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Posts Made By: Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

May 15, 2002 04:43 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Comet passes 2 degrees from M13

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
Comet Ikeya - Zhang passes about 2 degrees from the globular cluster M13 in Hercules tonight. They make an interesting pairing since at low power they look quite similar but at higher power the unique nature of each becomes evident. Also, they will both be about zenith if you live at 38 degrees north latitude at around 2:30 am local daylight time (1:30 am local standard time). I plan to make the long trek to dark skies to photograph the pair if the weather is good.
Clear Skies,
Joplin

June 1, 2002 08:42 PM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

NEAF eyepieces on ebay

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
The guy selling Televue NEAF eyepieces on Ebay has a total of seven listed (some of which have allready sold).
It's also obvious that he plans on listing more of them. I finally decided to complain to Ebay. What pisses me off is that scalpers like that undercut the value of legitimate used eyepieces. Also, people who buy these for typically high ebay prices are going to be in for a surprize if they try to resell them later to knowledgable people (since they do mark the barrels). See the thread "scum selling NEAF eyepieces on Ebay" in equipment talk for more info. If that guy wants become an authorized Televue distributor or just sell non NEAF used eyepieces that's fine but he is violating a written contract right now. I encourage everyone to complain to Ebay as well.

June 11, 2002 11:55 PM Forum: Eyepieces

2" diagonal question

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
I know it's a long shot, but I thought I would see if anyone knows what brand of 2" diagonal uses the least up the least focus travel, particularly as compared to a standard Meade 2" diagonal. The scope it is for has very limited back focus.

Thanks,
Joplin

June 19, 2002 07:28 PM Forum: Refractors

TAL 100R refractor review

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
See the brand new review on Cloudy Nights here:
http://cloudynights.com/reviews2/Tal100k.htm
Sounds like it has superb optics for the price and typical so-so Russian mechanics.

Clear Skies,

Joplin

July 1, 2002 10:54 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

New numbers on UHTC

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
Following an analysis of the charts provided on UHTC by Meade and a lot of number crunching here are my reults: An LX-90 with UHTC has a transmission percentage of 77% (includes 13.69% by area central obstruction). An LX-90 with standard coatings rates at 65.7%. The improvement between the standard coated scope and the UHTC coated model is 17.4%

The UHTC LX-90 shows about a 5.5% improvement over a Nexstar 8.

July 5, 2002 10:03 PM Forum: Takahashi

Size of FS-78 Tenbalite case

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
Could someone that has the Tenabalite case for an FS-78 please measure the inside of it. I'm considering reasonable case options ($100 or less) for my 80mm F8 refractor and want to make sure it would fit. Any other case suggestions would be appreciated as well.

Thanks,

Joplin

July 7, 2002 09:33 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

M13 with a 24" Dob

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
I had the pleasure of viewing through a 24" Dobsonian last night. Although the sky was filled with thin clouds, making good viewing of galaxies hard, M13 was amazing. It was resolved into hundreds of stars and had a fantastic three-dimensional look. I've got an 80mm refractor that will resolve a few stars under good condtions, but this made the view through the refractor look downright pitiful. Rats, now I have no choice but to get a big Dob - I'm hopelessly addicted :-)

Joplin

November 21, 2002 02:30 AM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

Leonid in Leo Minor

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
Thought I'd share this image I captured last Tuesday morning of a Leonid streaking through the constellation Leo Minor. I was suprized at how well it turned out despite the bright moon and thin clouds overhead. I cropped the original shot and rotated it so North is up, roughly. Technical data 35mm SLR w/ 28mm lens on tripod. Exposure was fairly short (1 or 2 minutes) on Fuji Superia 800 print film. The green color seems consistent with what I saw; I did see one with a distinct violet flash earlier in the evening.

Clear Skies,

Joplin

April 28, 2003 08:14 PM Forum: Wildlife Photography

Greetings from another planet

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
Well, its not exactly a recent image but I found this Katydid while hiking about 10 years ago.

April 30, 2003 02:17 PM Forum: Birding Optics and Photos

Northern Flicker nest

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
I took a number of images of the these birds nesting in the hollowed out Sweetgum tree in our backyard several years ago. I used a Meade 97D 1000mm Maksutov spotting scope, hence the dougnuts in the background.

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