Astromart

August 11, 2003 01:11 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Planetary EPs

That is very surprising. Its all about personal preferences. I had the 12mm T4 and it provided excellent wide field views of planets through an APO. However, I found the orthos and plossls provided much better contrast and slightly sharper and brighter images. For instantance, my 7mm Tak Ortho surpassed the UO 7mm ortho which easily surpassed my old 7mm Nagler Type 1 on contrast and sharpness. If you like the wide field, the 12mm T4 is great! This eyepiece helped me to easily find Uranus. I sometimes wish I never sold it.

Rob

August 13, 2003 12:32 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

$429 80mm Apo??????

Posted By Rob Moerschel

Wow! Great price. This will be my disposable APO. Instead of cleaning the objective, I'll throw it away and purchase a new one after a year. Talk about a maintenance free refractor. smile

Rob

August 13, 2003 05:00 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Celestron 9.25" GPS vs Celestron 11" GPS

Posted By Rob Moerschel

I was in the same dilema. Went w/ the C9.25. I had a 12.5 PDHQ from Discovery and I can barely tell the difference in brightness when looking at clusters and galaxies. However, nebula was better in the 12.5". The contrast and sharpness are excellent in the 9.25, and lightweight w/ the carbon fiber model. Best SCT I've looked through less than 11".

Rob

August 18, 2003 10:27 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

New Astrozap Dewshield.... SWEET!

Posted By Rob Moerschel

I thought about getting one for my C9.25. I wasn't at all impressed w/ Astrozap's flexible dew sheild for my old Meade 10" SCT.

Rob

August 25, 2003 11:47 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Mars again.. LOL :-) Contrast questions

Posted By Rob Moerschel

Close. The way I see it, the polar caps have more defined, brighter/more white, and shaped w/ an appearance of higher altitude. The surface features are a tad darker and the planetary edges are much sharper (probably due to the pixel size of the jpg. The contrast between Mars and the background is similiar to my view through the APO.

Rob

September 5, 2003 01:46 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Anyone try the new Pentax XW ep's?

Posted By Rob Moerschel

Forget the XW series. Try the Pentax WX series being sold at HandsOnOptics. They are HOT! Check out their web site home page smile

Rob

September 9, 2003 01:17 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Most disappointing telescope purchase.

Posted By Rob Moerschel

All of my telescopes lived up to my expectations with the exception of the Meade 10" SCT. It was the OTA only, but had way too much image shift, and the quality of the celestial images were not as sharp as I anticipated.

Rob

September 24, 2003 02:27 AM Forum: Equipment Talk