Posts Made By: David Hodny

Was anyone out doing high power observing last night in the upper midwest? I was observing saturn, Jupiter, doubles and other high power observing with my Starmax 127 Mak at my home in Minneapolis, MN. It was the best, most steady air I've ever experienced - and that's over 40 year span! Saturn and Jupiter were like pictures - rock steady and hardly any image turbulence could ever bee noticed. Airy disk of stars at high power again were like a static textbook picture - the only image change shifting was the tearing from my eyes in the cold air. We all dream of such steady nights. I've experienced what I thought was steady auir before but last night set a new standard. If my experience before went from 1(worst) to 10(best), last night was a 12-14!

Last night's observing was the best I've ever experienced. High power airy disk was just about rock steady and picture perfect - hardly any shimmering or turbulence. Burt I noticed the first ring on the airy disk while symetric, was not continuous. There was a slight but distinct gap in the ring at about 11 o'clock. I have an Orion Starmax 127. Could that gap be caused by some kind of pinching of the primary (I've had to colimate the scope), or something else I could adjust, or is just an artifact of imperfect optics? The resolution I get on planets, moon and doubles seems very, very good.

I had an ETX-125 for the exact same reason. I sold it because I didn't like its flimsy plastic fork. I could never provide steady high-power views. I purchased an Orion Starmax 127. It seems to have better high power views with more contrast than the ETX and its mout provide rock-steady views. Its equatorial mount is not as portable though, especially packing for airline flights.