Posts Made By: Gary Smith

I also am considering a higher end refractor or a solar scope (not both). I just want to understand the quantitative values above and how they impact the viewing experience. I have an Orion 80ED and when I look at the moon it is crystal clear (what else is there?). I'll grant you it doesn't have the ability to see deeper like a larger refractor, or reflector does, but I'm just trying to see the value in these two benchmarks and practically what they represent. It kind of reminds me when the audio industry would market "THD" or total harmonic distortion, which to me was some marketing hype, the reality is if your hearing is damaged from working around power equipment etc. its pointless to go for some ultra expensive speakers/system because your ears will never perceive the 'fidelity'. I have 20/20 and 20/15 vision and I'm in my early 40's what I've noticed in the last 5 yrs. is how my night vision has worsened. I used to get up in the night and be able to make it around in a completely dark house with ease, now I have to proceed more cautiously. When I look at this scope: http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=363494 , (which must have superlative optics and a premium added to the price for the high benchmarks) I just want to know if when I look through the eyepiece if I am going to perceive any difference, otherwise whats the point? I'm very pragmatic and if there is no added value then I don't need to waste the money on something that is I guess only for bragging rights. Thank you for the replies and any clarity (no pun intended) you can offer.

Also what are the minimum strehl and wavefront values that are desired before the viewing experience is affected and what do you start to "see" when these values become inferior?

The feedback on solar scopes was great and maybe I'll look into the PST, but I'm leaning toward a larger refractor and since detailed views of objects are limited to the moon, sun and a few planets (namely Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars I don't really count seeing a moon of Saturn or Jupiter detailed as it is really a non-descript speck.) I would like a fast large aperture scope which brings me to this: http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=364980

I really enjoy the wide field of view that a good pair of 7x50 give of the Milky Way so this scope intrigues me as it would have a good FOV, so how noticeable is color in an achro? If I chose to do some imaging at some point would it really 'pollute' the image with false color and thus be unsuitable for imaging? Markus Ludes always privides the "strehl ratio" and "wavelength" metrics and I notice they aren't provided on this scope is this a reason for concern? With the cost of an 8" APO @ F6 probably at 3 to 4 times the cost it may represent a good value. Also what do you think is a fair price for the scope that I've provided a link to? I would just like to know the drawbacks to a scope of this design vs. an APO of like size and speed. If the main drawback is false color how troubling is this or is it usually very subtle? Thank you for your replies.

I recently bought an AP 155 EDFS f/7 and I don't have any intention of imaging and therefore a waste to buy a highend mount, so I would like to know a good GEM or even an Alt/azimuth mount that would be good for viewing. Meade made the LXD650 and I dont know if this would be overloading the mount and if they are reliable. My goal is to hold it steady enough for viewing, but not be so heavy and difficult to set up that I end up using the AP rarely. If I end up interested in imaging, the goal would be to unload the veiwing mount and then go highend.

Also I picked up a Solarmax 40 w/BF10 and I was planning on a trip to the midwest, do you have some suggestions for a mount/tripod that is very portable that would be airline travel friendly that I could use for the Solarmax as well an Orion 80ED? Thanks for the input.

*I had this posted on the refractor forum, but it got lost in the 5 page 'thought police' thread.*

I had a 80mm refractor and recently sold a 155mm refractor and there was more detail with the larger scope, but it seems viewing is always significantly limited by the atmosphere above 150x. If your interest isn't to look at the fainter deep sky objects where enough aperture is never reached do you find there is a point where increased aperture is of diminished value for the more obvious objects such as planets and the brighter Messier objects? I haven't looked through a really huge refractor such as 12" and above, but does the increased brightness alone give you more detail or is increased magnifciation needed also by which your always limited by atmospheric conditions?

I was looking at this http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=416874 and I was curious if color would show up when imaging with an achromat such as this? Also I dont have much experience with an achromat, is the reason this design is used on DSO's vs. using them for viewing the moon and planets is the inherent problem of color with this design over an APO? Is the color in a higher end achromat such as this very small and difficult to detect? Thanks.

There are few who make fast F/5 widefield APO refractors Takahashi with the FSQ106 and the Televue 140 (past tense) and when you get into bigger APO's such 160 and especially in the 180 and up the fastest scopes are F/9. I see Nikon can make an F/2 in a camera lens what are the technical obstacles when the aperture increases for APO telescopes? Is it there are just fewer and substantially more costly pieces of flourite as the size goes up and no matter how sophisticated the grinding equipment you always end up with pieces in the junk pile? When the term hand figured is used what exactly does this mean? A person is hand removing the material from the lens being ground? If an F/5 can be made in the 4" aperture range is it possible to even make a faster such as an F/4 in the same 4" aperture and would you want it if it was possible? It seems f/4 is commonplace in dobs I would just think in all the advances in technology at some point there would be cost effective ways to make faster APO's.

When I hear of people talking about the difficulties in making fast scopes is the amount of scrap (and it associated amortized cost the biggest factor) is the ratio something like for every good lens that is made three end up on the junk pile? Is their also a higher degree of difficulty in the manufacture and assembly of these fast APO even if the lenses can be ground accurately?

Could a really large company with greater resources and maybe technical knowhow such as Zeiss, Nikon or Pentax make these large fast APO telescopes especially as Nikon can make an F/2 lens?

I know achromats can be made faster vs. APOs and why is this the case?

Thanks in advance for the replies.

I emailed support and Herb linked me here:

I'm considering leaving neg. feedback for an Astromarter who I won't name here, he contacted me thru two different ads within an 1 hour of my placing them which are for Swarovski and Zeiss binoculars with the following for one ad: "Hi Gary. I am interested in this pair as well. Please contact me to discuss payment. Best wishes...XXXXX." and this was from ad #446178,"Hi Gary. I am interested in purchasing these binoculars. Please contact me
to discuss payment. Best wishes...XXXXX." No ambiguity and no
questions he just wanted to buy them. He said he would put funding together
and pay me the next day (last Friday) he reiterated his intention to buy
both pairs, but that he would have to wait for payment from some E*** auctions on Sunday. I contacted him again on Sunday no reply and so I contacted him again today (Tuesday) telling him the Zeiss had sold he finally replied and said he would buy the Zeiss, but that he wanted to now reduce the price of the Swaros by $195 -six days after he committed to buy no questions asked!! I would like to warn others of his lack of follow through and irresponsibility, and leave neg. feedback, I'm just concerned he is going to reciprocate would you remove the negative feedback from my account if he reciprocates? He only has 3 feedbacks and so he may not care and he may move on, It appears he buys items on Astromart and resells on E*** as I found his user id on Astromart is the same as on E*** here are some of his current auctions: which I have not posted here as it would provide info about him, but I did provide to Herb.

I don't know how you view behavior like this if you could reply if you would delete the negative feedback he might place that would be appreciated and any course of action concerning XXXXX is up to you it doesn't appear he is interested in AA or Astromart other than what he can find to buy and resell.

I would gladly supply the email exchanges to a moderator or whoever so its not just my view being told (I did provide these exchanges to Herb). When I confronted him and asked if he would accept less money from one of his E*** auctions after it closed he just got rude and didnt acknowledge or answer my questions.

I want to make one thing clear the person that did buy the Zeiss binoculars paid immediately and so if someone checks my feedback and see who bought the Zeiss binos this IS NOT the person I'm speaking about here.

Thanks for the input and the course of action to be expected on deleting the negative feedback.

I got this with an AP refractor a couple of years ago and I need some help with who makes this barlow? When you look at the picture note that the upper barrel has internal diameter of 2" (the end with the two set screws and the opposite end has an outside diameter of 2" as well.

Who is the manufacturer and value?

Many thanks.

Gentlemen:

I am grateful for all your comments. There is a verse in the Bible that says "In a multitude of counsel there is wisdom" and you have certainly given me that and more.I was going to wait to a later time to respond, but some of the comments left made me realize I may have stepped on some feelings which was not intended.
Unfortunately,my original post on Saturday was my first on Astromart and I didn't notice the 3000 max character limit and found myself deleting almost a dozen times on something I had worked on for several hours before the post would take. The $5k budget that I mentioned should have been left out. I'm married and my wife and I have careers, no children, no car payments, we live in a modest home (although I built a cabin in the north Georgia Mtns. last year) so I have some discretionary funds available to me that others may not. For those of you that have families I commend you for the courage this takes and of course that includes financial sacrifice.

First of all, when I have an interest in a topic I devote a great deal of time researching especially when it means spending money. I grew up in a small Kansas town that gave breathtaking views of the Milky Way and good viewing conditions on a routine basis, I remember a small bookstore in town (the only one) that I bought my first and only book on this hobby and it was simply called "Astronomy". I marveled at the terms such as 'parsec' the huge number it represented (almost 6 trillion miles) in a short time I could quote from memory the general distances of all the planets from the sun etc. Although I enjoyed the viewing I did it by myself which made it tough because there wasn't a mentor to show me the ropes. Now you can go online and become knowledgeable about anything. My parents bought my scope (a refractor) from a pawn shop and it had an eqautorial mount which was kind of overkill for a kid - but it was a good price. Some of you may enjoy absolute solitude in your viewing sessions, but I'm looking forward to sharing this hobby with others - I really enjoyed that aspect of the Starmaster session.

An additional image to help identify. Also no manufacturer marks to identify the maker.

Thank you.