Posts Made By: Charles Peterson

I get bored with just a white light filter. But i'm sure one of those fancy $3000 plus filters would keep me dancing for a long time.

One day i will suck up and pay the price, i would enjoy H- Alpha solar much more than deepsky, in my city skies.

Chas

What was it about?

Chas

So far the PST is a knock out, lots of proms even a loop off the suns disk about 11 o clock! I find my old K 12.5mm eyep from the 60's gives the best views, seems widefield eye's dont work as well with the PST, also if i drape myself with a cloth contrast is much better.

If anyone is thing about buying a PST, then don't wait it's best $500 you can spend!

Chas

[QUOTE]Bill Barrett said:

A friend came over the other morning @ around 0415 to do some Mars observing.
Mars was about 45 degrees above the horizon. He used his 8" newtonian and I used a 6" F8 refractor w/chromacor.
We set up on the deck and looked over the roof of my house. I set up a least a half hour before he arrived.
We planned to observe with similar magnifications for comparison.The atmosphere was stable, the sky was clear, &the jet stream was nowhere to be found.
We expected his reflector to need time to cool down, but were we surprised to find. How wrong we were! Regardless of magnification, the refractor never seemed to settle down. The images blurred, danced, & never stabilized in the refractor while the reflector produced steady, sharp images, with detail. This was counter intuitive and surprised us both (particularly me.) I thought refractors generally have cool down problems. Has anyone else experienced this or have any ideas about how to deal with it? thank you, Bill

Could have been hot air trapped inside the tube, or cold air.

Chas

A hi end MAK- in the 8" to 10" size with a top notch mount is gonna cost some big bucks, say around $8000 to $15000! You can get a nice 12.5" to 15" Dob with GO- TO for around $6000 to $9000.

I am a planet nut, and have owned five Starmasters & 15" Obssesion, they have been the best scopes i've ever used on the planets. You can wheel out a complete Dob with wheel barrow handles,and be looking in less than five mins! I always have to fine tune collimation with my Dobs, takes about 3 mins with collimation tools.

I can use powers well over 800x on nites of super seeing, and trust me with excellent optics, the detail on the planets with a larger scope is unreal!

I think a 14.5" Starmaster with GO-TO tracking, or a 15" Obsession with the OMI- torus optics, would be about the best planet scope there is for under $10,000.
But if you dont have very good seeing most of the year, then maybe a smaller MAK would be a better choice!

Chas

For years i only used slow Newts longer than F/6, back in the 70's and 80's all the fast Newts i used gave crappy images!

But things have changed today, with much better optics, collimation tools, and center marked mirrors, it's a whole new ballgame. After owning five Starmasters all under f/4.5 i was changed from my old thinking.

A f/4.5 scope with great optics when collimated, can be a planet killer, i would aslo use a Paracorr with any Newt faster than f/6!

Chas

I have a older C-8 OTA made in the 80's it will show more detail on Jupiter, than what pic shows with ease.

Back in the 80's SCT's were hit and miss when it came to optics, the C-8 i have is really super, and i've owned my fair share of C-8's!

Chas

Jarad Schiffer said:

Yeah, saw it in refractors, too.

As an antique and collectible, maybe. As a scope, I find it a bit much. You could get a 6" Tak for considerably less, or an 18" GOTO Starmaster.....

Jarad

Good luck getting $9000! Now if it was a complete and mint 5" Unitron Photo EQ, i would pay $9000 or as much as $15000, in a heart beat.

Chas

Sounds like the Astro- Sky with a 10" Z mirror is a winner, glad ya like it!

But i dont see how any fast mirror below f/4 could be coma free, unless the scope was used with a coma corrector. If the day ever comes we have coma free fast Newts under f/4 without a corrector i will jump for joy!

Chas

Joe Krzizike said:

I am in the market again for a grab and go scope and was almost set on a TV-76 or TV-85 when I found a UTI 6" F/5 with a Royce primary for a similar price.

I have never owned a reflector, but have owned several APO's and an SCT. I am curious, all things aside, if the 6" with the premium optics will outperform the TV-85 for example.

Caveat: My viewing consists of observing mostly planets and luna from a 3rd floor apartment balcony. I do make infrequent trips to dark skies when my travel/work/school schedule permits, so there is some DSO work.

The 6" will win everytime! Nothing can beat a well made Newt for the price. I have a 8" F/8 with Royce optics, no smaller refrator can come close on the planets or deepsky!

Chas