Posts Made By: Reynaldo Cordero

Hello:

A reviewer in a popular website compared a TV 85 to a Celestron 80ED. As expected, the workmanship and feel of the TV 85 was a quantum leap (or two) above the Celestron's. However, he was vociferous in his disappointment of the 85 performace on bright objects, in particular the moon because of color halos, which he went on to say were also seen around Jupiter. None of these issues, according to him, were noted in the Celestron. I am an avid Tele Vue fan and was taken aback by (Gasp!) his use of the term obsolete to describe the optics on the 85.

It's cloudy over here and, it's a new moon anyway, so I won't be able to go out and see for myself.

What are other people's experiences with the 85 on bright objects? Furthermore, is the Celestron 80ED really that good? And finally, has anybody compared a TV 85 to a Williams Optics. If not, I am sure Floyd Blue won't mind someone showing up at his door next week with an invitation to take his new baby out.

Rey

Hello all:

What is the difference between Starbright coatings and XLT coatings on the corrector lens of SCT's?

Rey

Stellarvue has a sale in its 20mm Widefield Eyepiece. Quite a good price at $29. Does anyone have any experience with this eyepiece?

Rey

Hello all:

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the members of Astromart for their willingness to share their knowledge and experiences. My knowledge base has grown tremendously from perusing over the myriad of posts on this site.

I am also most impressed with the honesty and integrity that people display in the buying and selling of equipment.

I want to wish each one of you a Star Filled 2007, and may the gods of good weather (and seeing) smile upon you frequently.

Best Wishes

Reynaldo Cordero
Berkeley, CA

I am planning to do an organized visual study of the Lunar Features and wanted to get advice on moon filters. I see that they have filters with different transmission capabilities (13% to 30%) and wanted to know if one all-around filter is sufficient. Is the quality of certain brands better than others? For example, Meade vs Orion vs Celestron? Has anyone ever heard of filters made by Hirsch?

Rey C

Any recommendation on maps / atlases of the moon or books on the subject?

Clear Skies
Rey

Hello:

I have a C5 that has become my primary grab and go scope for backyard viewing in my light polluted part of the world. I collimated the scope and have good diffraction rings on both sides of the focus. However, once I put a f6.3 reducer in place, the diffraction rings are good on one side of the focus but a bit off on the other. I am not experienced enough to know if this is on the near or far side.

I was wondering if this is an expected situation with the reducer in place, and whether it is affecting my resolution. Frankly, the seeing has been so bad lately it is hard to tell if the reducer is downgrading the view.

Has anyone noticed ill effects in resolution from using a reducer? Is it possible this situation is caused by poor performance of the production sample that I have?

Thanks

Rey

Hello:

I have a C5 that has become my primary grab and go scope for backyard viewing in my light polluted part of the world. I collimated the scope and have good diffraction rings on both sides of the focus. However, once I put a f6.3 reducer in place, the diffraction rings are good on one side of the focus but a bit off on the other. I am not experienced enough to know if this is on the near or far side.

I was wondering if this is an expected situation with the reducer in place, and whether it is affecting my resolution. Frankly, the seeing has been so bad lately it is hard to tell if the reducer is downgrading the view.

Has anyone noticed ill effects in resolution from using a reducer? Is it possible this situation is caused by poor performance of the production sample that I have?

Thanks

Rey

Hello:

Here is a general question to which I am afraid to get an answer. If you build a 8x12 foot tower attached to the back of a 2 story house, and make a deck on the top for a 360 degree view of the sky, can you make it rigid enough to dampen vibrations for telescope viewing? The tower will have a separate foundation, and a structural engineer has put together plans that include added rigidity.

The first floor of the tower is for storage and the second will have a small room. There will be little foot traffic late at night in the lower levels. How would you device a mounting structure that will eliminate vibrations? We have considered a pier, but prefer a tripod so that the deck can be cleared for other uses.

Any thoughts?

Rey

I remember reading somewhere that the sun rises at a later time for a few days after sunrise, but overall the days are still longer because of the sunset making up for the difference and more. Is this true? If so, how could the sun actually rise later?

Rey