Posts Made By: Scott Mitchell

Disclaimer...I'm not a particularly experienced observer and I am doubting myself a bit on what I saw...your comments/thoughts appreciated.

A group of observers I know had an opportunity to try this eyepeice a few weeks ago with 10 inch GSO (f5) Dobs and felt they were not very good...a whole laundry list of shortcomings...I was not at that observing session...

About a week ago, I tried the same eyepiece in my 12.5 inch Discovery truss Dob...other than the size and weight (it is big) I thought it was a nice performing eyepiece...I do not have a big Nagler to compare it to but from memory (I have borrowed a 31 MM Nagler in the past) I did not see (my impression of my memory) a lot of differences.

I've since gone and read the generally positive reveiws that closely relfect what i think I saw...made me feel good...

However, how do I square my experience with that of some of my observing buddies?

Can we both be right?

Again, I don't have years of experience (I do think I am proficient but not near expert) so what might cause the differences in experiences?

Same dark site...

Thanks All...

Not sure how much enjoyment the northern hemisphere will get out of this evenings lunar eclipse but here in Sydney, Australia it is looking wonderful!

Since it is taking place early in the evening there are many people out looking at it...great stuff...I better get back to viewing!

Cheers All!

I spent last weekend at the annual SPSP (South Pacific Star Party) hosted by the Astronomical Society of New South Wales (ASNSW) at Wiruna (near Ilford). While the evenings were "brisk" in temperature, I had a grand time.

This was my fourth SPSP event and if I can help it, it will not be my last. The wonderful people and the large variety of telescopes combined with great southern hemisphere dark skies were quite nice.

I took my 12.5 inch Discovery Dob with Argo Navis and had an enjoyable evening under the stars with old friends and new. Scopes near me varied from 8 inches in size to a 20 inch SDM (Obsession style) custom made scope (amazing views). The observing field was a nice mix of experienced salts and people attending their first star party.

I strongly encourage anyone who can to make it down under to next years event.

I am not looking to start a debate, I just wanted to share some of the joy in my heart...

I just got home from helping at a Northern Sydney Astronomical Society viewing night at a nearby school. I am not exactly sure how many kids/parents were in attendance but I enjoyed it a great deal. The kids were largely well behaved, respectful and interested. Well done to the organizers!!

No, it was not particularly dark and the views were a bit limited to moon, Jupiter (other planets early) some double stars, Jewell Box Cluster etc. but it was still great fun.

But, the highlight to me was that there was one boy, I did not even get his name, that came back after most everyone had left and expressed a real interest in looking up at teh night sky...He did not know a lot about the night sky but was keen and I got a great charge out of showing him a few things and letting him just look through my scope on his own. His excitement was contagious and refreshing and while I always enjoy outreach, this particular experience helped me leave at the evenings conclusion with even bigger smile than normal.

While I can't claim that he will go on to a career in Astronomy or even science, just seeing his interest in learning for this one evening was a great buzz for me. I am hopeful that the spark I saw tonight can be nurtured into a life time passion for learning...who knows, but that is why I enjoy doing Astro outreach...

john mcafee said:

I had a response from terrytate@iinet to an ad in the classifieds and all my attempts to email have bounced. This seems to be a problem with iinet. Does anyone know a work around?

Don't forget the .net.au ending...

Here is their home page...you might try contacting their customer service/help line.

http://www.iinet.net.au/index.html

Some of the ISPs "down under" are pretty aggressive at filtering out overseas SPAM...

I was wondering about the gift listed with different levels of support and how/when they might be sent...assuming that there was still some supply left when I supported.

Any idea of how best to see the status of availability?

Not complaining just curious...Thanks!

Curious about people’s opinions on the movie The Last Jedi...love it? Hate it? Would like to hear your thoughts.

I'll try and answer a couple of these...

#1 I have no idea...the temperatures here in Sydney, Australia don't vary that much (I don't have air conditioning)

#2...I check collimation after every set up and before viewing...with some practice it becomes fast and simple...

#3 No joke for my tube style dob it takes just a few seconds...with my truss dob it takes a few minutes...

#4 bulkier is a very subjective measure...???...I would not expect there to be a huge difference...I keep my 8 inch on a handcart (strapped on with bungee cords) see #3...I wheel it out of the house, slide it off the handcart and viola...

Cheers!
Scott

Sorry for the length of this...

I appreciate the comments with respect to need for objectivity and experience and I agree with those sentiments...

However, that was not really the point of my questions...

I was probably not clear enough in my original post so I will try again...

Some of the reviews found on the internet suggest that this eyepiece is a "competitor" to the Nagler line with all that this comparison implies (quality fit and finish, wide view, sharpness to edge of field)...

I have a few naglers, a pentax and panoptic a few plossls (from cheap chinese to TV) having worked my way up the food chain over time. Like many I have learned to appreciate the difference (sometimes subtle) between good, great and wow! Having said that, I am confident that there are many many other people who have a much higher "technical" and "asthetic" appreciation and understanding of what makes up a quality eyepiece. I consider myself proficient (not advanced or expert)...

Background...

Before reading any reviews on this eyepeice (at that point I was an as yet unbiased sample point), I had a chance to use it...I found it to be very comparable to a 31 MM Nagler (I do not own it but have used one a couple of times)...yes, a bit subjective in my comments but as it was a "memory" comparison the best I can do...I enjoyed the view enough that I thought it worthwhile to see what experiences other people were having with this eyepeice.

I was pleased (vanity on my part)to see that some other people whom I have some regard for found this eyepeice to be a good "competitor" to the Nagler...In this instance there are a number of objective evaluations that were performed...

I was then suprised to talk with some local observers who I sometimes view with who did not find the eyepiece to be very good at all (for a number of reasons among them edge performance and field curvature...their words not mine).

While we did view on seperate nights, it was the same observing site similar conditions with respect to the sky. The only difference I can think of (besides observers) were the scopes...I used my 12.5 inch Discovery Truss (cooled 3 hours +) and they used a 10 inch GSO tube dob (cooled 3 hours +). In neither instance was a parracorr used.

My question...

Besides "experience" of the observers involved, is there anything technically that might cause these diverse opinions?

Is there some difference between the two (f5) scopes that might account for the differences?

While I recognize that "mileage may vary" from user to user and scope to scope I am puzzled as to the vast difference in opinion...

It was exactly the same eyepeice (I mean the "same" eyepiece)...the owner looked through the eyepeice with both scopes (at different times) and was amazed at the differences...the eyepeice works well in his own scope (CAT) I agreed with him viewing through his scope myself...

What might account for the differences?

Collimation would have been accurate in both instances...I am a bit stumped on this hence my original post...

Thanks!

Interesting trade and it will be interesting to hear your thoughts.

I have a 16 T5 and find it very sharp on and off axis...IMO very good clarity. I really like the eyepiece and the view through it. Eye relief is a bit tight for some but I've got no complaints (I don't wear glasses).