Meade Infinity 102

[Ray of LIght]

Wow, check that out! Not a cheao piece of equipment either! I checked out the moon and taking out the 102 would have been a hazy waste of time. Like you I was also exhausted, but for a different reason. Tonight says partly cloudy with the slight chance of a shower. Sounds like pants to me! Like you said, the universe isn't going anywhere. I would rather concentrate on getting the rest of my kit set up and feel decent so I can observe longer when the weather is good. The Luminos looks like the ticket but I am still checking stuff out. Not sure how much more there is to check out, will let you know if I find anything interesting. Talk in a bit.

[Mak the Night]

I have seen the StarSense for between £250 and £350 ($370 ~ $500?) so it isn't particularly cheap. So, nice for a freebie lol! Sometimes the Moon looks misty but a bit of magnification can cut through sometimes. Although watching clouds race past the Moon at 200x plus makes me feel giddy. Yeah, there will be good nights Ray, it makes it all worthwhile.

[Ray of LIght]

That thought is what is getting me through some of this, I appreciate the encouragement. I'm very happy they gave you that nice little bonus, you deserve it! I was looking at the UO 11mm 82 degree eyepiece again. I know Dave likes them, but 59.95 (plus 8.95 shipping) sounds a little too good for the price. Also, 9mm eye relief. Very light though. Thoughts?

[Ray of LIght]

I re-read Dave's report on the UO 11mm WA eyepiece I mention above. It would give me 163.6x with the TV 3x. He seems to say they are worth twice the price, but I'm not sure how it would work in a 600mm 102. 

[Mak the Night]

57 minutes ago, Ray1103 said:

That thought is what is getting me through some of this, I appreciate the encouragement. I'm very happy they gave you that nice little bonus, you deserve it! I was looking at the UO 11mm 82 degree eyepiece again. I know Dave likes them, but 59.95 (plus 8.95 shipping) sounds a little too good for the price. Also, 9mm eye relief. Very light though. Thoughts?

Pants weather can be depressing, but it makes the good nights all the more memorable. I don't know about the mark up price on the UO 11mm 82° EP Ray. Dave's got a point about this, William Optics are almost certainly getting those EP's from the same OEM as UO are. And they are probably making a huge profit margin playing on the WO name. It is a well known name  and WO do distribute quality products.

I can get a 40mm GSO Plossl from Telescope House for around £28 I believe. It will have a 'Revelation' silk screened decal on the side. I can pay £50 for the same Plossl with Orion 'Sirius Plossl' written on it. I'm pretty sure the Celestron Omni 40mm Plossl is the same thing for a price inbetween the other two. If I decide on a 40mm Plossl to make a bino pair with my Celestron GSO 40mm Plossl, the Revelation is the main contender at the moment.

Hurrah .... it fits the snatch plate! lol

[Mak the Night]

18 minutes ago, Ray1103 said:

I re-read Dave's report on the UO 11mm WA eyepiece I mention above. It would give me 163.6x with the TV 3x. He seems to say they are worth twice the price, but I'm not sure how it would work in a 600mm 102. 

This one?

EDIT: I think I've found the OEM. The UO look a lot like these Barsta EP's. Barsta make some quality stuff, I have one of their shorty Barlows. It is very good quality, it says Omegon on it, but Barsta made it. The mark up on the same Barlow varies hugely, by 20 quid at least.

[Ray of LIght]

Yep that's the one. And they do look exactly the same! May be worth the chance all things considered. The price of the Luminos was not my concern. As you know, it was the size and weight. Do you think the UO eyepiece is worth a shot knowing the scope I have and what I'm looking for?

[Mak the Night]

I doubt it compares well with the Luminos for field stop size, which is as important as FOV IMO. Plus, the eye relief on the 11mm isn't as good. I still say the Luminos weight even with a Barlow shouldn't be a problem for you.

[Ray of LIght]

Hmmmmm... If I get the UO eyepiece and I am disappointed both ypu and I will take turns kicking me in the butt! You seem pretty sure that the Luminos is better for me and who am I to disagree! I guess if it is really too big on the TV Barlow it can be used on my HPS 2.5, which is much shorter, or by itself. It would still give me 60x and 150x. Possibly a win/win with the TV 3x.

[Mak the Night]

38 minutes ago, Ray1103 said:

Hmmmmm... If I get the UO eyepiece and I am disappointed both ypu and I will take turns kicking me in the butt! You seem pretty sure that the Luminos is better for me and who am I to disagree! I guess if it is really too big on the TV Barlow it can be used on my HPS 2.5, which is much shorter, or by itself. It would still give me 60x and 150x. Possibly a win/win with the TV 3x.

I guess you'll have to buy both now.

[Ray of LIght]

Believe me, the thought crossed my mind, lol! I think the Liminos and TV 3x come first though.

[Mak the Night]

I think you'll find the Luminos easier to use as eye relief won't be so problematical. Plus, the 10mm Luminos has a 17mm field stop, which is quite impressive for a 10mm EP.

I've acquired this Baader helical focuser to see if it will help with the Bazooka's rickety focuser. I'm not sure if it will give me enough back focus plugged into the T-Adaptor.

If it doesn't work with the Bazooka it will work in adding a helical focuser to this Omegon diagonal. It looks ungainly but the T-adaptor is useful as it accepts all of my filters.

[Ray of LIght]

Omg, that is crazy looking Mak! I thought a T adapter was for astrophotography? I have a lot to learn I guess. Before I pull the trigger I wanted to tell you that I was going to order the Luminos first, like now. I figure the TV Barlow will be a Father's Day gift. The Luminos is my gift to myself, lol! So should have that in a few days. Monday is a US holiday. Talk in a bit.

 

[Mak the Night]

I think you'll like the Luminos. I was probably a little hard on it trying to compare it with something that costs a fair bit more. When you take it out of the box it feels and looks like something much more expensive. I think the initial criticism came from Dob Mob/fast Newtonian users who used them as low/medium power eyepieces in the style of a large Nagler or something. Open clusters and asterisms and the like didn't probably cut the mustard. I noticed glaring and a tendency to white out on a first daylight testing in a 76mm reflector. At first I thought it was me and when I used it as a high power planetary EP, inevitably with a Barlow in the Bazooka, it seemed fine. I was just as impressed with it on my 102mm Mak. After comparing it with a Panoptic and a T5 Nagler on a bright Moon one night I thought it didn't handle the conditions particularly well. I kept it in my EP case for a long time until it got replaced with a 10mm Delos though. It still gets used.

[Ray of LIght]

Quote

D

Well it's on it's way now! Lot's of rave reviews, and more importantly, you like it. I will use it a lot. I know you have much better gear but I'm not done yet so the Luminos will be a nice addition for me, especially after I get my TV 3x. I like having an eclectic selection of eyepieces. One day I will have Delos and Naglers etc but I am starting out ok I think. As far as feeling expensive, if I am not mistaken these were originally called the Axiom series, for a whole lot more. Price is sometimes relative I guess. I figured I would get this one before there was a feeding frenzy on them, lol! What's your take?

[Mak the Night]

49 minutes ago, Ray1103 said:

Well it's on it's way now! Lot's of rave reviews, and more importantly, you like it. I will use it a lot. I know you have much better gear but I'm not done yet so the Luminos will be a nice addition for me, especially after I get my TV 3x. I like having an eclectic selection of eyepieces. One day I will have Delos and Naglers etc but I am starting out ok I think. As far as feeling expensive, if I am not mistaken these were originally called the Axiom series, for a whole lot more. Price is sometimes relative I guess. I figured I would get this one before there was a feeding frenzy on them, lol! What's your take?

AFAIK Celestron are discontinuing the Luminos soon. From what I can gather Celestron (Synta Technology Corporation of Taiwan) had some problem with the OEM that manufactured the Axiom series and switched production to mainland China, possibly Suzhou Synta Optical Technology Co., Ltd in Jiangsu. I only know rumours and Internet speculations though. The Chinese made Axiom clones were renamed Luminos. I'm guessing the price decrease was because the Axioms were possibly originally manufactured in Taiwan. I think they compare to the Baader Hyperion series in some ways. For a long time I considered a Hyperion, but went with the Luminos. IIRC the 82° FOV swung it for me. Plus the Luminos is so shiny lol.

Anyway, it's not just a matter of having better gear, it's what you can see with the gear you've got that really counts. The Bazooka's just an aluminium tube with a couple of mirrors in it, but now I've discovered that I can manipulate it more with the use coming back into my right arm, I can see a lot with it and have great fun with a comparatively inexpensive set up. It's not the Big Cat admittedly, and that will hugely improve the amount of targets I can acquire and see, but sometimes I'm just as content with my little 90mm Mak.

I have some serious mobility issues, so any chance I can get outside to see anything is a plus for me. I probably get a bit anorak about astro gear though lol.

[Dave In Vermont]

Nice catch there, MTN, on finding the culprit behind the 80° 11mm & 16mm EP's from UO. I have the 16mm, but I do have a hole in my food for my Maksutov in the 10mm range. The only 10mm I have is a Speer-Waler 10mm - the first model which was 80° too. Optically - it's an excellent EP. Often compared to TeleVue® Nagler's. Some say it was even better. But it's an unwieldy piece-o-glass! Not exactly a 'grab & go.' More like 'drag & haul!'

Dave

[Mak the Night]

I don't think they make any small Speers-Waler EP's lol. Barsta make a lot of fine eyepieces, and they are distributed under several brand names. Speaking of 10mm EP's I have a Delos and Baader Eudiascopic as well as the Luminos. I believe the Baader is a Masuyama clone.

[Ray of LIght]

So Dave, what do you think about the Lumimos I just bought? 

[Ray of LIght]

Unwieldy too, I'm sure ?!

[Ray of LIght]

The skies are pants here Mak. Luckily, by the time the weather improves I should be finished with this anti- viral, I hope. How is it there?

[Mak the Night]

A bit pants, but I got a little bit of lunar viewing in with the MightyMak, Theophilus, Cyrilus and Catharina looked good on the Terminator, as I expected.

Theophilus seemed dark, although the conditions weren't brilliant, I could just about make out the central mountain. Cyrillus and Catharina were much easier to see.

Mars was still a red blob but Saturn was quite good, although with the pants transparency, 66.6x was the best I could get. I got 100x on the Moon though.

[Ray of LIght]

Looks like SGL was down for awhile. Seems you got some nice viewing in. Looks like rain at night for the next few nights so I will take my medicine and keep checking. The moon hasn't been rising above the trees until about 3am lately but if it clears a little I can get a good look at Jupiter again much earlier. I think June will be much better all around (i hope!). I'm looking forward to the Luminos arriving. Pretty sure they won't be as fast as Agena with delivery but that's ok, maybe they are. Do you think the WO helical diagonal I have now is sturdy enough for an eyepiece the size of the Liminos? It does seem very well made. Back in a bit.

[Mak the Night]

This forum's been glitchy ever since the revamp. I doubt there will be a problem with the WO diagonal. I'd be wary of the diagonal nosepiece rotating in the adaptor when the Luminos is on top of the TVx3 though.

I may set the Bazooka up in daylight (the mount is at the bottom of the garden already polar aligned) to try to catch Jupiter at around 22:15 BST, azimuth 47.4°SW at an altitude of 36° (Leo) to see if I can catch the GRS.

I’ll use the Luminos/GSO combination again to reach 225x although I’ll probably take the 12.5 AH ortho as well. I won’t stay out too long as I’m in enough pain already lol. I plan to test the Baader helical as well, if it works it could be good with Jupiter.

 

[Ray of LIght]

Don't over do it then Mak. You are a tough guy for sure. That's a great picture of the "hand grenade" and the TV 3x, lol! I think one of the reasons I bought the Baader converter was because it looked strong and had those two huge set screws. Hopefully I wont encounter the issue you mention, but I will watch for it. Good luck with the Baader helical, I'm sure it will work well as I hope mine will. Back in a bit.