Posts Made By: Jay Emirzian

Hello everyone,
I am soon to be aquiring a 15" Obsession and have been weighing out the pro's and con's of collimators. The two brands I have been looking at are Kendrick and Glatter. Reguardless of brand, I will be buying the 2 inch model. I do have a few questions that maybe some of you could help me with.....Can you justtify spending the extra on the Glatter holigraphic collimator? Will it make collimation that much more acurate? If so, how? I want to stay in the red spectrum, so do I buy the 650nm or 635nm collimator? Can you see the 650 in the day? Barlow or no barlow?

Thanks much,
Jay

Hi everyone,
I just purchased a 15" Obsession from a fellow astromarter in TX last weekend. It was a long trip but well worth it, Jeremy was great to do business with. My only complaint was the scope not haveing any dew control. After some thought and planing I was able to come up with a pretty good removable wireing system for the scope. Check it out......

Picture 1
DC input with fuse on base

Everybody should have a dog this dedicated!!!!

Clear skies usually mean no clouds....I'll make an exception for this one.

Fort Pierce, FL
Konica Minolta DImage Z3
UV filter and Polarizer

Has anyone made a visual comparison of the Lumicon Coma Corrector vs. the Paracorr. I am using an f/4.5 Newtonian and would like to remain at that focal ratio. The Lumicon does not increase the focal length.

Thanks in advance,
Jay Emirzian
8)

David,
I went out Friday night for the meteor shower and had a chance to view Mars with a TV85. Although the planet is small, we bumped up the magnification and tried some filters. Using a 6mm Radian and a 2x Powermate at 200x, here's what we came up with....

We tried both the Televue Mars type A and B and found the type A showed the most surface detail of the two. With very little to no light scatter through the eyepiece. I was quite impressed with how this filter preformed. Really nice view.

Then we used a Hoya #21 orange. The problem with this filter was light scatter at the eyepiece. I have no other way of explaining the view except for saying the planet looked like it had a spider web of light around it. This made it very difficult to see any features on the surface of the planet because of the glare. We tried stacking a polarizing filter, but unfortunately it needed to be cleaned. Had we used a 25% or 50% neutral density filter, I think it would have drastically reduced the amount of light scatter. Even the polarizing filter would have helped with the glare. But when your talking about price, we're comparing apples to oranges. A good color filter will cost around $20. The ND filter.... $30. $50 is a far cry from $115.

Conclusion:
The Mars type A filter was excellent, but at $115......ouch! Thats a lot of $$$ to spend on a planetary filter. In my opinion, what makes the Mars type A and B filters superior is quality and coatings. Any filter will be more unforgiving at higher magnifications because of the flatness of the glass and coatings. Read about the Televue filters. Dielectric coatings and quality of glass make it a winner.

On a budget (which I am), I would say a ND filter or polarizer in combination with a #21 orange to show surface details. Although the #21 will scatter light, the combination two is nice.

Here's a question......Has anyone done a color filter comparison? Who makes the best color filters? I have always heard Lumicon are the best, but they use Hoya glass which I saw scatter light in a big way. Do they use different coatings?

Hello everyone,
I would like to purchase some color filters but don't know which brand I should go with. Lumicon seems to be the most expensive at about $20 each. GSO filters seem to be the cheapest at around $7 each. My dilemma is, both are made from Hoya glass and are coated. Are they the same? Why are Lumicon filters more expensive then GSO? My biggest concern is image degradation at higher powers.

Thanks in advance,
Jay

I have a quick question......Does anyone know of a book dedicated to planetary nebula?

Thanks and clear skies,
Jay

Ok everyone; I need your help choosing a wide field eyepiece. I have been looking for quite some time now but really can’t come up with a good decision. Hopefully you all can help…….

I own a 15” f/4.5 Obsession and would like to get the widest possible field and maximize the largest possible exit pupil. I won’t be using a Paracorr. Coma on the outer edges really doesn’t bother me as long as it’s not out of control. Here is what I came up with so far and would like your opinions.

26 Nagler:
So far this has been the best choice. In my scope it will yield a 5.8mm exit pupil and a true field of 1.24 degrees. I was able to use one of these eyepieces the other day and was astonished at the image brightness. Actually seeing two dust lanes in M31. The only drawback I see is price for one and heard it wasn’t a good eyepiece for scanning the sky (pincushion)

27 Panoptic:
Another good choice with a 6 mm exit pupil, but 1.07 degrees of true field. I have never tried this eyepiece. I for see the images being a little brighter than the 26 because of the exit pupil. Price is much better then the 26, but not as wide of a field. The other thing I dislike about the Pan is the pincushion. I have never experienced this and am only going off other reviews.

Pentax 30 XW:
Although I have never used one in my scope, I have heard nothing but great things about it. The only thing I am concerned with is the exit pupil. It’s a bit large at 6.6. The true field is very close to the 26 Nagler at 1.23 degrees.

Meade 5K UWA 30:
Again, large exit pupil (6.6mm). But a huge true field at 1.44. I haven’t read many reviews on this eyepiece which leaves me with skepticism. I did read that there was a lot of field curvature at fast focal ratios. Like I said earlier, a little coma won’t bother me…..a lot will.

Meade 5K SWA 28:
Exit pupil = 6.2 True field = 1.11 degrees The only reason I include this eyepiece is because unlike the 27 Pan it doesn’t display any pincushion, so I’ve heard. The price is much more attractive, but am concerned with its quality.

If you have any other suggestions it would be great.....

Have any of you ever gone to the eye doctor and asked them to measure the maximum dilation of your iris? I know its diameter decreases with age, but it would help in choosing an eyepiece. Maybe I’m being crazy. Thoughts....???

Thanks much in advance....

Jay Emirzian

[SIZE="Large"]Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year[/SIZE]