Posts Made By: Brian Schmidt

I own a Meade #140 2x barlow and considering upgrading to something better. Does anyone have any advise as to the quality of this particular barlow. I am thinking of getting a telvue or possibly one of the new Meade barlows.

Here's my question; Do I keep the 12.5mm Ultima or the 15mm Ultrascopic? I've basically just been using a 25mm and a 9mm for the last 10 years through high school, college, and what not. Now that I have a real job and have paid off my car loan etc.., I've went on an A-mart binge so to speak and am wanting to increase my collection to 4 oculars (try not to laugh too hard). I primarily observe deep sky objects, but also turn to the planets and moon when they're out.

Here's what I've got:
-24mm pan (absolutely keeping)
-15mm Ultrascopic (leaning towards keeping)
-12.5mm Ultima (Just bought, probably going to resel)
-9mm T1 (absolutely keeping)
-7mm T1 (Just bought, absolutely keeping)
-have a Meade #140 2x barlow and plan on keeping because it won't brig much on Amart.
Here's my setup for my 8" f/6 Dob:
-----------2x Barlow------------
EP FL EP afv Magnification True Field Magnification True Field
24 68 50 1.36 100 0.68
15 52 80 0.65 160 0.33
12.5 52 96 0.54 192 0.27
9 82 133 0.62 266.67 0.31
7 82 171 0.48 342.86 0.24

Thanks in advance for your replies...

Does anyone have experience with these two oculars in a f/6ish scope? Obviously the wf is quite a bit less expensive (which is why I'm thinking of going with it). I've also seen that a lot of people actually prefer the wf due to better eye relief, contrast, and because it can be barlowed. Others say that the Panoptic is a tremendous improvement over the wf because the edge of field is sharper. Is the Panoptic really worth $50-$100 more?

My 8" f/6 custom dob currently has a 1.25" focuser. I am certainly missing out on some nice wide field views. Does anyone know if it it is possible to switch it out with a 2 inch focuser and what would be involved?

Can anyone recommend a good 2.5x barlow that would work good with a 13 T6? I desire somethin that will work well, but not cost hundreds of dollars.

Thanks,

Brian

Greetings all,
I wanted to get some opinions on this:

Basically, I've got a chance to buy a 12 inch light bridge in about a month or so. I should be good and sell one eyepiece, since I've got only $500 in my astro account. Although I'll point my scope at most anything in the sky, my primary love is deep sky objects. I'll still use my 8 inch as a grab and go setup when at my apartment. "The Night Sky Observers Guide" seems to recommend 100-125x for most deep sky objects. I've been playing around with eyepieces. But with my 8 inch, I always pull out the 24pan first and look a while, then drop to the 13 T6, and then will pull out the 7T1 when called for. Honestly, I'm perfectly content to use those 3 only 90% of the time on my 8 inch. Occasionally I will pull out the 40mm wide field for amazing 2 degree TFoV views. I've also got a 9 T1, but haven't had a reason to pull it out of the case since I bought the 7mm about 3 months ago. So, considering both scopes, magnification, TFoV, exit pupal, etc... which would you sell to finance the purchase? Other suggestions? Basically I'm wondering how different 12 inch f/5 will be from 8 inch f/6. I've only looked though sct's in the 11 to 12 inch range.



Thanks for taking time to read all of this...

Brian

Hi all,
I just bought a 9 T1 (again) and am having a hard time getting good correction with the paracorr (which I didn't have when I had my first 9mm Nagler). I've got one of the older Paracorrs with the green writing and no compression ring, if it makes a difference. I am also aware of the TeleVue chart as well. My understanding is that I should be able to use the tunable top to refocus when switching eyepieces. The trouble is that the 9 T1 sits down too far if using it as a 2 inch ep. If I put on an 1.25 high hat adapter on and use it as a 1.25 ep, the Nagler sits up too high. I also have a 2 inch 35mm extension tube, but that also makes the Nagler sit up too high as well. I'm wondering if a 2 inch 20mm extender is made. I was also considering a 1.25 low profile adapter would work better. My third option is to sell this and just get a T6, since I already own the 13 and 7 T6 Naglers which I am quite fond of. Suggestions?

Just for argument sake, does anyone think that there would be a point in upgrading a secondary on an 8 f/6 dob that gets used for planetary? What makes this complicated is that I'm not exactly sure of the figure of the primary, which is most likely an old discovery mirror that's been recoated by Spectrum. In my personal opinion, the scope already produces great planetary views. I'm pretty sure that I've got a 1/10 secondary in it. But if I could get say, a 1/20 or even a 1/30 secondary for 120-150 bucks or so, I may have a real planetary scope. Considering that the small secondary mirrors don't cost much, what do you all think?

Not sure if you are still monitoring the forum, but I'll throw in my 2 sense...

I have had an 8 inch F/6 dob for over 10 years. Initially, I tried several different eyepieces. For the last 9 years, I've been observing with 2 eyepieces and a quality barlow lens. In my experience, it has proven much better to have a few better quality eyepieces rather than a bunch of cheap ones. I have a Meade 24.5 SWA eyepiece for low and medium powers, and an older style 9 mm for medium and high powers. You can shop the classifieds and probably find both for a total cost of around $300. While these are by no means the best eyepieces available today, they are so much better than most eyepieces. I can't express how much more you will enjoy your telescope if you have quality eyepieces. Although what eyepieces you eventually settle on depend on your observing preferences, weather in your neck of the woods, etc... I've found that most things look good at powers between 50x and 150x. A higher power in the 200x range is nice to have. But because of the seeing I don't usually have the opportunity to use that kind of power. The best way to go about buying your eyepieces is to get eyepieces in the middle ranges first, then expand to the very low and very high power.

I am not exactly sure what you are asking. But I teach astronomy at the high school level. Usually students have no problem a low power ep in the 25mm range that has a large exit pupal and long eye relief. For higher power views of the moon and planets, I generally us a 15mm Ultrascopic that gives 80x in my scope. Students have little trouble with that after using the lower power ep. But I think definitely stay away from eyepieces under 10mm. Use a barlow instead for higher powers since that usually seems to increase eye relief.