Posts Made By: Pernel Johnson

Last night here in SE TN it was surprisingly clear for a while. Around totality the clouds started rolling in. I was able to watch the eclipse from start until just before totality. I was able to take a few pix with my digital camera at the eyepiece of my Tak 102. This is my second lunar eclipse viewed from this location.

Here is an image taken at approx 10:45pm EDT.

Michael,

Hype or not, when I read post like this it certainly brings joy to me. I find that a great part of seeing something is know where to look. Messier saw things with poorer quality optics, so what's to say a 4" APO can't see all the M objects for example.

Pernel

I just purchased a solar filter for my FS-102 and thought I would try my hand an afocal image of the sunspots. I attached a red filter to the eyepiece before taking the picture. I was using an Olympus D-460.

BTW, I just returned home from the PSSG which was great. We had 3 days of excellent weather. I got the opportunity to view the Sun in H-Alpha also. It was just amazing seeing those plumes jump out from the disk.

Dan,

This is a very soothing image of Earth's celestial neighbor. One of the best I've seen. Thanks for sharing.

Anyone seen this one yet? Check out the newt in the background.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OyQr2r_tilk

For the last few days transparency has been very good here. On Saturday I was doing yard work and look up and saw a 19% waning cresent. Well today I was doing some more yard work I thought about when I saw the moon a few days earlier. Knowing about where the moon would be a took out my binoculars and scanned the sky with the corner of house blocking glare from the Sun. Within seconds I spotted the 4% waning cresent. This is a first for me, so out comes the TSA-102 and digital camera for some afocal shots.

Here are 2 images I took.

#1 @ 447 UTC on 21010906 (or Age 27d 09h 38m)

David,

I have the WO 2' diagonal and have been experiencing this problem with the 2" to 1.25" adapter with just one of my 1.25" eyepieces. After some wiggling it comes out. All the other 1.25" eyepiece seem fine. I have not notice this problem with the 2" eyepieces I own. The one eyepiece that I am having the problem with is a Pro-Optic Ultra Wide (same as the Orion Expanse) that has the recess groove in the barrel. So I am thinking the groove is getting caught under the brass ring in the holder. Some of my other 1.25" have this recess groove but again not a problem. One thing I did notice is the edge of recess groove on this Pro-Optic UW is flat while the others are beveled. This is where I developed my theory it's being caught on the brass ring (i.e. a beveled edged recess groove would push the ring out, therefore, releasing the eyepiece without much trouble).

I figure this problem is something I would just have to deal with when using the Pro-Optic UW. As long as it does not get stuck like your MK-70.

One thing I can say is those holders seem to be very precisely cut. Last night while out I dropped my Ultima 12.5mm eyepiece on the concrete that put a small hardly noticeable nic on the outside bottom of the barrel. When I tried to put the eyepiece in the diagonal it would not fit due to this small nic. After filing across this nic a few times it worked perfectly.

Good Luck,

Pernel

It looks like the handcontroller from a Powerstar. I have one that looks like it, but does not work.

Here is another image taken at approx 11:04pm EDT just before totality. After this photo thick clouds rolled in and it started raining twenty minutes later.

Mark,

I have owned both the 2.5x Powermate and an Ultima 2x Barlow. IMO, the performance between the two are close. So much so that I sold the Powermate and purchased another Ultima along with some other toys with the money left over. Also, consider the frequency you will be using these amplifiers/barlows. I don't use them that often, so to me it made more since to put money into something I was going to use more often.

Pernel