Posts Made By: Jake Jacobson

See this Astromart ad:

http://www.astromart.com/viewad.asp?cid=198900

If she paid $900 new, she really got screwed - I think new prices are around $350 or so....

Maybe it is a typo?

Anyone ever compared this to the EZcollimator?

Looks like the advantage is it has a large block of aluminum to ensure it is square to the focuser.

I heard that Orion had QC trouble with the older lasermates being out of collimation with themselves.

Do these newer ones suffer from the same problem?

My recently completed replacement tripod for my Meade DS-90. It took lots of sanding and many coats of poly, but they have a beautiful satin sheen to them.

I used clear fir, which seems to work great at dampening. The scope dampens in about 1 sec, when it used to take about 10 with the old aluminum legs - it really does make a huge improvement to switch to wood.

I don't know if this exactly qualifies as "Telescope Making"...but I am very proud of how well these turned out, and thought I would post it here. I am trying to get up the nerve to make a truss dob.

2 of my scopes set of for a night of observing at Mt. Pinos. A Konus 8" EQ with custom GOTO, and my Meade 90mm reractor with brand new wood legs I made for it.

Sorry for the image quality - it was almost dark when I snapped this photo.

First light for my new SAC-7b. Unfortunately, it started getting pretty windy, so I was only able to get a few good frames - so not the greatest image.

10 x 30 secs stack, taken with Konus 8' f/5 newt @ prime focus.

Comments appreciated!

-Jake

My first ever Mars image.

Taken with a SAC7b (running on a Mac) and Konus 8" newtonian. Seeing was poor - 3/10. I had a hard time finding any usable frames for the stack - I only got 123 out of +900 - and the usable ones were mediocre at best.

Still, I am happy to have my first Mars image!

Comments appreciated!

-Jake

I am kind of perplexed by all the recent fuss over collimation.

I have owned both a SCT (with Bob's knobs) and a newtonian, and found collimation of both telescopes neither tedious nor difficult. Especially with the SCT, collimation was super simple - I am amazed that so many folks out there neglect to do this, or are scared to do it, believing it is somehow difficult.

It is true that -initial- colliation may take up to (gasp!) 10 minutes to perform, but once it has been done, all that is needed is periodic touch ups, which generally only take a couple of minutes at most.

Also, FWIW, most refractors I have viewed through which are supposed to be "permanently collimated" were out of collimation. I find that even with the adjustable lens cells, refractors are a bit more time consuming to collimate than reflectors.

I am just amazed that so many people would opt for a smaller aperture achromat in leiu of a larger newtonian just for the sake of avoiding collimation. It seems to me to hardly be a disadvantage to the newts - plus the advantages (no false color, larger aperture) of a similarly priced newtonian seem to far outweigh the "disadvantage" of having to collimate.

I am not trying to fuel the "refractor/reflector" debate - as there are certainly many other good reasons for choosing a small refractor (portability is one reason), but it seems to me that choosing a refractor simply to avoid collimation is a mistake.

-Jake

I just got one of the new-fangled Orion "Lasermate" collimators - the new kind with the optical window.

I am not one to generally endorse products, but these things are fantastic. I borrowed one from a friend last month and was blown away at how easy it makes to collimate a newtonian, even in the dark.

I double checked the collimation with my chesire, and it was perfect.

If you have a newtonian - do yourself a favor and get one of these things. It is really nice to be able to collimate without going back and forth from the end of the telescope to the eyepiece.

This is my second attempt at Mars. It is a lot tougher to image than the gas giants!

226 frame stack, taken with an 8" f/5 Konus newtonian and an SAC-7B from Mt. Wilson, CA.

Comments appreciated!
-Jake

Clouds finally parted enough for me to try out my new Baader IR cut filter........ I think it helped! :-)

Taken with a Konus 8" f/5 newt and an SAC-7b.

Comments appreciated!

-Jake