Posts Made By: Joe Herzing

Hi Bernie, for this purpose televue has what is called a "Televue Gibraltar upgrade kit" which is found here http://www.buytelescopes.com/search.asp?go=1&adv=&q=gibraltar&s=&searchbtn=Search at Anacortes. I used the combo on a Tak 5" not that solid on a long tube should be better on a shorter tube although other alt-az mounts would certainly be better.
Joe

NICE!

Hello Mr. Hong,
The advice above seems sound. Something to consider in a scope is what you look at. A 4" refractor excels at stars and wide fields. So with the NP-101 your most striking objects available to that scope are star clusters and double stars. On planets in Calgary you are fighting perhaps two difficulties one is your Northerly location which does not usually put the planets high in the sky but usually midway up where there is more atmospheric difficulty in getting a good view. Secondly you may have poor seeing on a regular basis. If the second is true you will have real difficulty in getting good planetary views out of any telescope! You are North of my location and I am plagued by a low altitude of the planet and poor seeing on many occasions although Saturn is always stunning. Jupiter and Mars are not that often great here. For most of my observing the planets are only a quick look to see if they are good and then move on to the open clusters and double stars for a good night of viewing (because a 4" refractor will show those things nicely pretty much no matter what the seeing).
Good luck
joe

Hi Rich,
The only one I know who sells threaded ones for binoculars is Thousand Oaks. I have a set of theirs on my 10 X 42 Canons and it has increased my solar viewing 100 fold. Their is no hint of prominences but you do get some nice details within the spots themselves. I was surprised the other day when I took the 10 X 42's out and then took out the Ranger at 35X the 10 X 42's showed almost as much detail and right now there is a lot of sunspots. They are a little spendy but work well.
Good luck
Joe

Hi Richard,
One further thing that I do like about the Thousand Oaks polymer is that they have a very natural color to the sun it looks yellow and sunspots black.
Clear skies

Hi Pete,
This is within the budget and I think it should be a direct fit although I can't comment on the quality of this focuser: http://agenaastro.com/gso-crayford-focuser-refractor-telescope-dual-speed-112mm.html .
Joe