Posts Made By: Steve Lathrop

I'm going to disagree with many of the people on this thread who advise caution about spending your money. Seems like you are looking for impressive aesthetics in your views, first and foremost. Go get a TEC 140 or some other comparable large APO. That will give you a great chance to get off to a satisfying start. Your first view of the double cluster at 40x should fix everything.

If it doesn't work out, you won't lose much selling it, especially if you bought it used in the first place. Just don't sell it before you get a chance to try it a time or two under a truly dark summer sky...

Steve

If you like binoculars you should try to get a look through some of the big (as opposed to giant) Fujinons. They are not terribly expensive (around $400 on Astromart), and in my experience provide views a cut above everything else that's similar.

Star colors are more noticeable through my 10 X70s than in any views through any other instrument I have tried. Most objects on the Messier list stand out pretty well, and M31 can be sensational.

They are far from distortion-free, but the overall impression of the views is really, really good.

Like you, I would love to get a crack at the 25x150s.

Steve

I'm going to second Gerald's recommendation of considering Stellarvue. I bought a used 80/9D (they come up for about $350 or less fairly frequently) to give to a nephew, and was amazed by how close it came to my TV-102 on the moon and planets. Very nice mechanically, too.

Be careful not to buy one of the shorter achromats, however, unless you know you don't mind false color.

Steve

This thread illustrates the wisdom of constructing sentences to avoid using the term "APO." Like "Ophiuchus" the term "APO" must not be pronounced, only written.

Steve

Of course this is a terrific image, but it's remarkable how little the Encke division shows up. Is this maybe because of the low resolution of the web image? How does the original look?

Steve

I have always wondered why the obvious preference for "refractor-like" images is so persistent--and why it is so mysterious that nobody seems able to explain it.

Assuming that this phenomenon isn't just a case of mass delusion, I would suggest that one place to look might be the amount of scattered light produced by reflectors vs. refractors.

If we say that a very good reflector will focus 96% of the light in the image, and a similar quality refractor might focus 98%, it's easy to assume that must be a trivial difference. Who is going to see a 2% difference in light transmission?

But look at the same situation from the other side, and it looks different. The 96% scope has twice as much light unaccounted for as the 98% scope. Maybe twice as much scattered or otherwise unfocused light bouncing around in your scope does make a visible difference.

Anybody know about how to think about this systematically?

Steve

Several years ago I did a side-by-side with the Sky 90 and the Televue 85. The difference in brightness and resolution was barely there, but just noticeable in favor of the Tak. However, the TV-85 was markedly better color corrected.

Don't know if that would still be true.

Steve

I bought a used 80/9D on Astromart and am very impressed. I also have an excellent TV-102, and the 80/9D is by no means humiliated in a side-by-side.

Of course the TV-102 is noticeably better on selected views where resolution or faintness are issues (globulars particularly), but for many views, such as the moon and open clusters, you might not notice much difference.

It takes a very bright contrasty image to make false color an issue with the 80/9D, and the scope is very sharp and delivers superb images. Very good mechanically too. Excellent value for the money.

That said, it could be that the 80ED would be a bit better, because of being a little faster and even better color corrected at a similar price, but I have never seen or used the 80ED.

Steve

Probably you have to move.

If you have a lease, tell your landlord that his floodlight negligence breaks the lease, preventing you from receiving the full enjoyment of property you are paying for. Tell the landlord to explain that to the insurance company.

It won't get you anywhere, but you would be doing your part in providing the feedback.

Steve

I got the same bad result when I tried off-the-shelf isopropyl as an eyepiece cleaner. A drop of acetone on a Q-tip fixed everything right up,.

Steve