Meade Infinity 102

[Mak the Night]

4 minutes ago, Ray of LIght said:

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. 

The element should thread on most eyepieces (perhaps not TeleVue). It's only an achromatic element, as opposed to an apochromatic, but I used it a lot on my 102mm Mak with the Luminos to get 208x, which gives the theoretical lowest usable exit pupil and so the highest practical magnification for that scope. It works and seemed fine to me.

If you divide the eyepiece focal length by 1.6 it will calculate what the eyepiece becomes with an element directly threaded into it.

8/1.6 = 5mm

10/1.6 = 6.25mm

15/1.6 = 9.3mm

20/1.6 = 12.5mm

And so on. I wouldn't recommend trying to thread anything into TeleVue eyepiece threads other than other TeleVue equipment because of compatibility issues.

[Ray of LIght]

I know it sounds weird but I think I would rather get an X-Cel or Luminos eyepiece than fiddle around with lenses. Shows my nonothingness but I like eyepieces! For 20 more bucks can have the whole enchalada, lol!

[Ray of LIght]

Maybe the Luminos for the great FOV. Will think about it, would love to try the X-Cel though. 

[Mak the Night]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Messing about with eyepieces and equipment in the dark and the cold definitely isn't fun lol. The way I've worked out stuff with the Big Cat I should only occasionally need a Barlow as I'll just be able to put eyepieces directly into the diagonal. A lot of things can go wrong in the dark when you're trying to thread something onto something else, especially if your right arm and hand are partially paralysed!

The 7mm Luminos may be too powerful with the Barlow combinations you've got. The 9mm X-Cel sounds like a better bet. The 7mm Luminos will give you approx on its own and with the 2.5x and 3x Barlows: 86x, 214x and 257x. The 9mm X-Cel will give: 66.6x, 166.6x and 200x. I wouldn't push a 102mm scope much above 215x.

[Ray of LIght]

Yes, was thinking about the 9mm X-Cel. Amazon has a good price on them and I think my scope will be fine with it, like you said. Amazon has an open box kind of deal on one, I can get the 9mm for 60 US. Amazon is usually pretty good with those things. What do you think Mak?

[Mak the Night]

Well, I definitely recommend the 9mm X-Cel, although I've only used it once. I've read the 9mm is supposedly the best of the line. It worked very well for me and easily coped with 250x. The field stop is large, I don't know how big exactly, but it seems larger than its actual 60° FOV because of it (to me anyway). The images I had of Jupiter, Mars and Saturn were bright and crisp and my Baader Neodymium filter had no problems threading into it. I could not detect any ghosting, glaring, flaring, whiteout or EOFB. The 16mm eye relief felt good to me although the Barlow may have increased it slightly and I experienced no blackouts. It feels well made and isn't fatiguing to use over a period of hours. Although I was a bit ambivalent about the way it looked at first, it is ergonomically easy to handle in the dark and cold. The twist-up eyecup works, and unlike the Luminos one, I don't mind it. I never warmed to the Luminos eyepiece equator twist-up grip. The X-Cel reminds me a bit of the TeleVue DeLite in a way as it has the same 60° FOV. The included bolt case is a nice touch as well. I actually paid slightly more for this WO 9mm (I bought two in fact as a bino pair) than I did for the X-Cel. The SWAN was a huge disappointment. The X-Cel was a huge success.

Well, I was clouded out tonight, my Celestron SkyPortal ap kindly informed me I was missing the Saturn Opposition. Hopefully at around 23:45 tonight I'll get a butcher's hook. Time to get first light on the Luminos Ray! lol

[Ray of LIght]

Indeed! Great write up on the X-Cel Mak. Looks like I will sneakily order the Amazon warehouse deal to save a little money but pretty sure it will be ok. I'm a Prime member so the two day free shipping is nice. Now I just have to work up the nerve to drop the hammer, lol! Gonna be first light on a bunch of stuff! Will be a big report. 

[Ray of LIght]

Ok, well I'll let you know how I like it! I'm sure I will. Now I have some nice LER, pretty wide FOV eyepieces. Just missing the TV 3x, that is next!

[Ray of LIght]

Looks like the IRS is coming through in the next week or thereabouts, so the TV 3x will be coming my way too, lol! The only other eyepiece I would want is a 18 or 20mm to replace my Meade 4000 that I don't like. That FL would give me good magnifications, along with my TV 25mm and Omni 32mm, for DSO's. I have go check but I think the Meade 5000 and the X-Cel come in focal lengths close or at what I am looking for. Or I can get the TV 20mm Plossl, but not sure about the eye relief and I may want a greater FOV. Any suggestions Mak?

[Mak the Night]

9 hours ago, Ray of LIght said:

Indeed! Great write up on the X-Cel Mak. Looks like I will sneakily order the Amazon warehouse deal to save a little money but pretty sure it will be ok. I'm a Prime member so the two day free shipping is nice. Now I just have to work up the nerve to drop the hammer, lol! Gonna be first light on a bunch of stuff! Will be a big report. 

Thanks. I'm pretty sure the X-Cel 9mm will work well in your scope.

[Mak the Night]

20 minutes ago, Ray of LIght said:

Looks like the IRS is coming through in the next week or thereabouts, so the TV 3x will be coming my way too, lol! The only other eyepiece I would want is a 18 or 20mm to replace my Meade 4000 that I don't like. That FL would give me good magnifications, along with my TV 25mm and Omni 32mm, for DSO's. I have go check but I think the Meade 5000 and the X-Cel come in focal lengths close or at what I am looking for. Or I can get the TV 20mm Plossl, but not sure about the eye relief and I may want a greater FOV. Any suggestions Mak?

There is an 18mm X-Cel. The 20mm TV Plossl is nice though, it has a 17mm field stop and a 14mm eye relief. Mine doesn't really get the use it once did. IIRC I got first light with it on a setting Jupiter one late summer. 

TV 20mm Plossl

[Ray of LIght]

Thanks again Mak! I will consider those options. My X-Cel is being delivered Monday so I will see how I like it before making any decision. Back in a bit.

[Mak the Night]

What's the weather like your side of the pond? It's looking decidedly pants-like cloudy here, but my BBC Weather app seems to think it could be clear by 22:00. I'm not sure whether they still get their info from the Met Office or not. I'm guessing someone just looks out the window and types in what they see lol. I've finally chosen a garden trolley for transporting the Big Cat, bloody thing's the size of a lorry!

[Ray of LIght]

Lol ?! Supposed to be clear hear Monday night so will try to rest and take my pain medicine before I go out. I think Tuesday night too. But of course everything is subject to change without notice, lol! The garden trolley is like a wheeled cart? You have a picture? Sounds interesting.

[Mak the Night]

5 minutes ago, Ray of LIght said:

Lol ?! Supposed to be clear hear Monday night so will try to rest and take my pain medicine before I go out. I think Tuesday night too. But of course everything is subject to change without notice, lol! The garden trolley is like a wheeled cart? You have a picture? Sounds interesting.

I'm not buying the clear by 22:00 thing, still, it might happen.

I'm pretty sure this will transport the Big Cat and then some. It's 1.4 metres long and 64cm wide. It can hold a total of 350kg! The Big Cat OTA is only 8.4kg. I reckon this lorry of a trolley will hold a lot of eyepieces ROTFL.

[Ray of LIght]

Thats nice Mak, I like it! Looks like it will work great.

[Mak the Night]

20 minutes ago, Ray of LIght said:

Thats nice Mak, I like it! Looks like it will work great.

I just hope I don't need a HGV licence to operate it lol. I can see clearer sky in the north west. I think Saturn reached Opposition on May the 23rd last year. Which was about the time it was at its best IIRC and after it started to become less easy to see well.

It will be interesting to see what the weather is like around 22:00. Pants probably knowing my luck. lol

[Ray of LIght]

Pants is the story of my life lately ?. I think we will have a good summer though. Can't wait to check out my new X-Cel. Haven't decided on my 20mm, reading reviews. No rush I guess. I will order the TV 3x in a week or so. The Meade 5000 also comes in an 18mm version which would also give me a 60 degree FOV. The TV 20mm sounds very nice also. Will see how it goes.

[Mak the Night]

Well, the pants weather changed for the better, but at around 23:30. So I got to see a setting Jupiter, Mars reach Transit and a rising Saturn almost near Transit. It's only a day after Saturn's Opposition I think. Not only could I see the Cassini Division I'm pretty sure I could see the moon Titan.

Saw detail (well, blobby shapes) on Mars again. Mars was surprisingly good and the surface features I could make out did roughly correlate to this CDC screenshot.

 

[Dave In Vermont]

Ah! Thanks for posting some screengrabs from Stellarium etal. It served to remind me I got a heads' up from Alex Wolf on their adding Ojibwe (Native-American) to their languages and 'sky-culture.' As well as Lakota and Macedonian. Wow! The history of the Ojibwe is amazing!

Speaking of Native linguistics, Reggie(Orion25) has posted a fantastic video-musical of Saturn's opposition of a few years back - this was in A-C. I'm hoping he posts it here in SGL, too. It's worth the keystrokes to check it out regardless. He really hit the perfect synthesis on this piece.

Off to check out some eyepieces & prices over here. See if I can talk myself out of 'pulling-the-trigger' - or into.....

Have too much fun,

Dave

<EDIT> Ah ha! He has posted it here already! And I see you've seen it, MTN! Good going!

 

[Ray of LIght]

What eyepieces are you checking out Dave? Sounds like a good session Mak! Keep your fingers crossed that my weather and pain level will let me get out Monday or Tuesday night, or both!

[Mak the Night]

8 hours ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Ah! Thanks for posting some screengrabs from Stellarium etal. It served to remind me I got a heads' up from Alex Wolf on their adding Ojibwe (Native-American) to their languages and 'sky-culture.' As well as Lakota and Macedonian. Wow! The history of the Ojibwe is amazing!

Speaking of Native linguistics, Reggie(Orion25) has posted a fantastic video-musical of Saturn's opposition of a few years back - this was in A-C. I'm hoping he posts it here in SGL, too. It's worth the keystrokes to check it out regardless. He really hit the perfect synthesis on this piece.

Off to check out some eyepieces & prices over here. See if I can talk myself out of 'pulling-the-trigger' - or into.....

Have too much fun,

Dave

<EDIT> Ah ha! He has posted it here already! And I see you've seen it, MTN! Good going!

 

Yeah, I enjoyed Reggie's video. Ojibwe folklore sounds really interesting, it'll be a nice addition to Stellarium. Oh yeah, you can never have enough eyepieces Dave ...

[Mak the Night]

1 hour ago, Ray of LIght said:

What eyepieces are you checking out Dave? Sounds like a good session Mak! Keep your fingers crossed that my weather and pain level will let me get out Monday or Tuesday night, or both!

I've a feeling I'll be in pain later on after last night/this morning's session lol. I do hope you get out and test that Luminos Monday and/or Tuesday. Last night the Luminos was the first EP into the Bazooka. I had the Baader helical threaded directly onto the focuser's T-ring. Yet I couldn't achieve focus, even though I did when I used it with the T-adaptor last week. Weird. I hadn't taken the T-adaptor out with me. I'd only taken three EP's out anyway, oddly all Celestron. The Luminos, X-Cel and a 15mm relatively wide angle Kellner I sometimes use as a finder. The Kellner's a smoothie so it inserts/extracts easily from anything. It also has an 18mm eye lens and a large field stop. I've seen them marketed as bino pairs on US sites, but I've not seen them marketed like that over here.

I got it out of the Celestron AstroMaster Kit which also included the T-Adaptor/Barlow combination. The actual AstroMaster case and the filter containers that were included are possibly among some of the most useful astro pieces of kit I possess lol.

When I finally removed the helical focuser and got the Luminos to focus on Jupiter I could see a giant hair in space next to Jupiter. I couldn't see anything on the eye lens and wondered how I could see anything on the primary or secondary. The mystery was solved when I got back and discovered an eyelash on the field lens! lol

I stepped up the magnification by using the X-Cel and used that mostly though. I am still impressed with it. Thought you might like this chart I half-inched from some site on the Interweb.

[Ray of LIght]

Nice chart, thanks! Yeah, looking forward to testing the Luminos, the X-Cel and the Meade mostly. If I can I will see how the 8mm Starguider works. I will take out the 32mm Omni as a finder and the TV 25 if any DSO's are visible but, at least I have the Fringe Killer and Neodymium stacked on the WO helical focuser, which, lol, also needs first light! Boy, will be busy Mak! Oh, of course I will need to have my 2.5 Barlow too. So that will be my kit for now when I get out, whenever that is ?. How does that seem? Was looking at the Baader UHC-S filter, best price was 89 US pretty much everywhere (Agena, Amazon etc). I would like to discuss that one with you another time, before I order it. Back in a bit.

[Mak the Night]

Well I hope you get some un-pants weather and get to see Saturn and Mars soon at least. The Baader UHC-S should work well on a 4" refractor. You will need at least 3mm of exit pupil though for it to be effective, easily achievable on your scope I should imagine. Explore Scientific do a UHC slightly cheaper than the Baader UHC-S and it has a very similar (practically identical) filter curve. Both are more 'broadband' UHC filters than the Lumicon type narrow band filters. The broadband UHC filters are often derided but they work well in scopes with apertures less than 150mm.