Posts Made By: Philip Blanda

It would be the TMB105 CNC or LW that would be the closest to the Traveler.

The one telescope that I would never sell is my Traveler - it's just about perfect in it's physical size - small and light enoug to be a great quick view scope, and big enough so that when quick views become extended I don't feel the need to get something larger.

Woo-Hoo! Got the notification for final payment of my 160EDF today (4/8). Should be shipping next week or so. Mars will be sweet to look at this summer.

I am very excited.

The attached picture shows what my wife and kids thought was da bomb at NEAF today. My dignity was a fair trade for a pair of TV 11mm Plossls and a binocular tripod adaptor.

We had a very good time, and the views on the H-alpha field were very, very good. Paul's double stacked Traveler was particularly good.

I so want to leave work early! The 160EDF is at my house. Woo-hoo! Crossing my fingers that the skies remain clear tonight. The anticipation of new toys is a feeling that makes me feel young again.

The view at NEAF were truly awsome. So much so, that my wife is into us getting an H-alpha setup. You know you're good when you can win over the non-astronomer parter!

I am a bit unsure of what a t-max does and if it is needed. I would be using a Traveler and was considering a 60mm filter.

Philip

Thanks Roland & AP. A beautiful piece of equipment. The focuser is heavenly, smooth "like butta". Looking at the coatings (I know, they're meant to look throught, but that'll come later), they seem very, very good. If I didn't know it was air spaced I'd swear the lens was a solid hunk of glass.

The baffle in the dew cap is at the very front, and covers the lens cell when closed.

Philip

I have been twice to the South Jersey Star party, but I am now thinking about the Stella-Della star party happening at the same time. What are the skies like at Stella-Della?

Philip

I had an opportunity to look through a Solarscope Ltd. 50mm unobstructed hydrogen alpha filter this past weekend at the South Jersey Star party. Wow! The views of the disk showed great granulation and filaments. The promenances were sharp and the detail in them stunning.

I had never heard of this company and thought I was looking through a 40mm Coranado. But the detail was waaay greater than I had ever seen in the 40mm. The fellow who owned it stated that he had upgraded from a 60mm Coranado to this 50mm and I can well beleive it was an upgrade.

Philip

After a long time, the advertisment in S&T for AP has been updated to reflect the new product line. Bye-bye 155, hello 160! No hints on what else may be produced besides the 160 though

Philip

Last December for my son's 7th birthday I bought him an orion XT4.5 Dobsonian telescope. I have nothing but good things to say about the telescope. The views through the scope always seem pretty good.

Using the star test and comparing the results to what I saw in the Aberrator star test simulation program, I thought the correction was somewhere between 1/2.5 and 1/3.5 waves PTV.

When I became aware that Roddier analysis software is available for free (thanks to Roland Christen) and can charaterize the correction of an optical system easily using nothing more than a CCD camera and a star, I decided to do it on all my telescopes.

I had already captured some star test intra/extra focal images of the XT4.5, and while they were not ideal for use in the Roddier analysis, they weren't bad. It was a bit of a hassle getting the into FITS format, but IRAS helped.

The results are that his telescope is 1/2.7 PTV and 1/14.0 RMS for a strehl of 82%, a bit better than the Raleigh criterion. I am going to repeat the images with them a bit better suited to the Roddier analysis.

What is interesting is that the predominant error is spherical, to the tune of 1/4 wave PTV and 1/16 wave RMS. There is no doubt the mirror was left spherical, which is a good choice for a f/8 114mm newtonian. The next predominant error is astigmatism, followed by trefoil, high order spherical, coma , supplimental, etc. (there are many to etc.).

Philip