the same thing.
Clear Skies, Bill

William Paolini said:
Does anyone know when these (UO 32mm 1.25" Konig) were discontinued?
FYI - I just picked one up used and it is an unbelievable performer. In f/4.7 scope only outer 25% or less was soft on star fields. In f/11 scope was sharp until last 5% or less! AFOV appears wide, much wider than a Plossl. Anyway, a great EP.

Hi Bill,
I'm not sure when they were discontinued but I bought a pair to use in telebinoculars about 4 or 5 years ago. I remember calling Ann Arbor to order them because they talked me into trying a couple of their 'New' lenses (which turned out to be a pretty good deal also).
I agree the UO 32mm, 1.25" Konigs are actually a good performer and a steal for the price. I still have and use the pair I bought.
I Think the AFOV is close to 65° but I'd have to check for certain. They do seem to favor 'slower' scopes as with most Konigs but I have tried them in a binoviewer with f/4.5 & f/5 scopes. As you indicated the edge gets "soft" (good description, thanks!). In the BT telebinos the edge performance is good with only a very small amount of aberrations around the very edge. Actually the BT-80s seem to be affected more than the BT-100 or BT-125.
I'll ask around and see if anyone knows when they were actually discontinued but I'm sure it hasn't been more than 3 years ago.
Clear Skies, Bill

Hey Bill,
I did a bit of checking.
It's my understanding Univ. Optics stopped making these around 2 years ago and has been out of stock for about a year. If you want I'll verify that next time I call Ann Arbor.
FWIW
In my eyepiece notes I found where I noted seeing a UO 32mm, 1.25" that did not have the green "M.C." marking under the name at a star party. I assume it's an older version. (See Picture)

Clear Skies, Bill

mike welsh said:

Anyone here know a source for larger sized vinyl/PVC dustcaps/dustcovers? i've seen occasional ads here on astromart, but cannot locate a commercial source. i'd like to find a couple to fit a 5"OD tube and maybe a couple of other sizes in the 2.5" to 4.5" range.

Thanks!

Check Scope Stuff. i think they carry a number of caps/covers in that range.
http://www.scopestuff.com/

Also, you might contact Floyd Blue. He's done some inovative things with larger covers for his mirrors, etc. Seems like he's posted pictures on these forums.
CS, Bill

Gordon,
I believe next to some of the Naglers, the 24mm Panoptic seems to sell the fastest. It seems like not too long ago the 16mm Naglers were selling in seconds but I think that's slowed. Of course the 20mm and 31mm Naglers are perennial favorites that sell quickly.
Hopefully you can figure a fair mix of these to even your balance.
Clear Skies, Bill

Hey Gordon,
The TV Plossls seem to sell fairly well also just not a as good of a % of the orginal price. Seems like the longer Focal Length go the fastest and bring the best price. The common ones in mid FL seem to take longer.
Clear Skies, Bill

Hi Rick,
I've used several of the Russel Optics eyepieces and finders. IMHO they are generally a good eyepiece for the price. I particularly like his 2" eyepiece and have suggested them to more than one person looking for eyepieces in that price range.
There's a review of th 85mm you might like to read. I still have my Russell Optics 85mm and use it at Public Star Parties with a 127 refractor. The long eye relief, extremely wide eyepoint, and comfortable view allows even the most inexperienced visitors to observe any kind of objects.

Clear Skies, Bill