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tombardier started following A new objective cell, or advice, or something
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Hi. I just did something very silly. I noticed a tiny amount of fungus at the edge of my TS Optics f/7 ED doublet today, at the end of a solar observation session. Well I decided I would try fixing that will my ultrasonic cleaner. I think the cleaner did an ok job, but I made the fatal mistake of rinsing my warm lens with cold distilled water, and the picture speaks for itself... So; I'm not soliciting any comments on what a stupid, idiotic thing I've done; I realise it. I still have a nice telescope assembly, and a lens cell. I'd very much appreciate ideas on how I can rescue this or turn it into something useful. I've only ever used it for solar work, with monochromatic Ha, so perhaps I can replace it with an achromatic lens cell. Who knows.. hopefully any prospective commentators have ideas on how to turn this mini disaster around! Thank you in advance
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Night Vision Astronomy - How To Start
tombardier replied to tombardier's topic in Discussions - EEVA Equipment
BTW, I have a metal lathe, mill, 3d printer, and I am just about capable of using them without injury. Would buying something like and building an eyepiece around it be a worthy endeavour? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304399238976?hash=item46df9bc740:g:hgAAAOSw7OhiMQtw&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAsMZYAl63au949ziAHjHGTF3cuGmqQ1YGRJzDbV5z9FxnZP1Y0YAMkdZSentdCePOzwMOwZEk%2FHduEYlCmJqEAcOGz1r0MrWK1emB9LoVyBcJ81v3HatZn8gT6zXiPpDd6QuFtqHzfau%2BQ1%2BVIll6bGumnTkhToR4fep6Em28Dpx9%2BHCqWqXcOzt69Ymrm5uKTUgMkSeiTTSvwC%2Fk8OM9LHAkfduMxfUTSJvYVV5ve%2FeI|tkp%3ABk9SR5KV8J_0YA -
Hi, I was wondering if someone might give me some pointers on how to get in to NV? I gather the PVS-14 is very popular. Where do you find them? I've never seen one come up for sale on the classifieds, or on astrobuysell etc. I guess people don't want to let them go! I was wondering if using analogue NV is a little like looking at a bright CRT screen? If you use NV, is it now the only way you want to observe? Thanks for any advice!
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Thanks Vlaiv. This makes a lot of sense! I wish I could easily just try it out, and see! I have an F/11 102mm scope as well, which works fine in the Quark actually, but it'd be nice to play with the focal ratio on that to get it dialled in! I might add the 60mm telescope to my repertoire, and see how I get on with the full disk views before thinking about swapping for a Combo. Thanks again.
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Thanks Vlaiv, this is good information! I can 3D print aperture masks quite easily too, and I already have done with this scope to experiment with different focal ratios. I use a Denkmeier Binotron with the Powerswitch, and so I can get a .66x reduction from that which will give me full disk views with my normal Quark, but I can't say I can comfortably see the full disk. I was thinking about buying a ~60mm f/7 scope to scratch that itch. The main reason for asking is the limited "field stop" generally, and I do use the term loosely, because I'm sure it's not technically correct, but which, as you say appears as more of a vignetting. I would love to know if the larger BF could improve the size of what I guess is the AFOV? Cheers!
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Hi, I have a Quark Chromosphere, and I love it, for observation primarily. I use it in an TS Optics f/7 80ED scope (mostly). I gather the Combo model which eschews the 4.3 telecentric also has a much larger blocking filter, and my question is this. Does the Combo model give you a larger sort of field stop visually than the Chromosphere/Prominence models? If I thought the view would be less restricted, I'd be tempted to get a 4x Powermate and swap my Chromosphere for a Combo. I don't really understand when the Daystar specifications talk about clear aperture being much larger than the blocking filter size! Cheers!
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The seeing is awful here right now, same as last night. Trying to look at the moon, but it's just frustrating, I'm afraid. A shame, as I have been trying to put a a new (to me) pair of 12.5mm morpheus to the test (in my Binotron). I'll try again in an hour or so.
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Thank you all. A lot to go through. I was sure I'd already responded w/ref to the Dioptrx, but I can't see my reply now! I do happen to have two 1.0 Dioptrx correctors already, but they haven't worked for me (and they are for sale!). On the prescription before last, both eyes showed -1.0, and on the next prescription, my left (primary) eye was still at -1.0, but my right (lazy) eye had changed to -1.25. Now when doing this consultation the other day, I had some eye drops which dilated my pupils massively, and that showed my left eye to also be at -1.25 (he referred to it as a slight "hidden prescription"). So anyway, I'd love to try some 1.25 Dioptrx, but I haven't been able to find any for sale. I still feel a bit sore after buying the first pair, because I got stung for nearly £60 in import fees a couple of weeks after importing them from Germany! I have had a wanted advert on astrobuysell and on here for a couple of months now. It seems like the 1.25 ones are discontinued by Tele Vue! I'd try the 1.5s, but I don't want to throw even more money down the drain I also tried some contact lenses, ones which could apparently correct to within 5 degrees of the angle of my astigmatism, but didn't find they corrected the problem as well as my glasses. I'm sure I would have got used to them, but I really did find them quite uncomfortable, and very difficult to remove! I also found them rotating when I was looking straight up at zenith with binoculars (reclined, using my parallelogram mount). So anyway, I'm not wholly convinced by the idea of lens replacement surgery, and I feel like the main option at the moment is to stick with glasses! I think I'll buy some new glasses, because I have varifocals right now with transition/reactive tints, and that's a bit of a PITA when I do solar observation! Also a bit of a pain with normal observation, as I have to make sure I'm at an angle where I won't be looking through the transition through to the reading part of the lens! Thanks for all your advice and for sharing your experience!
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Thank you Keith. Have you found your reading prescription changing over the years since due to an increase in presbyopia, or has your actual astigmatism changed too, and/or your distance prescription? I don't mind wearing glasses day to day, but I do want the best correction possible for the astigmatism, for my observation. I don't like the sound of vitreous detachment! I should just clarify, its Optical Express, the ones best known for laser eye surgery, not Vision Express, the high street optician!
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Hi. I have prescription like so: Left sphere +3, cyl -1.25, axis 55 Right sphere +4.25, cyl -1.25, axis 130 In other terms, I am far-sighted, with an oblique (diagonal) astigmatism. I've recently undergone a consultation at Optical Express, with a mind to getting my vision corrected, mainly for astronomy. Optical Express have recommended that I could have single-vision lens replacement surgery. They've said it will correct my astigmatism, and far sightedness, but may mean I need to start wearing reading glasses (which I don't mind). I'm 41, and they've said that in 6-7 years time, I could have a kind of concentric ring varifocal lens instead, but that it could cause halos. I'm basically against anything that could compromise my astronomical observation, so that just sounds like a non-starter to me! The thing I really want to correct is the weird spikes and things I see on stars, which is worse at low power/large exit pupils. My main question is whether there is anyone here who has undertaken the surgery, and whether they think it was worth it? One advantage to wearing glasses, I find, is that my eyepieces don't steam up nearly as often, but of course, the choice of eyepiece is more restricted. Any advice/experience appreciated!
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It's been very nice to have two whole nights of good seeing and transparency! On Thursday night, I decided to try out my fairly new to me Altair Starwave 102 f/11 (shortened for binoviewing). I was looking at open clusters like m36, m37, m38, and m44, as well as globular clusters m3, and m13, and galaxies m81/m82. I decided to have a go at some double star splitting too, which I've never done before. I just went through the "Tour" section in the synscan handset on my AZ-EQ6 GT. The stars all resolved very nicely, and were as still as I've ever seen them, I think. I was just finding things at 35x, and then switching to 160x magnification, and managed to split everything very successfully. I really love the refractor. It's got a really nice construction, it gives me perfect pin-point stars, and nice contrast. I mainly love it on the moon. m3 and m13 just never quite resolved enough through it for my liking though. Because thsoe globulars weren't resolving as well as I knew they would with my 10" f/4.7 reflector, that's what I used last night. I spent a lot of time of m3 and m13. Both very nice, but I can't wait for m13 to get higher. I also spent a good amount of time on M51, and M81/M82, as well as doing a tour of a bunch of other DSOs using the "Tour" list on the handset again. All in all, I had two very successful nights of viewing!