Posts Made By: Lane Davis

Does anyone know if Camp Wesumkee was damaged by Rita?

I have a problem with my 130 Star ED refractor. This is the f-8, air-spaced, two-element version produced during the early 90’s. I think it may be a collimation problem but before I tweak it, I want to hear some opinions. When I look at the inside and outside focus diffraction patterns, the airy disk appears to be in the center with the rings concentric. But – when I look at a bright, at-focus (in-focus) star, which shows several rings, the rings are brighter on one side than the other and the bright side shows a little red color. I’m examining the diffraction pattern at 250x. Any thoughts?

I am considering one of these. Does anyone out there have first-hand experience with one? It would be for my AP 600 mount.

Lane

I had the same experience with my 127ED. I sent it back to Meade twice before realizing they couldn't fixt it. At first, I didn't understand the nature of the problem but some surfing on the web revealed information from a guy in Maryland with the diagnosis and the process for fixing it. It took me longer - about two hours - before I centered the rear element accurately. After that, the performance was very good - better than the price would lead you to believe. The ultimate problem, however, was the centering would not "hold". Every time I transported the scope to a dark site, which I do a lot, it would shift out of center. Eventually I decided the effort of recentering at the start of most observing sessions wasn't worth the effort. One of the reasons I like refractors they require a minimum of maintenance. After several years, I sold the scope to someone who wanted to use it in a backyard observatory (no regular transportation) - he really likes it.

Roland - I noticed the new mount is sitting on what appears to be the "old" 400/600 tripod. Do you plan on carrying forward with this? In other words, when my number comes up on the waiting list, will I be able to use the new mount on my old tripod?

Lane

Are handset hooks going to be built onto the pier?

Mike - I used an LXD650 for about 10 years. On the few occasions where it shut down, I always traced the problem to external factors - there was never an internal failure. The most common cause was low voltage from the battery and the best way to check this is to measure the voltage under load. Another indicator of low voltage is if the ammeter on the mount starts trying to draw higher amps. Your mount should use about 350-400 miliamps in its tracking state (it will spike higher when slewing). If it starts going to 500 miliamps and above, the reason is almost always low voltage.

I owned a Star 130 for several years - to tide me over until I found a triplet I wanted. I thoroughly enjoyed the scope. It was relatively light, very well corrected and, to my eyes, had no color fringing around Vega - the acid test for me. A friend of mine, however, could see a dim purple halo around Vega but his eyes are better in the blue end than mine. I could image the purple halo with my DSLR so it was definitely a visual refractor but with decent imaging capabilities. When I bought my 155, I actually considered keeping the 130 just because I enjoyed it so much but I knew it would see little use so there was not real point to keeping it except to tell others that I had two AP's! I suspect that only a dozen or so of these scopes were made, along with a few 6-inchers so they rarely come up for sale. I don't know the glass type but when I sold mine it generated quite a thread of conversation on the AP User Group on Yahoo - check out that thread - I think someone had a complete "spec" on the scope...Lane

I am in need of a set of (physical) setting circles. What is a good source nowadays? Prefer used...Lane