Posts Made By: david elosser

Another in an ever growing list of companies cutting back employee's hours because of [SIZE="Large"]ø[/SIZE]bamacare:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/04/16/ObamaCare-Regal-Employee-hours

In a memo to employees, management was blunt: "To comply with the Affordable Care Act (sic), Regal had to increase our health care budget to cover those newly deemed eligible based on the law's definition of a full-time employee."

David E

"a pretty shameful day for Washington..."

"The gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill..."

"It’s not going to happen because 90 percent of Republicans just voted against [it]..."

Hi Phil,
Lyra's Double-Double is indeed a fun star to see how "low you can go." My personal best is 56.4x under excellent seeing and transparancy, although I do live at sea level in a suburban neighborhood with light pollution. My equipment was a Stellarvue SV102ABV (790mm fl), Stellarvue 2" dielectric diagonal, Stellarvue binoviewer, and 14mm Orion Epic ED-2 eyepieces. I saw black between both splits.

David E

Hi Fernando,
For lunar/planetary work, I love my Meade 5000 series 6.7mm UWA. If you use the 2x oca with the binoviewer these will give you 165x in your telescope, which is a very usable power. They give me 143x in my Night Hawk and I use them whenever the air is steady enough to support that power. With my 102mm doublet apo, which was made bino-friendly, I get 118x and they have shown me 90% of the Moon's Triesnecker Rilles with ease. Solar is a bit more problematic though. The air is, on average, much less steady during the day and I rarely can push my scope above 88x. The Meade 6.7 5K UWA's do work good for solar when the air is steady enough. These eyepieces work so well for me because they have an 80º afov and ample eye relief for eye glasses. The image quality is excellent IMO. This is, of course, only one choice in the forest of eyepieces. My generic recommendation for any high-power candidate is to try to find as much field of view and eye relief as you can (even if you don't wear eye glasses). A lot of people have posted successes with Naglers and Radians, so you might want to consider these. I also have a pair of 9mm BO/TMB planetary's that I use very frequently for lunar/planetary work. I tried the Orion 7.5mm ED2's but did not like them and sent them back. The 5.1mm ED2's were better in quality and I use them, but only when the air is really steady (I only use them in my bino-ready 102mm for 155x). Hope this helps.

David E

Jeffrey,
I have the Televue 10mm Radian and the 9mm BO/TMB. Bottom line (IMO) is "no" the TMB is no as good as the Radian. But... it is, I think, more fair to compare the TMB with other $99 eyepieces out there. When I do that, I find the performance to be excellent. I have the 9mm and 4mm TMB's. (Actually I use a pair of 9's for my binoviewer.) I find them to perform just as Mr Back says they do: excellent sharpness, contrast and color, no ghosts, no flares, very good even coatings, and almost no lateral color. The last chacteristic is more important than you might think for planetary observing. During the last Mars apparation, I often saw the blue atmospheric haze around the limb. But sometimes, when I popped in my 4mm TMB, I discovered that the "haze" was actually the lateral color created by my Naglers or Orthos. The one complaint about the BO/TMB planetary eyepieces, at least the 9mm and 4mm that I have, is that the eye relief seems to be tighter than advertised. The eye relief is certainly better than an Ortho or Plossl, but not as long as the Radian.

David E

Hi Rod,
I know it's frustrating that we had citizens in Lebanon that were having trouble getting out, but I have to make a few points.

It is now known that the State Department (which is responsible for issuing evacuation orders, not the Bush Administration) gave four evacuation warnings to Americans in Lebanon going back as far as two years. All those staying there had ample oppertunity to leave before hostilities broke out. It was also made known to Americans in Lebanon that we did not have a treaty with Lebanon that allowed our warships to dock at Lebanese harbors to get them out. Also, the State Department has issued many evacuation notices throughout many administrations, but it appears that the Bush administration is the only one that should be responsible for extracting our citizens. In reality, it is never before been considered the State Departments responsibility to evacuate citizens that are in a dangerous area by their own choice.

David E

Casey, I use one all the time for viewing in mono-mode, and have for years. It greatly reduces eyestrain and allows you to concentrate on your target. They are so cheap at the drug store, in fact, I have about a half-dozen in various cases and places so I can find another one if I misplace it. You might say I'm eyepatch addicted. I put one on over my observing eye while I am setting up and it gives me a head start on dark adaptation.

David E

Ron, golf is a great game. After all, it was invented by a bunch a guys wearing skirts.

David E

Hi everyone,
Sunspot 904, with just one large spot remaining, is rotating out of view now close to the limb. Now is a good time to catch good detail in white light if you can. I tried different powers until settling on my 20mm Erfle with the 2.5x Powermate for 100x. This power hit the spot (pun intended) showing me the best balance of umbra, penumbra, faculae, and grain. One large area of facula surrounds the penumbra, with fractured faculae trailing behind. There is one, maybe two, very tiny sunspots in the fractured section. The air was too unsteady to verify the second spot. Backing the power down below 50x shows enhanced faculae detail around the spot.

David E

Floyd,
I too have noticed that my one Radian (a 10mm), as well as my other Naglers, give better looking star tests than other budget brands at the same or comparable focal length. It does not mean I've tossed my budget brands though. I prefer my BO/TMB's for planetary use because of their subdued later color. On most other targets I like using the Televues.

David E