Posts Made By: Rod Mollise

January 4, 2015 04:03 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Bright eyepieces? Posted By Rod Mollise

Any dimming due to more lens elements is extremely minor due to modern coatings. Also, your eyes will not easily detect anything less than a 10% decrease in brightness. The key is not looking for a "brighter" eyepiece, but learning to use what you have. Which is appropriate for viewing what, etc. Your 5-inch delivers plenty of light for many, many objects, BTW.

January 8, 2015 05:02 PM Forum: Comets

Comet Lovejoy Posted By Rod Mollise

Last looked at it night before last (last night was too cold--fraking 20F). In my C11 it was quite a sight, with a tiny nucleus, extensive coma and hints of a tail with a 16mm 100-degree eyepiece at f/6.3. Reminded me of those glorious 1990s nights with Hyakutake and Hale Bopp. It was surprisingly bright in 10x50 binoculars, and I almost convinced myself I could see it naked eye from my not overly dark backyard.

January 10, 2015 01:04 AM Forum: ASTRONOMY

Meade is hiding in China under an Alias Posted By Rod Mollise

When was the last time? In the current issue of Sky & Telescope. On page 5 to be exact.

January 12, 2015 04:35 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Surviving the cold Posted By Rod Mollise

16 and 17 errors were likely NOT because the motor controller "stopped sending a signal," but because your power was too low. Cold affects batteries badly and can make AC power connections dicey.

Make it easy on yourself vis-à-vis the HC: just rubberband a chemical hand warmer pack to your hand control. The only component affected by cold is the LCD display.

No, capacitors are not overly affected by cold. Your GPS likely suffers a problem with cable/connectors in the cold.

January 18, 2015 06:02 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Bausch & Lomb 8001 pro Posted By Rod Mollise

Philip Tetrault said:

Hi all. New to the site. Just getting back into astronomy after many years of not having a telescope. I picked up a Bausch&lomb 8001 Pro. The guy I got it from was an engineer at B&L in east hartford ct and said this scope was an early version. The tripod is a heavy version that they decided not to use due to cost.
I am looking for the manual for this scope but have not found a pdf file anywhere and the folks at Bushnell said they didn't have anything for that model. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I can probably answer your questions. There's really not much in the manual that's overly necessary...it is at heart a simple telescope.

The good? This was the best, really the only, good SCT B&L/Criterion ever produced.

December 9, 2016 06:16 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

FINALLY GOT AN ASTROSCAN Posted By Rod Mollise

I certainly wouldn't call it a "kid's toy." It _can_ be a decent RFT. In some senses it has been obsoleted by Chinese scopes like the StarBlast with better focusers (sometimes) better primaries, and collimatable primaries. But not in all ways.

No one has yet bettered its basic industrial design. It is perfectly suited to hand-holding it while scanning the skies.

Its liabilities? I have never seen one with a 1/8th wave primary and precious few that meet 1/4 wave. While the non collimatable primary mount CAN be OK, it's not unusual for the scope to get out of alignment as it ages. It can be collimated, but it is not a picnic. The focuser's problems are far more grave than just a skinny draw-tube: it is a lousy focuser.

None of these things really prevent the scope from doing what it was designed to do, providing spectacular low power views given its modest cost, even back in the 1970s.

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