Meade Infinity 102

[Dave In Vermont]

It does run my laptop, and my mounts, for hours at a go.

No Death-Ray though <Yet> -

Dave

[Mak the Night]

3 minutes ago, Dave In Vermont said:

It does run my laptop, and my mounts, for hours at a go.

No Death-Ray though <Yet> -

Dave

They'll probably eventually get around to the death ray lol.

[Mak the Night]

6 hours ago, Ray1103 said:

You guys are crazy, I love it ?! I will look at all options again (about fifty times for sure). I'm sure I will be laid up a day or so, will give me something to do. Hoping to be out this week no matter what to, like you said Mak, point that thing at something astronomical, lol ✨

Or you could download Cartes du Ciel and have fun with that.

It looks more complicated than it really is lol.

[Ray of LIght]

Thanks Mak, looks very interesting! I will back on when I can. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow. I hope no death rays in the hospital Dave! ✨

[Mak the Night]

Position of Mercury at 14:51:57 BST by courtesy of CDC.

[Mak the Night]

17:14 BST

[Ray of LIght]

Hey guys, well the good news is no stents, the bad news is no stents, lol! Nasty little test. Anyway I guess it's not my heart causing my breathing issues so it's back to the pulmonary doctor to figure out whats going on. They say I am not supposed to lift more than ten pounds for a week (i have a hole in the artery of my right wrist) so either my son will need to assist me (I do not really like anyone carrying my telescope) or I wait. I can't win! Anyway, I received the GSO Amici diagonal so I will install the filters and replace the OEM diagonal and, if I like it, I will use it until I decide what my next move is as far as a focuser or helical diagonal is concerned. You observe the transit? Hopefully talk soon! ✨

[Mak the Night]

No stents has to be good news Ray. I have to assemble my larger scopes outside after carrying them piecemeal into the garden. Your 102mm OTA looks like it could be over four and a half kilo as refractors can be heavy. I'm pretty sure the GSO diagonal will be fine. If it's anything like my Orion or TS Optics it will be OK. I deliberately compared my TS Optics to a regular Celestron diagonal once during an observing session and could discern no difference in image quality. I've got a feeling that my TS Optics could be GSO as I know for a fact they distribute a lot of GSO products, often rebadged. I caught a glimpse of the Transit with a projection but there was a lot of cloud. I've seen them before, they're more fun to watch on software lol. For me, watching a projected speck travelling across the Sun isn't quite the same as seeing the cloud belts of Jupiter or the rings of Saturn.

[Ray of LIght]

30 minutes ago, Mak the Night said:

No stents has to be good news Ray. I have to assemble my larger scopes outside after carrying them piecemeal into the garden. Your 102mm OTA looks like it could be over four and a half kilo as refractors can be heavy. I'm pretty sure the GSO diagonal will be fine. If it's anything like my Orion or TS Optics it will be OK. I deliberately compared my TS Optics to a regular Celestron diagonal once during an observing session and could discern no difference in image quality. I've got a feeling that my TS Optics could be GSO as I know for a fact they distribute a lot of GSO products, often rebadged. I caught a glimpse of the Transit with a projection but there was a lot of cloud. I've seen them before, they're more fun to watch on software lol. For me, watching a projected speck travelling across the Sun isn't quite the same as seeing the cloud belts of Jupiter or the rings of Saturn.

I agree that it is good news, I was just hoping for a resolution, any kind. Anyway, the GSO is on and looks pretty good! No writing of labeling of any kind on it. My Baader filters threaded perfectly. I noticed that the eyepiece tube is considerably longer than the Meade OEM diagonal. Lot's of stuff to try/test! Your right about the transit compared to Jupiter and Saturn, I checked out a couple of videos while in the hospital; a little underwhelming! Below is the GSO diagonal with the big 25 sitting in it. Talk in a bit. What do you think? I am still leaning towards the WO helical diagonal/focuser for the future but will see. Oh, even the retention screw is better!

[Mak the Night]

The doctors still have no idea what caused my multiple brain bleeds. I hadn't smoked for years, only drank socially, didn't take drugs, was actually slightly underweight for my height and build and physically very fit (I practised karate & jujitsu). It's still a mystery to them. I'm pretty sure my TS Optics Amici is GSO, it looks pretty identical to yours. The set screw is in a slightly different place but it looks identical.

The set screw is visibly distinctive and different to the other screws on the Antares and Orion diagonals and has what appears like a fixed washer below the grooved 'thumb knob'. Someone from TS Optics told me GSO was one of their 'partner' factories and I'm pretty certain my TS Optics Amici is GSO Taiwanese built as well. The set screw on the Antares is very firm and well made which is why I like it for my binoviewer. The TS Optics is equally as good though. I read somewhere recently that the TeleVue 8mm, 11, and 25mm Plossls had won awards for something. If your GSO Amici is the same as my TS Optics you won't be disappointed by it.

[Ray of LIght]

You would think that with all the technological advancements in medicine that they could figure out why what happened to you happened to you. It seens we are in a similar boat as far as that. They don't even know why my plueral effusions happened in the first place. So, yes, your TS Optics and my GSO do look exactly the same except my set screw is in the rear. But, the screw is the same. Pretty sure it will be a nice upgrade for now. Take care, talk in a bit ✨

[Mak the Night]

1 hour ago, Ray1103 said:

You would think that with all the technological advancements in medicine that they could figure out why what happened to you happened to you. It seens we are in a similar boat as far as that. They don't even know why my plueral effusions happened in the first place. So, yes, your TS Optics and my GSO do look exactly the same except my set screw is in the rear. But, the screw is the same. Pretty sure it will be a nice upgrade for now. Take care, talk in a bit ✨

The only thing they can theorise is that elevated stress levels/blood pressure for a period of time, combined with my apparently very powerful heart, caused blood vessels to weaken and finally rupture in my brain. I had no idea my blood pressure was high though and felt fit and well until one night I had a nightmare that a large weight was pressing on my right side. When I awoke relieved that it was just a nightmare I discovered that the nightmare had only just begun.

I've had many happy hours observing with that TS diagonal. I'm pretty sure all of my filters thread into it as well.

GSO homepage

 

[Ray of LIght]

Wow, that IS a nightmare! I have hypertension, i never had symptoms. I take two different medications and it is just about under control. Doing ok with my diabetes. Sometimes we are walking time bombs. Do you have a link about the TV Plossl eyepieces that won awards? Sounds interesting. I think I mentioned being interested in the TV 20mm Plossl. Would be a nice addition I think! 

28 minutes ago, Mak the Night said:

The only thing they can theorise is that elevated stress levels/blood pressure for a period of time, combined with my apparently very powerful heart, caused blood vessels to weaken and finally rupture in my brain. I had no idea my blood pressure was high though and felt fit and well until one night I had a nightmare that a large weight was pressing on my right side. When I awoke relieved that it was just a nightmare I discovered that the nightmare had only just begun.

I've had many happy hours observing with that TS diagonal. I'm pretty sure all of my filters thread into it as well.

 

[Mak the Night]

Yeah .... and it was the nightmare before Christmas too. I spent four months plus that Christmas in two hospitals.

This screenshot from the GSO site seems to verify the set screw. It's in a different position but I've seen these sort of variations before. It does look remarkably similar to my TS Optics which, like yours, has no decal or markings indicating manufacturer, which is also indicative of it being GSO because much of their stuff is intended to be rebadged.

My bad about the TV Plossls, I misread ... The TeleVue 8mm, 11mm, and 25mm Plössls were top-rated in a recent test report of 31 eyepieces in Sky & Telescope magazine.

Must be the brain damage lol.

The TeleVue 20mm Plossl is very good as you'd expect. The eye relief is a comfortable 14mm and it has a field stop of around 17mm.

Unfortunately, since I acquired a couple of 19mm Panoptics mine just doesn't seem to get as much use as it once did.

You can see the size difference compared to the Big 25. Many people would rather buy a WA EP than a Plossl these days, but these TV's are difficult to beat for what they cost. I have all of the 1.25" TV Plossls and I've never regretted buying any of them. I've regretted buying one or two Celestrons and I regret buying all of my William Optics eyepieces, but I've never been dissatisfied with anything TV. Even my 8mm and 11mm TV Plossls have gained a new lease of life in my 90mm grab'n'go kit. 

[Dave In Vermont]

Nice screenshots of Cartes du Ciel, MTN. I love that program! It's one of the top-4 I use daily. It's free, like Stellarium, and available for download at SourceForge - same as Stellarium:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/skychart/

Oh yeah - Cartes du Ciel (CdC) is 'Sky Charts' in French, which is where CdC comes from in the first place.

Glad you're alright, Ray. Maybe the doctor will prescribe a breathing-stimulant. I had to take those for awhile while living in Seattle. All that rain and fog utterly disagreed with me. The doctor said I had "The Puget-Sound Plague" and suggested I get out of there. I did. Once I crossed the Continental Divide in Montana, I could breathe again!

Have too much fun -

Dave

[Ray of LIght]

My breathing stimulant is called Prednesone. Without it I cant breath. I also take Albuteral Sulphate in nebulizer, Symbicort and Todurza 2x per day. That' s just for breathing. Lucky me. Is that Sky Chart available as an iPhone app? Is so, under what name? I have similar apps I use when observing, like Star Map, which I love and use. You mentioned WO eyepieces that weren't too good. I'm assuming the diagonal is a lot better build etc? Yeah, the TV 32 and 20mm eyepieces are on my "wishlist"! With about ten other items, but Rome wasn't built in a day ✨

[Mak the Night]

CDC is available for Windows, Linux (Debian and others), OS X and Raspberry Pi but AFAIK there are no Android versions. I don't know about iPhone. It does run on Ubuntu 14.04 but you have to install it with the Terminal as it's not in the repo/software centre, unlike Stellarium which is, not sure about the PPA though but I never had any PPA updating problems on Ubuntu with CDC. It isn't upgraded often but 3.10 is the most stable I've run. Having said that, I did run it on Vista for a few years and if it can run on that it can run on anything.

Cartes du Ciel

I bought a pair of 9mm WO SWAN's for the equivalent of about 170 USD. I was a tad underwhelmed, I was informed that they were a bit average, but I thought they would be OK in a pair of bino's. I should have realised they were not particularly good when David Knisely described the 9mm as 'the runt of the litter' lol. The 20mm pair that came with the bino's aren't too bad but after using a pair of 19mm Panoptics and 18mm Baader BCO's they got relegated. Plus, they have tapered draw tubes. The WO bino's have compression rings in the eyepiece holders!

You can see the 20mm SWAN's above the Baader 32mm's when I kept the Baader EP's in this case.

Originally I had a pair of 9mm and 20mm SWAN's, a pair of TV 15mm Plossls and two nosepiece Barlow units (1.6x & 2x).

Eventually, after being seduced by orthoscopics, I got rid of the SWAN's and put everything in this case, including an additional pair of 12.5mm & 25mm AH ortho's with 18mm & 32mm Baader BCO's. 

[Ray of LIght]

Great information, thanks! Getting new glasses today, I have a mild astigmatism and horrible vision in general so I hope to be able to observe with my new glasses on. That is why I am trying to replace my eyepieces with long eye relief units. I have a couple more to go and I should have a good collection. I guess anything from 14mm on up should do it? I know the Meade and Starguider are like 18mm and the longer FL Plossls are pretty good. 60 degree AFoV on up doesn't hurt either I guess. Do you know why it says Advanced Members under my name now? Anyway, will check in later after I get some things done. Haven't been out of the house since Saturday! Feeling a little better today I guess. Take care and talk later ✨

[Mak the Night]

Good luck with the glasses. Most Plossls over 20mm should have a decent eye relief. I still say the best thing for high magnifications on a short focal length telescope is to get a high quality Barlow. One of the first things I bought for my 900mm Explorer was a TeleVue 3x Barlow. They really are the best. As for wide angle eyepieces; you can have 60° and up EP's, good quality EP's and relatively inexpensive wide angle EP's. You just can't have all three at the same time lol. I'd build a high quality Plossl set up first. You can't really go wrong with a Plossl. A 3x TV Barlow will turn a 20mm TV Plossl into a 6.6mm EP whilst actually improving its eye relief. I think it says 'Advanced Members' because you've made over 100 posts. I don't think you get a T-shirt quite yet though. lol

[Ray of LIght]

Lol, what do you mean no T-shirt!? Isn't the TV 3x pretty big? For that matter I have a couple of Omni Plossls in the 4 to 15mm range I could use and not replace and I also have the Meade and Starguider you know about that I could use without a Barlow, or with. But they are pretty big so probably use them standalone. Not sure I can afford the TV 3x but I will check it out. I also want the WO diagonal but that is not overly expensive. Talk in a bit✨

[Ray of LIght]

Wait, I take some of that back. All I really need is like are 20 and 15mm TV Plossls and the TV 3x to be ok, right? Then I also have two pretty decent 60 degree long eye relief eyepieces. Does that make any sense?

[Mak the Night]

14 minutes ago, Ray1103 said:

Wait, I take some of that back. All I really need is like are 20 and 15mm TV Plossls and the TV 3x to be ok, right? Then I also have two pretty decent 60 degree long eye relief eyepieces. Does that make any sense?

That's what I'm trying to say. A TV 3x Barlow is half the price of a 19mm Panoptic, but it could even be more useful. It probably really is the best Barlow you can get and would even make lesser eyepieces seem good when used with it (in my experience). With a 15mm TV Plossl it would give you 120x and improve the Plossl's eye relief at the same time. You can't really get better quality from a TV Plossl/Barlow combination. Don't think of Barlows as add-on accessories but rather as EP's in their own right. With the TV Barlow you would have a range of magnifications all with TV quality. Besides, the TV 3x isn't that heavy and is 13cm tall. It should be OK on your scope/mount combination.

Mine doesn't get the use it once did, but for lunar/planetary it was almost permanently in my Explorer 130M. I think I got mine a few quid off in a Telescope House sale, but I never regretted buying it.

[Ray of LIght]

I'm on the road, stopped now of course! But wanted to say I agree. I checked Agena Astro and they have it for 100 US, not too bad. Plus I have the HPS 2.5 Barlow so good range I think between the two. Talk in a bit✨

[Mak the Night]

It's often been said that TV Barlows become invisible between the EP and the telescope. Basically they just do their job; but they do it superbly.

[Ray of LIght]

47 minutes ago, Mak the Night said:

It's often been said that TV Barlows become invisible between the EP and the telescope. Basically they just do their job; but they do it superbly.

If they are good enough for you and Terence Dickenson they are good enough for me! I watched a uTube video which made it look huge but I think that monster mount I got should handle it fine. Anyway, the TV Plossls are not heavy, they are just built really well. Even my 25mm will give me 72x, which would be great for DSO's, I believe. Getting excited about the idea. I think I will need something that will give me 150x though, with good eye relief. The TV 11mm with the 3x would give me 162+ but with my glasses the eye relief would not be there. Any ideas? I could be completely wrong.