Posts Made By: Floyd Blue

Got my 2.6" flats back from Coating by L&L Coating and they look just like new. 95% Enhance coatings with no blemishes.
They will be going up for sale soon along with another 2.6" used with original coatings. You could say I am up to my ears in flats right now.
Floyd

I have a new article posted for those who are interested in collimating their lasers. I have tried in as few words as possible to explain the process. There are pictures to show lasers and screw placement and even a target for your wall.
Let me know if you liked the article and if it was helpful.
You will find it in the articles section under "Collimation of Laser Collimators". What else huh?
Floyd

I have a 3.8 Ultrascopic as my shortest focal length. I have used it with a 2x TV Big Barlow for 802x (64x per inch) on my 12.5 with good results, but not what I would use everynight for sure. With a DOB this is chasing the rabbit for sure!
I have also uses 802x (53x per inch) in my 15" before with good images, not perfect, but good.
Floyd

Well, got to the Mt. Pinos observation area last night with good skies, some atmospheric disturbance, but pretty good.
Did some star testing after the atmosphere settled donw a bit and the test were testbook.
Then I made some attempts to find out whether the new 1/22 wave Quartz secondary made any difference.
I was pleased to see that I could finally see the central star in M-57, The Ring! I have never see it in this scope. The atmosphere was anything but perfect, so this was quite a feat to me. 5 star rating on that object.
Next I tried a few galaxies, M-82, the Cigar was a beter image than I had ever seen even though I was looking through a break in the tree limbs to see it. Another 5 stars!
Many other objects looked brighter and clearer than ever before, so I guess the money and effort paid off.
Another sucessful upgrade.
Floyd

I believe the ER is the same as the regular Orthos at 9mm for the 12.5mm.
Floyd

This is a picture of Dr. Collett and my 15", just after it was finished, at Mt. Pinos (2002). He built this one and the 12.5" I own. Just thought I would post the scope with the man that made it.
Floyd

Here is a table to try to determine the probability or detection of an object.
You will note, while the probability gets lower the faint object just might be seen by a smaller aperture.
Floyd
Telescope Limiting Magnitude
Aperture Probability of Detection
Inches 98% 90% 50% 20% 10% 5% 2%

1 9.7 10.2 10.7 11.2 11.7 12.4 13.2
2 11.2 11.7 12.2 12.7 13.2 13.9 14.7
3 12.1 12.6 13.1 13.6 14.1 14.8 15.6
4 12.7 13.2 13.7 14.2 14.7 15.4 16.2
5 13.2 13.7 14.2 14.7 15.2 15.9 16.7
6 13.6 14.1 14.6 15.1 15.6 16.3 17.1
7 13.9 14.4 14.9 15.4 15.9 16.6 17.4
8 14.2 14.7 15.2 15.7 16.2 16.9 17.7
10 14.7 15.2 15.7 16.2 16.7 17.4 18.2
12.5 15.2 15.7 16.2 16.7 17.2 19.9 18.7
14 15.5 16.0 16.5 17.0 17.5 18.2 19.0
16 15.7 16.2 16.7 17.2 17.7 18.4 19.2
18 16.0 16.5 17.0 17.5 18.0 18.7 19.5
20 16.2 16.7 17.2 17.7 18.2 18.9 19.7
22 16.4 16.9 17.4 17.9 18.4 19.1 19.9
24 16.6 17.1 17.6 18.1 18.6 19.3 20.1
30 17.1 17.6 18.1 18.6 19.1 19.8 20.6
36 17.5 18.0 18.5 19.0 19.5 20.2 21.0

This is Puddles my one dog. He is a great companion puppy.
Floyd

I did all the testing last night and the figure seems just great, it performed right with the 15" and the 14.5" Dobs next to me. I compared images with the same EP or adjusted the focal length so the image was the same size. The 15" next to me had a 1600mm f/l and mine is 1524mm, close enough.
OK, I am going to send in my 12.5" mirror for re coating this week. The coatings on this mirror have a whole lot of spots on them. Looks like someone sneezed on it! The stuff does not come off with anything, so I am going to re coat it to bring it back to new condition.
My question is this. I can do Semi-Enhanced coatings or regular Protected Aluminum. The Semi states 93%, but in the 480-580nm range I can only see 1-2% difference in reflectivity. I am not wanting trying to keep cost down, but it seems to me that 1-2% won't amount to a hill of beans and the coast difference is $60. They use the same machine at the same temperatures for both coatings. So that is not a factor, but what do you think? I am leaning toward the Regular Protected Aluminum because of the small difference in the reflectivity.
Floyd

Well, I sent off the 12.5" mirror for an new coat. I talked to Richard at L&L and he told me he would get it done in 3-4 days! Wow! 8O Now that is service. I went with the standard Protected Aluminum, 89% reflectivity. Interestingly, the only place where it goes below 90% is below 480nm and above 580nm, which is out of the most used part of the spectrum for us humans. I boxed it with 3" of Styrofoam top and bottom and it has 2-3" on the sides as well, solid sheet foam with a cut out in the middle sheet for the mirror. Should be able to take a good drop and survive. The guy at the packing place took a look and said "That is a lot better than we would have packed it" Man, that is not good!
Well, anyway, here is hoping that is comes back in one piece.
Floyd