Posts Made By: Bill Meyers

I would stay away from this scope. For that kind of money you can get a TEC 140 if you like refractors with wide fields, whidch will give you far superior images -visit their Yahoo group -- or a Mag1 10inch F/5 or 8 inch F/5 Portaball, or an 11 inch Staarmster ELT, all of which will give widefield views far superior to an 8 inch F6 achromat. the TEC has a much wider maximum field but less bright images; all the others have the same focal length as the achromat you mention and therefore have the same maximum true field, but they are all much brighter (except for the 8Mag1 which has the same brightness as the 8 inch achromat.The image quality of these scopes will be vastly better.
If you just love 8 inch achromats, go ahead and get it, but if you are at all unsure, consider these other scopes and call their manufactureers (usually one person) and talk over the pros and cons.
Of for much less montey you can get a Guan Sheng or Synta 10 inch F5 *same maximum true field, brighter and better image) and take your family on a European vacation with the money you save.
Bill Meyers

Cossider instead in this aperture range of Maks, the ITE 5 inch Mak Cass. I am told by Geoff Gaherty that tt's better mechanically, and better optically (Rumak design rather than silvered spot on the corrector). It's on sale now.The weight is the same as the WO semi-apo you mentioned, though the latter will have a vastly larger true field, a great advantage. The views will be brighter in the ITE.
Bill Meyers

At Shingletown Star Party in July 2005 I rented a 16 inch Night Sky Dob from Pyxis Ventures for five nights. I like the scope a lot. Very easy to use once it is set up. Sky commander worked well on it, and 16 inches is very good for observing galaxies.
Bill Meyers

Larry,

Yes, I have a suggestion, spend $169 on a set screw. Actually two set screws, so it's only about $80 each.
Along with them comes a Starblast, which has a better focuser, a much better finder, and a much better mirror. which is cdllimatible mirror. The mirror is one-half inch larger as well.
I don't know how the Starblast works with Panopitcs. I would guess very well. It works fine with my 24mm TV Widefield, and great with my 12mm Type 2 Nagler, my 9m Nagler, a 1.8x and a 2.5x TV Barlow.
In other words I think the Starblast has made the Astroscan obsolete. Starblast optics and mechanics are much better.
Bill Meyers

I transport my Starmaster 11 ELT in two pieces: 1.the rocker box 2. the mirror box-and trusses and upper cage. Fits ito my Honda CRV with the seat put down. That way, it holds colllimation precisely and there is no setup and teardown.
In general I prefer premium Dobs to other designs.
Collimation is not difficult to learn and is easier on a Newtonian than on a Mak.
The new Starmster Versa series should hold collimation if not disassembled.
I don't like the cooldown issues people report with Maks but I have no personal experience with Maks.
I think you would be very happy with a 14.5 inch Starmaster or a 15 inch Obsession, or a 15 inch Plettstone. Give Rick Singmaster, at Starmaster a call, and give Michelle Stone at Plettstone Telescopes a call, and see what they advise, and then make up your mind. Ask them why it might make sense to buy their scope rather than an unspecified different one. They won't make negative comments about other manufacturers, by the way.
Hope this helps,
Bill Meyers

Are you implying that most analyses posted on the Equipment Forum are not hone?
Bill Meyers

As Tom Clark, publisher of Amateur Astronomy said, "Always buy the cheap one first. It's good for the economy if you buy everything twice."
Bill Meyers

A suggestion:
Next time bring along a laptop and run Where is M13, a great program, cost $19, great for outreach.
Bill Meyers

Take a look at the DiscMount 4 and the Giro 2.
Ciao,
Bill Meyers

Jeff,
Sorry to hear of your sad story. I life in Cincinnati as well, and we have a garden but so far we have been lucky, no slugs so far. Plenty of deer, though. Sprinkling salt (reocmmended in this thread, would just attract deer. Sigh.)
Are you in FOTO or CAS (the local astronomy clubs? Perhaps we have met there. Like mnay observers, I don't recognize people in the daytime whom I know well from dark sky observing sessions. I'd like to look through your Maks sometime if you bring them to one of our club sessions,
Ciao,
Bill Meyers

QUOTE]Jeff Blazey said:

Well, there I was the proud owner of a brand new Intes MN55 from Mike in Florida. Of course I had to wait about 2 weeks after its arrival for the bad weather & clouds, which arrived 5 minutes after the scope, to clear out before I could use it. So two nights ago things were perfect, a day after 1st quarter moon, calm, clear skies and seeing averaging about 7 with moments of 8+. Excellent. Out it came sitting on top of my GM-8. Along side of it were my Intes 503 (sitting on a Super Polaris) and my newly Chromacor'd AR5 (sitting on a fold out lawn chair, waiting for its ride on the GM-8).

The MN is a great little package and, to be honest, I was taken completely by surprise. This instrument is stunning! The subjective performance was every bit as good as any 5" APO I've seen. Cratlets on Plato's floor? Sure, no problem. Perfect collimation & stellar images? Yup. After making comparisons between the scopes (the subject of future postings) I bagged & tagged both Intes on their mounts and went inside vowing to get up early and check out Saturn and other morning stuff.

In the morning, with a cup of coffee in my hand and wondering why I DO stuff like this, I de-bagged both instruments and started "observing". First up was the Intes 503 (which will get its own thread later). Excellent. Saturn though low was crisp, M42 beautiful and the seven sisters ravishing. I then moved over to the MN55, inserted the barlow with 12 MM Clave and looked up at Saturn. Hmmmm, it looks good ....but not as good as I had expected compared to the 503, which was ever sooooo softer on the moon the evening before. I pulled in M42. Same result. Then the Pleiades again with the same result. All good but the 503 was giving a better view. I did a star test at higher magnification on the MN55. Well the out of focus image revealed a couple of small shadows next to the shadow of the secondary. Crap, I thought, dirt on the inside of the barlow again. Oh well, it's time to bring the OTAs inside and go to work.

I don't know about you guys, but I always check the dew patterns that form on my scopes when I bring them into the warmer house. First the 503...a nice even coating. Then the MN55...HOLY MOTHER OF CRAP!!!! 8O

There they were, in all of their slinky slimy-ness, two, one half-inch long "garden" slugs, taking a breather after completely exploring every inch of the corrector. Their slime tracks were everywhere on the meniscus. Apparently, over the course of the evening, the little bastards had made their way up the tripod, up the tube and onto the meniscus of my BRAND NEW SCOPE.

Oh well, live and learn I guess. Their snot came off easily with Windex so everything is fine. Kinda ironic though. I suppose it's God's way of saying "Boogah Boogah!!"


Slimed in Cincinnati

Jeff[/QUOTE]