Posts Made By: Jason Paoletti

Has anyone seen or used one of these yet? Anyone know how it might compare optically to an ETX 90 or 102. Do their perspective mounts handle the perspective OTA?
Any comments appreciated.
Jason

Does anyone out there have this ep? I am thinking of picking one up for use in an 8" f/6 dob for powers of 111x and 222x w/ barlow. Could anyone tell me how comfortable the eye relief is? This would be used w/barlow as my main planetary ep so I would like it to be comfortable.
Thanks
Jason

How do the Ultima/Ultrascopic/Antares ep's perform compared to TV plossls on planets.
Any comments appreciated.
Jason

Does anyone have this barlow? I am wondering how this might compare to a Tele Vue 2x.
Thanks
Jason

I am looking for a higher power for use in my 8" f/6 Discovery dob. My current highest power is 222x with my 11mm TV plossl and 2x barlow. This provides excellent views. I am thinking about 8mm TV plossl for 304x (with barlow) which may be pushing it a bit or 9mm UO ortho which would give 271x (w/barlow). Both ep's would give about the same FOV. Eye relief would probably be better in the ortho, but 8mm is parfocal with my TV plossls. Budget wise this price range is about all I can do. Any comments on these two ep's would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jason

Anyone try this yet? I read the reviews in S&T a few months back, but this model was not included. It seems to have a bigger chip inside. Would this provide pleasing views on a TV or a waste of money.
Thanks,
Jason

Here is a pic from the January 2000 issue of S&T with the famous 8" dob test report. For those of you wondering exactly what they are.
Jason

Not really an equipment post, but here goes.I have an 8" f/6 Discovery dob. Using my highest power on Mars at 271x (9mm ortho and TV 2x) I notice some floaters. They are not too bad, but I hardly notice them at 222x and never at 163x. While at 271x I pulled the ep further out from the barlow for a higher mag I saw the inside of my eye. The "canals" on Mars were everywhere. So my question is, is this a trait from the ep, the mag, or the exit pupil? Also why does this happen? I am happy with the view at 271x, but would like to go higher if conditions permit. Would a longer focal ratio scope minimize this?
Thanks,
Jason

Well what do you know? Got to use it the first day I got it. Clouds went away after 3 days in a row! Now the only filter I've ever used before was an 80a and a green moon filter. I know filters aren't supposed to give a true color image, but I quicky sold them off because I like a truer looking image. Well this Baader filter is great in my 8" f/6. Mars being so bright is almost washed out when the seeing isn't good. The polar cap is distinct and the albedo features are subtle. Pop in the filter and the darker features are now obvious. It was almost as if the seeing was much better. There was a color shift, but not too much. The polar cap went from being white to light beige. Mars itself did turn a darker shade of orange, but still very "real" looking. The albedo features had much more contrast and almost take on a blue/gray color. If you are at all turned off by color filters, this one won't dissapoint.

The only other object I tried it on was M57. 135x with my 9mm ortho gives a decent size while still giving a bright image of the ring. With the filter I was able to see with direct vision what I was seeing with averted vision w/out filter. Over all I was very happy with this filter. I am anxious to try out on some nebula and Jupiter to see how it works.

Thanks for reading,
Jason

Hi all. There have been some great pics I've been seeing in this forum. I have an 8" f/6 dob and a Sony DSC-P51 digital cam. I've tried taking some pics in still mode that I would be embarrassed to post here. Although I have got some nice moons pics.
I have a movie mode on my camera, but it is mpeg. Would I be able to pull frames out of this mode? Is there a way to convert mpeg to avi? Any tips?
A web cam and laptop is out of the question right now.
Thanks,
Jason