Posts Made By: Mark Bayley

I'm looking to replace my 24.5 SWA with either a
20mm Nagler T5 or 22mm T4. I've also considered the
17mm T4, as TFOV is only marginally smaller than the
24.5's. Given that I would like to replace my 18mm SWA
also, I was thinking that perhaps the 20mm T5 would be
good compromise for both the 18mm & 24.5mm SWA's.

I have an 8" SCT BTW. Your thoughts appreciated!

My nine year old son told me that the Tooth Fairy doesn't exist. I'm devastated. My dentist recently told me that I'd have no teeth by the time I was 45, so I figured I'd be coming into some big bucks via the Tooth Fairy - I already had the AP refractor picked out, and if I ordered it now, I'd have the cash to pay for it in seven years. It was all going to work out fine.
Now my hopes are dashed. This is almost as bad as when I found out that Gilligans Island *wasn't* reality TV. :-(

I was reluctant to post this considering all the excellent Saturn images being posted, but what the heck!
This was taken 1.50 am (1450UT) Boxing Day. Saturn only gets to about 30 deg here, so I doubt I'll do much better.
LX90 at f/20 (seeing wouldn't support much more)
Logitech Quickcam 3000 5 fps 1/5sec 30% Yield
Aquired with K3CCDTools
Processed with Registax, Wavelet layer 5 89.9
Unsharp mask and brightness/contrast in PSP.

Clear Skies,
Mark

Well, it's a new Saturn for me

LX90 at ~f/20. Logitech QC3KPro
Acquired with K3CCDTools, processed with Registax 2 and post processed with PSP (lots).
I don't think I can do much better than this, given seeing, location and equipment limitations. Seeing was about 5/10. I tried to get the colours as 'natural' as possible. Thanks for looking.

Mark

I've been thinking about the 12mm Nagler Type 4 or the 13mm Type 6 for use in my 8" SCT. Currently, I use a 16mm T5 as my 'high' mag DSO ep, but sometimes I'd like to go just that bit more for fainter objects. I have another Type 4, so I'm familiar with the characteristics of that type. Anyone had a chance to look through both? Opinions?


BTW, it would also serve in an f/5 refractor.

Hi,
I'm researching BV's, and I notice that they are available with clear apertures from around 20mm to 26mm, depending on brand/model.

Has anyone had any problem with vignetting caused by using say, a 24mm Panoptic (or maybe even a 20mm WS III) in a smaller aperture BV?

Thanks,
Mark

Well, this has probably been covered before but I must have missed it...

I was checking out Meade's ad re Series 5000 eyepieces, and I noticed that the pic of the 30mm UWA was 'actual size' 8O

I must have had that actual look on my face. My wife asked what I was looking at, and here expression was EXACTLY the same when I showed her. 8O

Are they vaporware, or has anyone actually seen one in the flesh?

Thanks,
Mark

I researched crayfords for use on my LX90, so I've gone thru what you are now doing. I simply could not afford the Meade motorized or JMI NGF-S new, so I immediately set my budget at $200 max. This meant any of the manual units new, or a used electric unit.

Given the limited OTA-to-base clearance of the LX90, I checked the dimensions of the focusers - I wanted to be able to get as much dec or elevation angle as possible. The Apogee and WO units are substantially longer at minimum height than the JMI NGF, so I eliminated them. The NGF-S has (I believe) similar dimensions to the Meade 1209. So it came down to those three. In the end I went with the NGF-SE, as I decided that I didn't *really* need an electric focuser. :-)

Now: Using a 1.25 diagonal, and with the JMI at minmium height, it will clear the base - but ONLY at minimum. It will hit if the focus is wound out. Using a 2" diagonal, your practical max elevation is 70 deg. In Polar mode, this means that I cannot image/view anything closer to the pole than a dec of -70 deg. A bit of a pain, as my favourite object is at -72 deg. :-(

Hope this helps.

Clear Skies,
Mark

I'll be keeping mine. It's great in my f/10 & not so great in my f/5, but since I'm not likely to own one of them 31mm Naglers, it's a keeper.

Clear Skies,
Mark

I got the ep deal on a recent Meade purchase. They are reasonably good quality Plossls, and make fine general use eyepieces. IMO the 15mm is the best of them, followed by the 12.4mm.
Keep in mind that Meade has probably sold thousands of these 'eyepiece deals'. For US$99, you can't go too wrong.
Like anything, you can get a 'bad' one, but you will be able to get it replaced.
Is it worth it? Yes.