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Posts Made By: Mark Rice

March 16, 2005 01:47 AM Forum: Pictures of Me and My Telescope and........

The Trio...

Posted By Mark Rice
Here's my small contribution for those who've asked to see how big the DSH-12 really is.

March 19, 2005 03:33 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

New sunspot group

Posted By Mark Rice
I got a little bit of sky this morning - there's a new group of sunspots forming. They show up on the MDI continuum but not the sunspot image. No number yet.

Orion SVP100
Baader solar filter
Baader solar continuum filter

March 21, 2005 01:30 AM Forum: Eyepieces

New eyepieces from Orion

Posted By Mark Rice
I noticed a picture of a new eyepiece design in Orion's May S&T ad.
"Stratus", 68 deg fov, 3.5 to 21mm. Anybody encountered these yet?

April 14, 2005 02:55 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Floyd, I think you're right

Posted By Mark Rice
Just did a quick look-see with the 40mm Optiluxe and it does look awful good at f4.9. Thanks for the tip.


April 15, 2005 06:41 PM Forum: Eyepieces

I'm fixing a hole...

Posted By Mark Rice
I've got a 30mm KK widescan II inbound and next in the lineup is a 14mm UWA. I'm thinking about putting a Panoptic in the hole. I'm thinking 24mm (max field in my 8" Starhopper) or 22mm (I read lots of good things about this one.) Which would you pick and why?

May 9, 2005 03:28 PM Forum: Coronado-Lunt-DayStar Solar Filters

Can I play with you guys?

Posted By Mark Rice
Finally got my PST and Cemax eyepiece kit at TSP (had to observe SOMETHING) so I'd better start reading all your posts. Early observations were excellent with a big flare to start off the relationship. 8O
*but*
I get the impression that the image is too bright to see all the detail (eye surgery limits my pupil response). Anybody have a good solution?

November 25, 2005 07:26 PM Forum: Reflectors

How tight is too tight?

Posted By Mark Rice
I just cleaned my 12" GSO mirror and I'm not sure how snug the mirror clamps should be. Better to get it right while it's out of the scope. It's a full thickness mirror and the clamps have about 6mm of rubber cushion and I don't want to pinch it.

January 7, 2006 11:47 PM Forum: Star Parties

Any star parties in Ohio?

Posted By Mark Rice
Looks like I'll be living in the Columbus area for the next few years. Are there any Buckeye star parties?

May 8, 2003 02:14 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Celestron X-Cel

Posted By Mark Rice
I just got a pair of XCEL's and they appear to be made to the same basic design as the Epic's. I recently bought an Epic 25mm and a set of Expanse ep's. The Expanse's (ugh!)have already been sent back. I ordered three more Epic's and rounded it out with the XCEL's just to see if there was any difference. The Epic/XCEL design seems to be the most comfortable to use that I've tried. No ghosting (a bit of off axis flare on the moon), good contrast, little or no distortion and sharp edge to edge (at least as far as my eyes can tell). Eye relief is just about perfect and pretty forgiving. Now if only the weather would clear up...

May 26, 2003 04:11 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Orion Epic ED2 EP?

Posted By Mark Rice
I've been using them for about a month - replaced all my Plossl's after trying out the 25mm. I also bought a couple of the Celestron XCEL ep's. They're identical to the Epic's and $5 cheaper. All I've been able to do is use them on Jupiter and Saturn; still waiting for some good weather. Sharpness seems to be equivalent to TV Plossl's with more neutral color and a bit more contrast. Light throughput seems to be about the same. There is faint red ghosting on Jupiter. Eye relief is great and forgiving as to eye position. They're big and heavy so I had to add some weights to my 8" SCT. I'll be adding a 7.5 or 8mm before Mars gets here. Might even get a 6mm and hope for great seeing. One note - they barlow well but eye relief gets real touchy.

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