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RICHARD COFER

VdB 141 Ghost Nebula

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Posts Made By: Ed Zarenski

August 29, 2003 03:32 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Top 5 or 6 city viewable objects right now?

Posted By Ed Zarenski
If you have a pair of binocs out with you, make sure you show them CR399 the coathanger. And right next door is Sagitta the arrow. Looking at Sagitta, some will see M71. The tip of the arrow is a good guidepost to get to the Dumbell, 3° perfectly north.

Swing over to Albireo for the colorful double, in scope or even with binocs. Then move 3° south to land on Stock 1, a broad loose faint cluster, a very different kind of cluster than CR399.

Then move over a bit and show them Delphinus the dolphin. The tip of the dolphin gamma Del is an easy 9.6" scope Double.

Two binocular constellations
Two very different clusters
two doubles, a planetary nebula
and a very faint globular.

edz

August 30, 2003 06:07 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

meade 4000 super and super wide eyepieces

Posted By Ed Zarenski
Meade Superwides are obviously wider. The 18mm has Afov of 63°. The field of view is without distortion for only the middle 60%. Beyond 80% the view is poor. Which brings you right back to the equivalent of a 52° Afov plossl.

I can only speak about my experience with the 18mm. I like the eyepiece, but when I measured the technical abilities I was disappointed.

edz

August 30, 2003 08:34 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Too Picky??

Posted By Ed Zarenski
I think it has to do with under or over-correction in the optices. not something you can fix. just go for best in-focus collimation.

edz

September 2, 2003 07:13 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Ideas?

Posted By Ed Zarenski
Just a thought. As the seasons go by, and objects fade from view, do you ever think, I can't wait till next year to see all my favorites once again. There are some objects I never tire of viewing even after many years. I'll never exhaust my pool of targets.

September 7, 2003 11:58 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

magnitude versus aperature

Posted By Ed Zarenski
Be careful in the use of any table that reports a magnitude for a given aperture. Usually the value given is only obtainable at optimum magnification. The maximum magnitude for a 5" or 6" scope is one magnitude deeper at a magnification of 150x that you would see at 30x.

Brightness of point sources is amplified with magnification, up to a point. In many cases you wouldn't even see a 13th magnitude star in a 5" or 6" scope until magnification was increased to produce an exit pupil of around 1mm or less. By the time you have reached an exit pupil of 0.5mm or smaller, once again you may not see it.

Also, if you never get better than NELM mag 4.5 skies, you may never see it at all.

edz

September 9, 2003 01:33 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Ideas for best binoc/tripod combo for $1,000

Posted By Ed Zarenski
The Paragon is a nice tripod for binoculars up to about 5 pounds. How much do those Steiners weigh ?15#?. I've put a pair of 20x80s 7.75 pounds on a Paragon. It worked, but it was definitely overload. Another issue, if you are 6'0 tall the Paragon XHD will not be tall enough. The Paragon HD-F2 is a little taller, but a good Bogen, even a 3211 with a 3130 head, will be almost 4 to 6" taller.

The Paragon sells for about $129. The Bogen combo would sell for about $199. There are better Bogens rated to hold that kind of load, they just cost more.

edz

September 20, 2003 10:17 PM Forum: Astro Binoculars

New to astrobinoculars--need advise w/ problem.

Posted By Ed Zarenski
With astigmatism, you may need your glasses with binoculars. Two exit pupils of 5mm is a lot different than one of 3mm or 2mm or 1mm.

I'd try that first and see if it helps, but you might have an out of allinment collimation problem there. On an old pair of binoculars, it is not likely there are any accesible adjustments for you to tinker with.

edz

November 6, 2003 05:49 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Saturn 10/23/03

Posted By Ed Zarenski
Wes,

I would like to know if you would grant permission to use this photo of yours in an article. I wrote the article in Feb. 03, but I have just finished writing corrections and will re-published the corrected version on Cloudy Nights as soon as I insert graphics. The article pertains to saturn and resolution of the cassini division. If you would please contact me at "ezazaz at juno dot com", I would gladly send you a copy of the article for your review. If you choose to grant permission, I will credit the photo appropriately.

Thank you for your consideration.

Ed Zarenski

November 16, 2003 11:39 PM Forum: Astro Binoculars

will dew ruin binoculars?

Posted By Ed Zarenski
NO.

Let them dry out on their own. edz

November 17, 2003 05:44 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Reticle Eyepiece for Collimation??

Posted By Ed Zarenski
I would think the reticles would get in the way for the final step, fine collimation at highest powers in focus. You want to be able to clearly see the infocus diffraction rings. Also, will it provide you with a high enough magnification.

edz

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