Meade Infinity 102

[Dave In Vermont]

2 hours ago, Ray of LIght said:

Dave, you know anything about the UO 3x short Barlow? I know it's not a TV but is it any good that you know? I'm just afraid of this smokestack I will have sticking up out of my diagonal, lol. 

I know the feeling - smokestack is an apt visual. But I've no idea on the quality of the UO Barlow. The only 'shorty' Barlow I ever got was from Orion. And that I be-headed and just use as a lens-cell for about 1.5X screwed into another eyepiece, which works pretty well.

'Ta,

Dave

[Ray of LIght]

Well, back to the TV. I am not buying anything based on no input. I Iooked at the Orion so I will look at them again. I suppose that I can get a  shorter, lighter eyepiece for the TV and use the Luminos in the HPS 2.5x for 150x. Being on disability, I just can't afford to waste money on something I will have to replace for lack of quality. I have done too much of that already, as Mak alluded to earlier.

[Mak the Night]

I still say the TV and the Luminos will be fine Ray. Weather's been pants here, but there is a possibility of it being clear for a while Thursday night.

With any luck, and if the weather deities are with me, I might be able to view a twilight setting Jupiter at 22:30 with a rising Mars and Saturn

 

[Ray of LIght]

 You're right Mak. When I get the TV I'm sure I will use it with a few different eyepieces, not just the Luminos, which is coming tomorrow. Kind of excited about that one! I'm betting it is very nice. Also, since my 2.5x is already a "short" Barlow, I really don't need another. Good luck with the pants weather, I hope it unzipps, lol! Back in a bit.

[Mak the Night]

TeleVue products tend to be controversial on astro forums. I don't know why particularly. Their Barlows aren't that expensive for what they are if you ask me. I mean, if looked after, they'd last a bloody lifetime lol. That's gotta be good value! Let alone they are superb to use.

At least I got to view Mars at Opposition before the pants weather arrived.

If I'm lucky my new Celestron EP should arrive tomorrow as well. Just goes to show everything I buy isn't expensive and has green writing on it.

[Ray of LIght]

I forgot, which Celestron eyepiece did you get? And yep, I love my "big" 25! That coupled with the TV 3x might do really nice on some DSO's.

[Mak the Night]

The pants weather has changed for the better, I may just get first light on the Celestron X-Cel LX 9mm this evening if I'm lucky. This is the first EP I've bought specifically for the Bazooka in over a year. Almost everything I've bought since was for the Mak and/or potential use in the Big Cat. From what I can gather it stands a good chance that exactly the same optics are also employed in the Meade Series 5000 HD-60 9mm.

Although, I must say that I think the Meade looks nicer to me. The Celestron is nice in a weird futuristic sci fi way I suppose lol. On a daylight test it gave a bright, sharp image and the eye relief seemed to suit me well. I even don't dislike the twist-up eye guard. Baader filters thread into it easily and it deals well with compression rings as the undercut is not severe. The bolt case is a useful extra. It will give me 100x, 200x and 250x with the Barlows I have and around 170g in weight. Sometimes I want to push the 225x of the Luminos a little higher.

I think the Big 25 should Barlow well for 72x. That's quite a good magnification for objects like M42. Plus, you could additionally view the M42 nebula cloud and similar with a UHC filter at 24x with the Big 25 for a good 4.2mm exit pupil. Giving the Big 25 a lot of flexibility.

After doing some math's I believe my own Big 25 will give me a 3.6mm exit pupil on the Bazooka, so it may be of some use on that. Although the Bazooka tends to get used mainly for lunar/planetary.

[Ray of LIght]

Wow, was looking at the same eyepiece! My Meade 5000 is 12mm, so a 9mm would be useful except the Luminos is a 10mm but they are two different animals. May be slightly redundant, IDK. What do you think? If I use either a 2.5 or 3x I will get some decent magnifications. Is it very large?

[Mak the Night]

Well, it's almost half the weight of the Luminos. The main difference being the fact that it has a 22° smaller FOV. It has a nice eye lens size though in comparison and, to me, feels very comfortable to use. Most reviews I've read tend to be very good with little or no ghosting, light scatter and EOFB.

A 9mm would give you 166.6x and 200x with 2.5x and 3x Barlows (66.6x on its own). Which would actually be very decent magnifications for your scope. I aim for a similar spread of magnifications on my 102mm Mak. On the Bazooka it gives me the perfect high power spread of 100x, 200x and 250x. The X-Cel seems easily light and small enough to make up a bino pair. And at the price they are they would be a really nice alternative to others far more expensive. They would give me 261x on the Big Cat in a bino. The overall feel of the X-Cel when you look through it is not unlike a 60° TeleVue DeLite although without the orthoscopic contrast feel the DeLite is famous for. I've read where people have compared the X-Cel to the 60° TeleVue Radian series. The general consensus is that it isn't as good as a Radian, but very close to that kind of view considering the Celestron costs a quarter of the price. I've not used a Radian, so I can't be objective, but it's often a good sign when an eyepiece is compared a bit to a TeleVue. I think they're selling very well for Celestron and do seem to be popular. From what I've seen it certainly seems worth just under 60 quid. Some people have had difficulty removing the dust caps on some focal lengths, but I haven't had any problems. I believe the 9mm is considered one of the best out of the range. So, I don't think I've bought a turkey. lol

[Ray of LIght]

So the verdict is?? Get the 9mm X-Cel? I kind of wanted one. I kind of like the looks too. 

[Ray of LIght]

Got the Luminos. It is BIG!!

[Mak the Night]

1 hour ago, Ray of LIght said:

So the verdict is?? Get the 9mm X-Cel? I kind of wanted one. I kind of like the looks too. 

They seem good to me. Considering the price, they could be a bit of a bargain. Everyone seems to rate them quite highly. I'm kinda warming to the looks. It's looking like a potential bino pair candidate for sure.

[Mak the Night]

21 minutes ago, Ray of LIght said:

Got the Luminos. It is BIG!!

They are kind of impressive. I think they're beautifully made for the money. They look like they are far more expensive. Apart from some of the slight faults many believe they have, I find the Luminos very good planetary EP's. That large 17mm field stop and 82° FOV help keep an undriven mount keep the target in frame at 200x plus magnifications. I saw surface features on Mars with my Luminos. I don't think I'd have seen them any better with my Delos.

[Ray of LIght]

[Ray of LIght]

I agree. I said it was big. I didnt say it wasn't beautiful! Very happy I bought it. Might need another Meade 5000 or an X-Cel to be happy, lol, after the 3x Barlow that is. First Light on the Luminos should be mind bending, never mind all the other stuff!

[Mak the Night]

16 hours ago, Ray of LIght said:

I agree. I said it was big. I didnt say it wasn't beautiful! Very happy I bought it. Might need another Meade 5000 or an X-Cel to be happy, lol, after the 3x Barlow that is. First Light on the Luminos should be mind bending, never mind all the other stuff!

Yeah, the hand grenade looks great on your Meade Ray. I got first light on the X-Cel. I was a tad disappointed that my Baader fine focuser doesn't work with it, it works with the Luminos. After I got over that, the X-Cel gave excellent views of Jupiter, considering I was looking through a thin haze of cirrus most of the time.

I started at 200x and then went all the way to 250x. Jupiter looked superb, even through the haze. I saw a fair amount of detail in the NEB and SEB. Some in the southern polar region and some colour differential in the north. The real prize was watching Europa gradually make its way behind Jupiter and be occulted (approx 23:15).

Mars was even more spectacular at 250x and again, I could see detail, or at least make out the shapes of some of the features. Obviously not as detailed as shown below, but I got a vague sense of those kind of shapes in the slightly 'selectively Gaussian blurred' picture below.

Saturn looked good as well considering that by now the cloud was getting bad. I briefly made out the Cassini Division before it was time to end the session. I couldn't see any moons though.

The generous field stop of the X-Cel compensates a bit for the 60° FOV and I found I wasn't turning the slo mo more than usual. I had a Baader Neodymium threaded into the eyepiece most of the session. So, a pretty good night out for the X-Cel's first light!

[Ray of LIght]

I read a lot of reviews that the X-Cel's do not perform well in fast scopes. That would effectively eliminate them for my needs. Do you have any idea if these claims are valid? I was thinking about a 7 or 9mm for my kit but now I'm not sure. Back in a bit. 

[Mak the Night]

24 minutes ago, Ray of LIght said:

I read a lot of reviews that the X-Cel's do not perform well in fast scopes. That would effectively eliminate them for my needs. Do you have any idea if these claims are valid? I was thinking about a 7 or 9mm for my kit but now I'm not sure. Back in a bit. 

I suppose it depends what you mean by fast. Usually it is f/5 or lower. It's difficult to say, I wouldn't consider f/5.8 particularly fast. The Bazooka's f/6.9. I think it wouldn't particularly affect using the X-Cel for high planetary magnifications. I've heard very similar claims with the Luminos, but used as a high magnification for planetary targets it copes well in my f6.9 Bazooka. Most 130mm Newtonians seem to be f/5 and the X-Cel seems to be OK in them. Personally, I think it would work in your scope as a planetary EP.

[Ray of LIght]

Sounds good to me, thanks! They say mine is f5.9 so almost f6, lol! Not sure about the 7mm or 9mm. If you are happy with the X-Cel then I'm sure it is a quality eyepiece. Unless I get another 82 degree Luminos!

[Mak the Night]

I was quite surprised how good it was for under £60. Before you pull the trigger on another Luminos, consider just getting a 1.6x Barlow element and threading it into the eyepiece directly. It would save buying another Luminos.

 

[Ray of LIght]

Never heard of a 1.6 Barlow.

[Mak the Night]

16 minutes ago, Ray of LIght said:

Never heard of a 1.6 Barlow.

A regular 2x Barlow element gives 1.6x when the element is threaded directly into the eyepiece. You can buy Barlow elements, although I just unthread one from this Celestron Barlow/T-Adaptor:

When the element is threaded directly into the eyepiece like below:

It effectively turns the 10mm EP into a 6.25mm EP.

Saves buying another Luminos with a smaller f/l right?

[Ray of LIght]

Any ideas about what throw away 2x Barlow to get? Basically will just be using the lens I guess. If it is not good quality will be a waste.

[Mak the Night]

Just now, Ray of LIght said:

Any ideas about what throw away 2x Barlow to get? Basically will just be using the lens I guess. If it is not good quality will be a waste.

The Barlow element unthreads from most quality Barlows, I think using a 3x TeleVue Barlow element works as a 2.6x when threaded into anything. Having said that, TV threads aren't particularly universal.

The Barlow element I use is from a Celestron AstroMaster Kit. It is Synta made and quite good quality. It is also marketed as the Sky-Watcher DeLuxe in Europe and Canada. The T-adaptor can be very useful on its own as well.

The optical glass in the Celestron/Sky-Watcher is pretty decent for what it is. I believe GSO do an equivalent and TS Optics market it. In my experience the Synta made Celestron Barlow is better quality than other GSO made Celestron kit Barlows.

Celestron T-Adaptor ~ Amazon

 

[Ray of LIght]

I guess 43 US is better than 85 for a new Luminos! So make the 10mm Luminos do double duty. So threading the Celestron lens onto my Luminos will give me a 6.5mm.