Lunar and Other Adventures With An Orion ST80
Lunar and Other Adventures with an Orion ST80
By Kevin Vaught
Hi everyone. Got the popcorn popped and soda sodaed? Well just sit back and relax while I tell you the saga of the Short Tube 80 that did things that they said it couldn’t or shouldn’t do. You know the ones, like it is no good for planetary work, or for splitting stars or it will break down optically under high magnification?
After reading all these negative things about this little scope, I was really beginning to wonder at my sanity level for even ordering the darn thing, but it was just so cute there in the catalog and on my computer screen, I just had to have one, so I ordered it as a travel scope for my upcoming family vacation to Florida and to Hilton Head Island this July. The scope arrived in early June and so did the rain and clouds. I think it rained every day for the entire month of June except for one Saturday night that the scope saw limited use at Glen Howell's folks place in Gates County, NC. Really dark and beautiful skies that night, but I had my 8” Newt with some fresh mods and the ST80 kinda went untouched most of the night. Monday June 30, 2004 was a different story all together.
The night started out with my taking some pictures with a new Canon Power Shot S1 iS on a tripod trying different shutter speeds and f ratios. The Moon was close to being full so I knew I was going to be setting up a scope if it stayed clear. Well it stayed clear and I ended up having 2 scopes setup, the 8” newt, and the ST80. I won’t bore you with the details of the pristine optics that are contained in my Newtonian or how well it performed on Jupiter. Stu Beaber can fill you in on all the work that has gone into that fine optical instrument. Oh no, this story is about the ST80 that could and did!
At around 11:30PM, I put away the 8” newt with the ToUCam and computer and concentrated on the ST80 and trained it on the Moon. First I had to polar align the 4504 EQ mount controlled by a Meade Autostar #497. Alignment took less than 5 minutes and just for S and G’s I decided to see if I could split Polaris. I have never been able to split it with the newt, but I have been able to do so with my 90mm Meade refractor at about 208X with my TV 4.8mm Nagler original(1000mm FL f10). I had centered Polaris with a 26mm Orion Highlight Plossl so I changed that out with my 4.8mm Nagler and centered.
Polaris never looked so good. A nice, cool and soft white/yellow color met my eye and it was a very sharp view at 83X once I refocused. Curious to see if I could split this star, I put in my Orion 2X Shorty Barlow giving 167X. WOW!! There right next to the pole star about a half of a field away was a faint bluish looking dim star.
Just to be sure, I consulted Burnham’s Celestial Handbook to check myself, and low and behold, that was the companion star. It was about 18 ½ “distant and very dim (the book described it at 9th mag). I was very shocked that I had not ever seen this guy in my 8” before. HHMMMMM
Very intrigued now, I slewed the scope toward the moon and locked down the RA and Dec axis and put my Orion variable polarizing filter on the 26mm Highlight Plossl. This view was just awesome at 15X and filled the EP with much moonness. Not wanting to waste a single minute, I yanked out the 26mm and tore off the filter, crammed the filter on my 11mm Nagler and jammed them both in the focuser. This combination put me at 36X and it was just mind boggling at the sheer beauty I was gazing at. Now don’t get me wrong, I have looked at the moon before, but I have never seen it quite like this.
The first thing I noticed was color! Yes color! No other refractor in this price range that I had ever observed through had ever given me the slightest hint of color on the lunar surface of this magnitude. I was actually seeing color in certain lunar features. Features such as the Mare Imbrium had a brownish golden hue about it. There was a definite difference in the coloration between Aristarchus and Tycho with Aristarchus being a very stark white and Tycho a more subdued shade of grey. Scanning back and forth and up and down all over the lunar surface from The Sea of Fertility to the Ocean of Storms and from the Sea of Gold to the majesty of Tycho, I wandered seemingly without purpose. Then I remembered why I was out here with the mosquitoes and the other foul flying biting scourge of the Earth: to see what this cute little telescope could really do.
I removed the 11mm Nagler and the filter and put the Orion variable polarizing filter on my TV 4.8mm original Nagler with the view centered in the SW quadrant of the Moon, as this had not yet been engulfed by the sun and still offered some termination line for contrast. This combo gave me 83X, which was still not bad for the 400mm ST80. All I can say is that the ST80 is an awesome scope at this power as the view was just fantastic. I would have been satisfied here, but I had a mission to accomplish. I took the 2X Barlow and inserted it into the diagonal and put the 4.8mm back in. Looking back in the EP was a sight for sore eyes. The relief of the termination line was shocking at 167X. Very crisp and well defined. Sharp lines and jagged marks were easily detected on the craters and mountains alike. I explored all over the lunar surface at this power for almost an hour and a half. But I wanted more. Could I get any more out of this little scope?
About a month ago I bought an Orion Tri-Mag Barlow off of AstroMart for a very low price (my wife will be reading this). I had not had an occasion to really use it until now. I took out the 2X and put in the 3X and with the 4.8mm and the 3X it made my power something like 250X . Sort of afraid to look, I crept up to the EP, slowly lowered my eye, and…… nothing. Nothing but a blob. I started at that point going backward in EP’s until I found the lowest highest power it would take…. An Orion Explorer II 6mm at 200X with the Orion Tri-Mag Barlow.
The views with this combination were not as stunning as they were with the TV EP’s, but then again I was experimenting with maximum power and I think I got what I wanted.
All in all, the Orion ST80 is a fantastic telescope. I cannot say enough good things about it. I have owned enough scopes in my day to know. I would not want to rely on this as my only scope, but as a grab and go, or as a vacation scope, you simply cannot go wrong.
Click here for more about the Orion ShortTube 80mm Rich-Field Refractor. -Ed.
By Kevin Vaught
Hi everyone. Got the popcorn popped and soda sodaed?
After reading all these negative things about this little scope, I was really beginning to wonder at my sanity level for even ordering the darn thing, but it was just so cute there in the catalog and on my computer screen, I just had to have one, so I ordered it as a travel scope for my upcoming family vacation to Florida and to Hilton Head Island this July. The scope arrived in early June and so did the rain and clouds. I think it rained every day for the entire month of June except for one Saturday night that the scope saw limited use at Glen Howell's folks place in Gates County, NC. Really dark and beautiful skies that night, but I had my 8” Newt with some fresh mods and the ST80 kinda went untouched most of the night. Monday June 30, 2004 was a different story all together.
The night started out with my taking some pictures with a new Canon Power Shot S1 iS on a tripod trying different shutter speeds and f ratios. The Moon was close to being full so I knew I was going to be setting up a scope if it stayed clear. Well it stayed clear and I ended up having 2 scopes setup, the 8” newt, and the ST80. I won’t bore you with the details of the pristine optics that are contained in my Newtonian or how well it performed on Jupiter. Stu Beaber can fill you in on all the work that has gone into that fine optical instrument. Oh no, this story is about the ST80 that could and did!
At around 11:30PM, I put away the 8” newt with the ToUCam and computer and concentrated on the ST80 and trained it on the Moon. First I had to polar align the 4504 EQ mount controlled by a Meade Autostar #497. Alignment took less than 5 minutes and just for S and G’s I decided to see if I could split Polaris. I have never been able to split it with the newt, but I have been able to do so with my 90mm Meade refractor at about 208X with my TV 4.8mm Nagler original(1000mm FL f10). I had centered Polaris with a 26mm Orion Highlight Plossl so I changed that out with my 4.8mm Nagler and centered.
Polaris never looked so good. A nice, cool and soft white/yellow color met my eye and it was a very sharp view at 83X once I refocused. Curious to see if I could split this star, I put in my Orion 2X Shorty Barlow giving 167X. WOW!! There right next to the pole star about a half of a field away was a faint bluish looking dim star.
Just to be sure, I consulted Burnham’s Celestial Handbook to check myself, and low and behold, that was the companion star. It was about 18 ½ “distant and very dim (the book described it at 9th mag). I was very shocked that I had not ever seen this guy in my 8” before. HHMMMMM
Very intrigued now, I slewed the scope toward the moon and locked down the RA and Dec axis and put my Orion variable polarizing filter on the 26mm Highlight Plossl. This view was just awesome at 15X and filled the EP with much moonness. Not wanting to waste a single minute, I yanked out the 26mm and tore off the filter, crammed the filter on my 11mm Nagler and jammed them both in the focuser. This combination put me at 36X and it was just mind boggling at the sheer beauty I was gazing at. Now don’t get me wrong, I have looked at the moon before, but I have never seen it quite like this.
The first thing I noticed was color! Yes color! No other refractor in this price range that I had ever observed through had ever given me the slightest hint of color on the lunar surface of this magnitude. I was actually seeing color in certain lunar features. Features such as the Mare Imbrium had a brownish golden hue about it. There was a definite difference in the coloration between Aristarchus and Tycho with Aristarchus being a very stark white and Tycho a more subdued shade of grey. Scanning back and forth and up and down all over the lunar surface from The Sea of Fertility to the Ocean of Storms and from the Sea of Gold to the majesty of Tycho, I wandered seemingly without purpose. Then I remembered why I was out here with the mosquitoes and the other foul flying biting scourge of the Earth: to see what this cute little telescope could really do.
I removed the 11mm Nagler and the filter and put the Orion variable polarizing filter on my TV 4.8mm original Nagler with the view centered in the SW quadrant of the Moon, as this had not yet been engulfed by the sun and still offered some termination line for contrast. This combo gave me 83X, which was still not bad for the 400mm ST80. All I can say is that the ST80 is an awesome scope at this power as the view was just fantastic. I would have been satisfied here, but I had a mission to accomplish. I took the 2X Barlow and inserted it into the diagonal and put the 4.8mm back in. Looking back in the EP was a sight for sore eyes. The relief of the termination line was shocking at 167X. Very crisp and well defined. Sharp lines and jagged marks were easily detected on the craters and mountains alike. I explored all over the lunar surface at this power for almost an hour and a half. But I wanted more. Could I get any more out of this little scope?
About a month ago I bought an Orion Tri-Mag Barlow off of AstroMart for a very low price (my wife will be reading this). I had not had an occasion to really use it until now
The views with this combination were not as stunning as they were with the TV EP’s, but then again I was experimenting with maximum power and I think I got what I wanted.
All in all, the Orion ST80 is a fantastic telescope. I cannot say enough good things about it. I have owned enough scopes in my day to know. I would not want to rely on this as my only scope, but as a grab and go, or as a vacation scope, you simply cannot go wrong.
Click here for more about the Orion ShortTube 80mm Rich-Field Refractor. -Ed.
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