Posts Made By: Doug Cimperman

After receiving my first telescope and pondering the solutions sold for carrying eiepieces, I have decided I don't really like them too much. The hard cases I see don't use the interior space real effectively; in partcular the way they position the case one way for opening but turn it 90-degrees for transport is undesireable. All the soft cases for astronomy accessories I have seen so far are too small for what I want. I am considering using a firearms range bag of some kind, and putting the grey foam inside it and cutting the foam up myself.

Where can I get the grey foam separtely (in the US)? -Or at least, something that will substitute for it. I think I've only seen it sold already pre-cut for inside of a hard case. I don't need the "eggshell" stuff, just plain blocks in various thicknesses would work.
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I am shopping for a 3X 1.25" barlow.
I see that (for both 2x and 3x) most are long, but a few are stubby.
The stubby ones seem to be intended mainly for smaller SC-type scopes, but is there any advantages or disadvantages to using a shorty barlow as opposed to a regular/longer one in other types of telescopes?

I have a 100mm F/6 refractor telescope and already have a 2X barlow of the longer type.
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I suppose since the temperature is dipping below freeaing I should know this in advance. ?:| I bought the Orion stuff, but ohter instructions for making it online (mixing it yourself) use water. Yes it's best not to try to clean optics in the field but when you have to drive a long way for dark skies you want to make some sort of an attempt before losing the whole night to one fingerprint on a lens.....

Apparently such a filter is a must-have accessory for achromat owners.
I have seen a few different reviews online, but am looking for more opinions. Of course it could be argued that they are a general accessory, but achromat owners have a particular use for them.

What fringe/violet filters have you seen yourself, and which one did you prefer? Also I am curious what colors some of these turn the view, the popular Lumicon I have read results in a slight-yellowing but many of the other filters appear different colors in different angles of lighting.
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I have another question: are all these anti-fringe filters a single color all the way across? Most of the images I have seen appear to be, which would be uneccesary.

If the fringing is greatest near the objective's edge then the edge should be yellow, and then to color-balance the whole image, the center (about 70% of the radius) should transition to violet (red+blue). Because of the differences in eyepieces, this window would have to be very-near to the objective to work properly, a normal focuser filter would not work.

I am looking for any place that could make such a filter, so far I can't find anything similar in existence. I have tried making a objective filter with Lee gels and the color appears "fairly normal", neither the yellow or violet dominates--but the reflective and uneven surfaces of the film introduce so much reflections it's difficult to say if it is muchy of an improvement. Also there is no transition between the two colors, and a bit of overlap--which is plainly visible at the eyepiece.
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