Posts Made By: Jeffrey Kramer

Hi everyone,

I was desperate to try my new scope so I actually went out tonight in mostly cloudy weather just to make sure it works!!

I was out in my front yard tonight with my new Meade ETX-105EC. I observed for a little under 1-hour. It was mostly cloudy and hazy but I really wanted to see a few objects through this scope since I received it on August 7 and have been unable to use it due to poor weather. I knew I didn’t have much time to observe due to the clouds so I immediately used the standard hand controller and viewed the moon. It was behind a hazy cloud but it still focused nice and tight. I then moved to Venus and saw its nearly half full crescent. I noted while viewing Venus that this scope has very little image shift. I then decided to give the Autostar a quick try hoping the weather would hold long enough to test the goto accuracy of the scope. I leveled the tripod and set up the Autostar. The alignment stars were Arcturus and Altair. After aligning the scope on those two stars, I slewed to Antares although I couldn’t quite split it. I did note that the scope has a very nice star test. Next, I slewed to the Moon and Venus which were very low in the sky. Nevertheless, it hit all three objects near the center of the eyepiece and I was very impressed so far. The clouds were really starting to move in so I decided to give Vega a shot. Vega was near the edge of the FOV. The other three objects were very near the center of the FOV while Vega was near the edge. All of these gotos were done using the 26mm eyepiece (57x). With clouds now covering 80% of the sky and fearing a possible drizzle, I decided to call it a very successful first light for this scope!!

Clear skies everyone,
Jeff

Does anyone know the web address for TMB? I am looking for more information on their 6" achromat.

Thanks,
Jeff

Hi everyone,

Tonight was the best night I have ever had viewing the moon so I thought I would post my observing report:

I was out in my front yard tonight in South Florida with my Meade 8” LX200GPS. I observed for about 3 1/2-hours. The seeing was very good, around an 8. I started off with Saturn and it looked very nice despite being very low in the western sky. Next, I took a look at Jupiter and it was showing a fair amount of detail in its equatorial bands.

The moon looked absolutely spectacular tonight and I saw some features on it that I have never seen before. The first was the “L” in the crater Clavius. This “L” was shown in the June 2003 Sky & Telescope but looked more like a “u”. It was easy to see and my wife even took a peek. Next, I saw 5-craterlets in Plato. I have never seen more than 4 craterlets before tonight through any telescope. The 5th craterlet was near the edge of the crater and I confirmed it by checking its location in one of my moon books. What amazed me the most was that the atmosphere was so steady for a short period of time that the 4-main craterlets were clear and sharp at 400x (5mm Ultima). I could see each of the three in the triangle and the one that is a double as actual little craters, not just spots. I have never seen them like this before. They were clear and sharp and fully resolved into round little craters.

Lastly, the toughest feature of all on the moon for me is the rille in the Alpine Valley. Well, I saw it blinking in at out at 400x in moments of good seeing. I verified what I saw with my moon book and yes, I did see it snaking down the middle of the valley. It blinked in and out but it was there in super steady moments. This was the best the moon has ever looked for me.

In between my viewing of the moon, I viewed the following double stars: Mizar, Castor, Algieba, and Izar. Each of them was completely split and very pretty. Lastly, I viewed M13 and M92.

To sum up, if anyone thinks Schmidt Cassegrains are lacking in contrast, they should come look through my scope!

Clear skies,
Jeff

Hi,

I have owned my 8" LX200GPS for over a year now and last night a noticed that there is a blemish on the blue paint near the top of the tube. It is about the size of a silver dollar and looks like a faded blue that won't rub to a shine. It feels kind of rough. I do not what caused this but I guess bug spray from hand is a possibility. Does anyone know how to bring the shine back?

Thanks,
jeff

Hi everyone,

This morning was my first light with my new Televue NP-101 in South Florida. The seeing was a little better than average, about a 6. I used it on my Celestron CG-5 mount. I started off with Vega as I just had to know right off the bat how good the color correction was on this scope. Needless to say, I was very impressed. I was extremely hard pressed to see any blue around Vega regardless of magnification!! I tried the new 3 to 6mm Nagler Zoom and did not see any color at all. The 3mm zoom yields 90 - 180x on this scope and I did not see any color at all, regardless of magnification with this eyepiece. I then put in my 2.5x Powermate and could barely see a smidgeon of false color at the maximum power which is 450x. I had to look for it and it was not easy to see. Also, the star test on the scope was perfect. I can definitely say that this scope passed the false color test without flying colors!!

Next, I moved to the double-double and obtained a very nice view, splitting it easily at 90x with the Nagler Zoom. After trying the Nagler Zoom, I wanted to try my new 24mm Panoptic which yields 23x and about a 3 degree FOV. I saw the Pleiades rising over my house and turned to them. What a sight!! The entire cluster was beautifully framed right in the middle of this eyepiece. No false color on any of the stars. It was just a beautiful widefield view.

Next, I turned to Mars and was amazed at how sharp it was at 180x. Mars just snapped right into focus. The south (I think it is the south) Polar Cap was huge and easily visible as were several dark markings on the planet. I do not know which markings on Mars that I saw as I was mainly concerned with testing the scope this morning but the markings were easily visible and fairly distinct. Mars had a very pretty red/orange color to it and was easy to focus on. I then added my 2.5 Powermate and viewed Mars at the 5mm setting (270X) and did not see any image breakdown. The image finally started to go a little soft at the 4mm setting (and Powermate) at 338x! I did not expect to be able to use such high powers on Mars with a 4” scope! I look forward to viewing Mars with this scope for the next several months during this terrific opposition.

I did not notice any false color on the edge of the moon at all as I viewed it rising over the roof of my house.

To summarize, this scope really impressed me with its optics as well as its mechanics. The focuser is extremely smooth, the scope is built like a tank, and I love the satin like finish to the dewcap, focuser, and diagonal. This scope looks as nice as it performs. As for performance, the complete lack of false color was extremely impressive and all of the objects I viewed snapped right into focus. The star test was perfect and the images were beautiful.

Clear skies,

Jeff

Hi,

I was wondering....I currently have an 8" SCT and am planning to upgrade to a 14" scope. I was wondering if there is much of a difference between a 12" and a 14" scope?

Thanks,
Jeff

Hi,

I am in the process of purchasing a 14" Tscope Truss Tube Dob and was wondering what digital setting circles are better: The Sky Commander or the Argo Navis? Has anyone tried either or both with their Dob?

Thanks,
Jeff

Hi,

My review of my NP101 was posted on Cloudy Nights.
Check it out!

Clear skies,
jeff

Hi everyone,

I just received my new C11S-ASGT with XLT coatings today.

I put the scope together and all looks good so far. Unfortunately, the scope brought some bad weather along with it as we may get hit by a Tropical Storm in South Florida on Monday and it will be cloudy and rainy here until Tuesday.

I was a bit concerned when I ordered the scope that it would be difficult to get the ota on the ASGT mount. I am happy to report that I had absolutely no problem placing the tube on the mount. In fact, it was rather easy. The ota has a handle on the back which makes it easy to hold.

I guess I will be testing the new scope sometime next week.

I will be posting my first light here once I can get the scope outside.

Here is a pic of the new scope and a future astronomer.

Clear skies,

jeff

November 22, 2005 - (Tuesday) - 1st Light with new C11S-GT

I received my new C11S-GT on Friday (11/18/05)but have been unable to test it out until tonight due to clouds. I live in South Florida under magnitude 4 skies. The OTA is very nice and is quite portable. I did notice that the focus knob is smooth for a few turns and then stiffens up a little and then becomes smooth again. It did this in both directions. It did not in anyway prevent me from obtaining best focus but I was wondering why this was happening. Luckily, it is not that bad at all. Also, maybe it will go away with time. I did try turning the focus knob in-and-out of focus all of the way but the minor stiffness remained. There was very minimal image shift when focusing the scope. The ASGT mount supported the telescope nicely with a damping time of about 2-seconds with vibration suppression pads.

I set the scope up in my front yard this evening and put it to the test. I was able to test the scope for 3 ½ hours from 7:30PM until 11:00PM. The seeing was very good, around a 7 and it was nice and cool, in the low 60s. At first, I noticed my gotos were somewhat off and realigned the mount a second time. Again, they were slightly off by a few degrees. I aligned the scope a 3rd time but instead of entering the time as AM or PM, I used military time and my gotos were perfect. I slewed to several objects and the scope hit them all in the eyepiece, many were dead center. I turned the scope off and did a 4th alignment, again using military time, and my gotos were excellent again. I do not know why it matters how the time is entered but I guess I will just enter the time as military time for good goto accuracy.

Next, I turned the scope to Vega and noted some spikes in the out-of-focus pattern. I got a little nervous but noticed that as some time went by, the spikes started to disappear. The OTA needed to call down!! Even in South Florida, the OTA needed to cool down! After about 30-minutes, the spikes were completely gone and I noticed that the scope was very slightly out of collimation. One quick turn of one of the three collimation screws and the collimation was much better. The scope then star tested very well.

I viewed the following Messier Objects tonight: M31, M32, M34, M35, M36, M37, M38, M42, M45, and M57. I also viewed the Double Cluster and NGC7662 (Blue Snowball). In addition, I split Almach and Rigel. I was able to see 6-stars in the Trapezium of M42 and this was with M42 pretty low in the eastern sky. I also was able to see nice detail in M42’s nebulosity.

I also spent some time viewing Mars. Detail was easy to see and I used powers of 175x, 215x, and 254x when viewing the planet. I could see many dark and light markings on the planet but I do not know what their names are.

To sum up, this was a very successful first light and the difference in light gathering power between this scope and the Meade 8” LX200GPS I traded-in towards it was very evident. Star Clusters showed more stars, M31, M42, and M57 were much brighter, and it seemed like the resolution on Mars was better but I would have to compare them side-by-side to confirm that. This is a very nice scope and one I see myself keeping for a long time.



November 25, 2005 (Friday) - 2nd Light with Cl1S-GT

I was at Area 51 (our Dark Site in South Florida) with my new C11S-GT. I observed for about 5 1/2-hours (from 6:30PM until Midnight). Tonight was very clear at times and the transparency was very good. In addition the seeing was very good, around a 7. There was a very good turnout tonight. The following other scopes were set-up tonight: Nexstar 11, Meade 14” LX200GPS, Meade 12” LX200GPS, Meade 8” LX200, 8” Newtonian on an Atlas Mount, 8” Orion Newtonian. There was also a 4.5” Meade Newtonian. I am still awaiting the 2” Star Diagonal I ordered so I could not use any of my 2” eyepieces. Nevertheless, tonight was a fun night and I viewed a lot of objects.

I started off with Venus which was in a crescent phase. Then I looked at Mars and could see some dark markings on the planet. I split Almach, Gamma Aries, and Rigel. I viewed the following Messier Objects tonight: M1, M15, M29, M31, M32, M33, M34, M35, M36, M37, M38, M39, M42, M43, M45, M56, M57, M74, M103, and M110. M31 looked fantastic and I could see one of the dust lanes near the edge of the galaxy. While viewing M35, I could see the embedded cluster NGC2158. I could see 6-stars in the Trapezium of M42 quite easily. I also viewed the Double Cluster which always looks nice.

I viewed the following additional objects tonight: C17 (NGC147) - barely, but it was visible, C18 (NGC185), C30, C43, C44 (all galaxies) and C15 (Blinking Nebula). I also viewed NGC253, the Sculptor galaxy and it looked terrific as it was so large. NGC891 the edge on galaxy was also viewed.

I ended the night with a quick look at Saturn which was still pretty low in the Eastern Sky. It looked spectacular with Cassini’s Division easily seen. The planet was bright and sharp. I only wished it was higher in the sky!!

All in all, tonight was a fun clear night.

Clear skies,
Jeff


P.S The focuser issue from the 1st night has been resolved. It was just the rubber cover rubbing against the tube when the knob was turned. An easy fix!!