Louis D

3 hours ago, bosun21 said:

You can use the single code five times meaning five devices or changes.

I ask because I'm used to uninstalling a license from an older machine and reinstalling it on a newer machine as with Photoshop.  Apparently, that's not how Starsense works.

6 hours ago, wesdon1 said:

@Louis D My goodness Louis, 100+F for weeks is literal torture!!?? I recall alst summer here in Liverpool UK, we got a record high temp of 40C+ ( roughly 105F ) and that day was absolute HELL!! And that was one single day!!?? So to have those sorts of unbearable temps for multiple days or weeks is just hard to fathom Louis!!?? IMPO that is literal torture!!

I really hope you guys over there get some respite asap!! 

We treat summer like most other folks treat winter.  We tend to hole up in air conditioned buildings and race between them in air conditioned cars during summer like most folks do with heated buildings and cars in the winter.  From mid-October through mid-April, we generally have wonderfully mild weather and spend most of it outdoors similar to how other folks spend spring to fall outdoors.  I often observe in shorts and a T-shirt during that time in the early evening.  At most, I throw on a windbreaker and long pants to mitigate the evening chill on colder nights.

The US as a whole has 90% of homes air conditioned and practically all businesses have A/C.  Here in Texas, it's pretty close to 100% for both.  As others have said, it doesn't help when you're observing outdoors.  It's sort of similar to how a heated house in winter doesn't help to keep you from freezing while observing outdoors in colder climates.

Quick Chinese/Taiwanese astro manufacturers FAQ:

Sky-Watcher is Synta, from mainland China.  It is the largest astro products manufacturer for true entry level equipment (not that stuff sold on ebay or in big box stores at Christmas).  However, it tends to have a lot of rough edges mechanically.  Optically, they're generally fine.  Their scopes target the most cost conscience consumers.

Bresser in Europe and Explore-Scientific in the US is JOC from mainland China.  They tend to have better mechanics than Synta, but they cost more.  They target the mid to higher ends of the market as folks want better equipment.  Optics are quite good.

GSO is from Taiwan and is sold under that name and many house brands.  They tend to be about equivalent to JOC on quality and market positioning.  It's not clear if they have any mainland China suppliers.

Long Perng is from Taiwan and almost always sells under house brands.  Their eyepieces and scopes (mostly refractors) tend to be of very good quality.  It's not clear if they have any mainland China suppliers.

KUO is from mainland China and almost always sells under house brands.  Their eyepieces and scopes (mostly refractors) tend to be of very good quality.

I'm sure I missed one or more, but those are the major players I see again and again.

A bit off-topic, but what's up with Tak focusers?  I've never heard of AP, TEC, or, for that matter, most Chinese/Taiwanese made APO refractors having so many problems reaching focus with a range of eyepieces and diagonals.  Is it due to a lack of focuser draw tube travel range?  Is it because they were only intended for 1.25" diagonals?

I have heard of issues reaching focus with binoviewers in many refractors, but that's excusable since they require 100mm of additional in-focus travel.  My 90mm TS APO has two removable OTA sections to adjust its overall length for imaging vs. monoviewing vs. binoviewing.

12 hours ago, Nakedgun said:

How many have you got?

~

I refuse to participate in this thread 😝

 

 

.

You just did.  Now your brain should lock-up trying to reconcile this.

Among the two you listed, I'd go for the Bresser because of the slightly larger aperture and slightly better mount.  However, both are achromats, so don't expect terrific planetary views as compared to an APO refractor at a much higher price or a 5" or larger parabolic Newtonian at a similar price.

It would help if we knew what country you're located in with regards to purchasing advice.

Quick question.  As you upgrade your phone over time, can you migrate your Starsense unlock code from phone to phone to phone an unlimited number of times?

On 24/07/2023 at 03:59, Mr Spock said:

I expect 'Rock Ridge' and Vasquez Rocks are a bit toasty right now.

Well, due to heat, an older hiker died in Death Valley National Park, a couple of hikers died in Valley of Fire State Park (Nevada), and a hiker died in Grand Canyon NP.  So far, no reports of astronomers dying due to the heat.

It reminds me of a breech-loading cannon from this angle:

Maybe StarBlaster for name? 😁

37 minutes ago, Roy Challen said:

I'm saving it as proof that I don't have enough 😄

The problem is, you can never have enough eyepieces.  That's why Eyepieceaholics Anonymous (EA) was founded.

44 minutes ago, Marian M said:

The question is- you have been so disappointed of 152 for his only role- DSO/ low to medium power?

At low to medium powers on dimmer stars and DSOs, both the 6" achro and 6" fast Newt show similar views.  The Newt doesn't show diffraction spikes on dimmer objects, so that advantage of the refractor is lost.  The unfocused light in the frac is hard to detect, so that advantage of the Newt is lost.

I like having the eyepiece up nice and high on the Newt.  I refuse to extend the legs on my tripod due to the inherent shakiness in so doing, so the refractor's eyepiece ends up a foot or two off the ground which is really uncomfortable.

On DSOs in particular, I see no advantage to the frac over the Newt when you figure in cost, weight, and cool down time (the frac has more glass to cool).

9 hours ago, Stu said:

These were through an apo (Tak FS-128), I guess I was just trying to show the kinds of detail that can be seen in a 5/6” class scope. Sorry for the confusion.

Roughly what power was that image taken at?  I can try to capture an image of the moon with the 152 achromat at a similar power sometime for comparison.

From this telescopeoptics.net eyepiece spot diagram collection, it's pretty clear that Abbe Orthos fail to keep the image rays within the airy disk at f/5 (first spot diagram column) off axis, and do much better at f/10 or especially f/15:

Thus, it makes sense to slow down the incoming light cone from f/5 to f/12.5 with a 2.5x Powermate.

4 hours ago, Stu said:

the Moon shots were taken through a 128mm f8.1 frac (FS-128)

Those shots in your achromat look way better than what I'm seeing through my 152 achromat.  The purple wash and orange/red highlights really cut down on the contrast in my scope.  There's only a hint of purple wash in the darkest shadows in your scope by way of comparison.

On 22/07/2023 at 09:44, Marian M said:

my question to you is where would be 152 F5.9 between the 120 ST and the 150 SW ED, only for DSO and up to 100x magnification?

7 hours ago, Marian M said:

I had the chance to compare my 102 F7 FPL53 with the same 150 F8 SW ED and with a 300mm Dobson

I haven't looked through a 150 ED, but I have compared my 80mm f/5 achro to my 72 ED, and the views are not comparable at all.  The unfocused violet and red ends of the spectrum (spherochromatism) along with spherical aberration ruin the overall sharpness of the ST80 compared to the 72ED at all but the lowest powers.  I haven't had a chance to check for SA on my 152 achro yet.

My point is, don't draw conclusions for how an achromat at a particular aperture might perform based on a similarly sized ED scope.

1 hour ago, stormioV said:

Are Baader q turret sets with 6,10,18 BCO / 32mm Plossl & q Barlow still available? At least you know that will take payload. Slightly narrower FOV though.

You're right, I'm only seeing the bare turret available around the US and Europe.

Personally, I would skip the 3.2mm Starguider.  The resulting exit pupil would be 0.46mm, which is extremely tiny.  The 0.71mm exit pupil with the 5mm is the smallest exit pupil I'm usually comfortable observing with in any telescope.

I would probably load up with the 25mm, 12mm, 8mm, and 5mm eyepieces.  That would give you 22x, 46x, 70x, and 112x.  Get the Baader Planetarium Q-Barlow if you really must have higher powers.

Does anyone know the weight capacity of the Baader Turret?  It's made of good quality plastic, but it is plastic none the less.  Geoptik makes a near identical one in aluminum that would probably have a higher weight capacity.

I ask because the bundled Baader eyepieces if you buy the set weigh a combined 354 g or 12.5 oz.  The four Starguider/Paradigm eyepieces (assuming 12mm instead of 10mm) would weigh a combined 730 g or 25.8 oz which is more than twice as heavy.  Has anyone tried the Baader Turret with a full load of heavier eyepiece to check for flexure or other issues?  I know I wouldn't trust it with my Delos, XW, and Morpheus eyepieces.

You should be able to see the current phase of Venus quite easily right now just after sunset.  Even in my crappy ST80 at 60x, it was quite obvious with a #56 green filter.  Try using such a filter to cut down on the false color due to both the atmosphere and/or the scope to sharpen the image.

1 hour ago, Giles_B said:

It's moot now, the cash is spent on the s50. It'll be a good six months before I'm anywhere near the next big astro buy - hopefully I'll see the s50 before that!

I had kind of thought you had saved up enough for the Terminagler.  Since the S50 is $300 less than the Terminagler, I figured you had enough to pick up a 30mm APM UFF for $200.

10 hours ago, Giles_B said:

Just taken the plunge and preordered an S50 from Flo.

Was saving for a 31mm Nagler - but family and work pressures, plus the endlessly cloudy weather seem to be conspiring to keep me away from the night sky at the moment (even solar is a bit dicey).

I'm hoping a easy eaa setup will let me scratch the astro itch a bit more regularly.

Unless you're dead set on the last 6mm of field stop diameter and 9 degrees of AFOV, I'd get some variation of the 30mm APM UFF.  I much prefer it to my 30mm ES-82 for many reasons (lower weight and bulk, greater eye relief, near perfect edge to edge sharpness, lack of ring of fire, etc.).  That, and you'll save a nice chunk of change.

I recently picked up both the KUO 152mm fast achromat and a GSO 6" f/5 Newtonian.  Side by side, I much prefer the Newtonian.  The false color on the achromat is excessive on bright objects.  It doesn't go any deeper on DSOs than the reflector that I could see.  It's also way heavier and much more expensive.  On bright solar system objects, the reflector stomps all over the fast frac with sharp images.  The fast frac's unfocused violet and red ruin its solar system views.  I have to heavily green filter the frac to see anything sharply.

In summary, on dim objects, the fast frac shows nothing more than the fast reflector (which doesn't show diffraction spikes on dim objects) while the reflector shows sharp images on solar system objects compared to flaring messes in the fast frac.  To see DSOs best, just get a large, fast reflector.

I have no idea what to do with the fast frac now.  It doesn't really fit into my observing style at all.  Maybe I'll save up for a 150 ED to see if it shows anything more than a fast 6" or 8" Newtonian.

23 hours ago, John said:

For those of you who have the APM 7.7-15.4mm zoom, do you use it in 2 inch or 1.25 inch mode ?

I'm finding that it simply won't come to focus in at least two of my scopes in 1.25 inch mode. I realised from reading other reports that it would require more inwards focuser travel than many eyepieces but I didn't realise that it was as much as it actually seems to be. In 2 inch mode it seems to reach focus just a bit further out than, for example, Pentax XW's, which is fine.

My scopes are all refractors.

Thanks 🙂

I haven't used one yet, but from this post of mine from last November, it appears to need 32mm of focuser in-travel in 1.25" mode to put the focal plane of the eyepiece at the focal plane of the telescope.  By way of contrast, it only needs 8mm to accomplish the same thing in 2" mode.

5 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I used to own a longer Vixen barlow which was tack sharp but I foolishly sold it.

Funny you should mention a long, Japanese made Barlow.  The best affordable Barlow I've owned and used is a 1990s vintage Orion Deluxe 2x (Japan).  It's about 6 inches long, baffled, and has a full aperture negative lens in a very thin barrel.

In direct comparisons, I found it to be sharper and has less scatter than my 1999 vintage TV Barlow 2x, 1990s vintage Meade 140 APO 2x Barlow (Japan), and 1990s vintage Parks GS 2X Shorty Barlow (Japan).  The latter is the same as the Celestron Ultima Shorty and Orion Shorty-Plus.  The problem is, it's only usable in Newtonian telescopes due to the required insertion distance.  I suppose it could be used in a Mak or SCT, but I've never had the inclination to double their already long focal lengths.  In my refractors, I prefer the Parks Barlow because I never have trouble reaching focus, and it is basically as sharp and contrasty as the Meade and TV Barlows without causing exit pupil issues.

If we're going to list them, here's mine:

2.5mm Aquila Planetary II SW

3-8mm SVBONY Zoom

3.5mm and 7mm Pentax XW

4.5mm, 6.5mm, 9mm, 12mm, 18mm, 25mm Meade Series 5000 HD-60

5mm, 8mm, 12mm, 15mm, 18mm, 25mm AstroTech Paradigm

5-8mm SPEERS-WALER Zoom

5.2mm and 14mm Pentax XL

6mm and 20mm Huygens

7.2-21.5mm Surplus Shed Zoom

8-24mm Celestron Regal Zoom (BV Pair and a travel spare)

9mm and 12.5mm Kellner

9mm and 26mm Meade Silvertop Plössl

9mm Vixen LV

9mm and 14mm Baader Morpheus

10mm Tele Vue Delos

12mm Meade MA Astrometric

12mm Pentax XF

12mm, 17mm, and 22mm Tele Vue Nagler Type 4

12mm and 17mm Explore Scientific 92° Series

12.5mm Celestron Microguide Ortho

12.5mm APM Hi-FW

13mm, 17mm, and 22mm Astro-Tech AF70

14mm Meade Series 4000 UWA

16.7mm (15x) Bausch & Lomb 31-15-74 WF (BV Pair adapted from 23mm microscope barrel)

19mm Gary Russell König (BV Pair)

20mm RK (Reversed/Rank Kellner?)

20mm SVBONY 68° Ultra Wide Angle (BV pair)

20mm Orion Centering SWA

20mm/30mm Agena Astro 80° UWA

20mm Meade Series 5000 UWA

23mm 62° Aspheric (BV pair)

24mm and 30mm APM Ultra Flat Field

25mm Edscorp Abbe Ortho

26mm and 32mm Orion Sirius Plössls (26mm BV Pair)

26mm Meade MWA

27mm Panoptic

28mm Edmunds RKE

29mm (2"), 35mm (1.25"), and 38mm (2") Rini Modified Plössls

29mm Explore Scientific 92° Series (12mm missing Smyth group)

30mm Explore Scientific 82° Series (original mushroom top)

30mm Kasai Super WideView 90°

32mm GSO Super Plössl (BV Paired with 32mm Orion Sirius Plössl)

32mm US Military WF (surplus)

35mm Baader Scopos Extreme

35mm Aero ED

40mm Meade Series 5000 Plössl

40mm Meade Series 5000 SWA

40mm Lacerta ED

40mm Pentax XW-R

42mm Rini Erfle