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Jupiter (clearer) Nov 5th 2023 w/Mewlon 180c

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Posts Made By: Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

February 18, 2009 02:53 PM Forum: Mounts

Quickset tripods?

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

Quickset has made some great tripods. Of course they are very expensive new so the trick is to find a nice one that hasn't been used much. Many of the ones on the big auction site have been heavily used so you have to look carefully at them. They vary quite a bit in size and load capacity. I have a Samson one that is a compact version, only 2 ft. long folded that I use with a Vixen Porta head for quick looks. I also have a 20+ lb Gibraltar model that is well matched to a CI-700 mount and has some serious carrying capacity. Both of them work great, it's just a matter of matching the tripod with the right load. What were you thinking about mounting ?

Joplin

February 23, 2009 03:22 PM Forum: Eyepieces

B&L ASP 18mm mystery

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

I'll have to check and see what length my 18mm ASP is, it was original equipment with a circa 1981 Criterion RV-6. The design is a symmetrical plossl (2 doublet lenses). and it always worked well for me at slower f ratios (the RV-6 is F8). I think mine is the longer version but I'll have to check for sure.

Joplin

February 23, 2009 11:32 PM Forum: Eyepieces

B&L ASP 18mm mystery

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

Just to follow up, my circa 1981 example is the same as the taller one you have except that the top is engraved " B&L CRITERION A.S.P." and has a circle Y logo I don't see on yours. It also has light violet colored reflections from the eyelens. I'm pretty sure that the taller version is the later of the two since I've seen a few newer old stock 18mm ASP's that also had the longer barrel.

Joplin

February 24, 2009 06:13 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

Comet Lulin

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

I had a great view of Lulin on Friday night with my 17.5" dob. Best views were with 40 and 28mm eyepieces. The comet's dust tail was clearly visible and the ion tail was faint but visible on the opposite side of the coma region. Dust tail was also easily visible in 10x50 and 15x70 binoculars. The comet was visible with the naked eye, limiting magnitude in that part of the sky was about 5.8

Joplin

March 3, 2009 11:36 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Pluck Foam Cases

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

Prices were pretty high on that site, maybe try this one:

http://www.cases4less.com/option-cases.html

I picked out one of the Storm cases I have and the price was 30% less than the site you linked to.

Joplin

March 11, 2009 09:18 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Pentax eyepiece problem

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

As far as I know all of the Pentax eyepieces come with black paint on the filter threads to minimize reflections. They even make a note of this in the instruction booklet to let you know that if you attach a filter then some of the blacking on the threads may be lost. The 2" filter threads used by some manufacturers do vary a bit so it sounds like yours don't match real well along with the paint on the threads on the 30 XW (maybe they put the paint on extra thick ?). I would suggest trying a couple different 2" filters on that 30 XW, find the one that threads on the easiest then use that filter to work the threads in a bit. Also inspect the threads carefully to see if the end of the barrel is dinged or if there is any other damage to it.

Joplin

March 24, 2009 04:47 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Filter ID needed

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

Looks like it is a Celestron LPR filter like the one in Astromart ad # 376442. Apparently some of these had no markings on the filter cell.

Joplin

April 1, 2009 08:04 PM Forum: Mounts

Vixen Sphinx Copy

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

No kidding - I think they could have picked a better looking mount to copy though. They also have their brands mixed up - they picked a name suspiciously similar to a certain Takahashi mount.

Joplin

April 14, 2009 03:27 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Full set of Naglers...

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

Using prices with the current 10% discount - $4760
That is all the current model Naglers with 82 deg field. Excludes the Nagler zooms, 4.8mm T1, 7mm T1, 11mm T1, 13mm T1, original 20mm.

Joplin

July 15, 2009 02:36 PM Forum: Insects - Flowers and Other Small Stuff - Photos