Meade Infinity 102

[Mak the Night]

9 hours ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Today was looking good, weather-wise, for getting in some viewing. The temperature was rising. And it was starting to get dark - YAY! And then I looked up and saw a wide belt of black clouds heading straight for my location. This wasn't in my local forecast! It arrived.....

The rain has been pouring for a few hours now. And the pathological-liar, er - ummmm - 'Weather-Man' on the news is telling us on TV-News that the forecast for tomorrow is looking great!

Back to working on my ark..... Oh wait a moment!

You have that Barlowed-Beast you call your 'Bazooka' MTN? Meet my Little-Friend! It my 'Howitzer!' That's the GSO ED 2" Barlow, and my 80° 30mm 2" ST80 (it calls itself) 1rpd. EP. Many thought these were as good as a TV Nagler. Came out around 2003 - and then vanished. No one seems to know who was behind these.

'Til later -

Dave

 

 

Nice howitzer Dave, it seems a nice fit for the ST 80. Although technically the 'Bazooka' is a reference to my Sky-Watcher Explorer 130M reflector. It sat in a cupboard for over a year as I found it hard work with my disability. For viewing planets and anything relatively low in the plane of the ecliptic though it's easier for me to use now after some physiotherapy progress.  I like it as it is simple to set up and doesn't dew up.

[Mak the Night]

41 minutes ago, Ray of LIght said:

I guess it was that kind of day! If I'm not mistaken Mak got a couple of filters too. If the pain and swelling in my arm goes down a little, the entire weekend looks clear down here. Will see. Good luck with the 11mm UO. With my scope, if I use either my 2.5x HPS or my new TV 3x with the X-Cel 9mm I will get 166x or 200x respectively. Of course I have many combinations at this point, but unless I am looking at DSO's, a Barlow will be needed to get me to higher magnifications. I can remove the Barlow for DSO's. All in all I am happy with the upgrades and additions I have made to my 102. Your weather still pants Mak? Talk to you guys later. 

Yes, the weather is very pants at the moment. I may have found a retailer who sells Lumicon Wratten filters for only about four quid more than the TS Optics filters. Lumicon coloured filters are made of Schott and Hoya optical glass and it might be worth looking at them. Lumicon filter threads aren't very compatible in my experience though.

EDIT: Spoke too soon, looks like I'll have to make do with the GSO/TSO filters lol.

[Ray of LIght]

40 minutes ago, Mak the Night said:

Yes, the weather is very pants at the moment. I may have found a retailer who sells Lumicon Wratten filters for only about four quid more than the TS Optics filters. Lumicon coloured filters are made of Schott and Hoya optical glass and it might be worth looking at them. Lumicon filter threads aren't very compatible in my experience though.

EDIT: Spoke too soon, looks like I'll have to make do with the GSO/TSO filters lol.

What happened to the Lumicon filters Mak? I did pull the trigger on the Baader UHC-S, Agena Astro.  I gotta give it a rest, right Dave?!

[Mak the Night]

19 minutes ago, Ray of LIght said:

What happened to the Lumicon filters Mak? I did pull the trigger on the Baader UHC-S, Agena Astro.  I gotta give it a rest, right Dave?!

I think you made the right choice with the Baader for your scope aperture. I've always found Baader filters to be well made and useful. I have a Celestron (GSO) 0.9 ND filter, it's pretty good, but the Baader equivalent has much better coatings IMO and the build quality is better. The retailer with the Lumicons was UK based and hadn't updated their site, so they actually had none left when I enquired, plus they are having difficulty acquiring anything by Lumicon at the moment. I saw an interesting Sky at Night program (BBC iPlayer) about M51 last night. It's near the zenith at the moment, if the weather would un-pants itself I'd be tempted to try for it with the Bazooka and UHC-S just to see how much magnification I could get.

[Ray of LIght]

Do you think the UHC-S will allow me to try for higher magnifications on DSO's? I don't mean crazy magnifications but useful magnifications? Nice Messier object, would love to try for M51 with my new filter! I certainly have the right eyepieces IMO. I am assuming that the UHC-S will help slightly with my light pollution issues?

[Mak the Night]

1 hour ago, Ray of LIght said:

Do you think the UHC-S will allow me to try for higher magnifications on DSO's? I don't mean crazy magnifications but useful magnifications? Nice Messier object, would love to try for M51 with my new filter! I certainly have the right eyepieces IMO. I am assuming that the UHC-S will help slightly with my light pollution issues?

It all depends what you're looking at. A lot depends on conditions. I got 130x once on M42, although that is visible to the naked eye, and I count that as a good seeing night. IIRC I wasn't using a filter, possibly the neodymium if I did, and I was using a 102mm Mak with a 10mm Delos. Usually, 40x - 70x is the best I can get on M42. I don't know the efficacy of the UHC-S with localised LP. It may help with any intrusive sodium street lighting.

You'll need at least a 3mm exit pupil with the UHC-S, if conditions allow you may be able to push to around 2.5mm. Especially with a refractor, IMO a 4" refractor should match a 4.5" reflector or bigger for light gathering ability.

[Dave In Vermont]

Actually the 'ST80' I was refering to is the 2" 30mm eyepiece I have in the 2" GSO 2X Barlow. This weird (but excellent!) EP says 'ST80' on it. The telescope I have these two in is my 150mm Maksutov.

I know it's confusing - everything about that oddball eyepiece is. And they only cost about $40 each back in 2003. As good as a Nagler and $40! Still noone knows where these things came from - other than saying 'CHINA' on them - but not Synta, or GSO, or anyone would step up and confirm they made them.

And they vanished.

Dave

 

[Mak the Night]

9 minutes ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Actually the 'ST80' I was refering to is the 2" 30mm eyepiece I have in the 2" GSO 2X Barlow. This weird (but excellent!) EP says 'ST80' on it. The telescope I have these two in is my 150mm Maksutov.

I know it's confusing - everything about that oddball eyepiece is. And they only cost about $40 each back in 2003. As good as a Nagler and $40! Still noone knows where these things came from - other than saying 'CHINA' on them - but not Synta, or GSO, or anyone would step up and confirm they made them.

And they vanished.

Dave

 

It's an interesting EP Dave. I've only seen pictures of them, the 1RPD ST80 always got superb reviews. I don't think anyone knows who actually made them.

[Ray of LIght]

Hey Mak, weather still pants? Icing my arm a lot, hoping to get out this weekend. Saturday and Father's Day supposed to be good, praying quite a bit! Hope all is well. Hope to have Baader filter by Saturday. Back in a bit.

[Mak the Night]

2 hours ago, Ray of LIght said:

Hey Mak, weather still pants? Icing my arm a lot, hoping to get out this weekend. Saturday and Father's Day supposed to be good, praying quite a bit! Hope all is well. Hope to have Baader filter by Saturday. Back in a bit.

The weather's not just pants, it's positively really unfashionable itchy nylon Y-fronts that have been starched too much and don't fit! There's just been a thunderstorm, or as my neighbour says, the fairies are moving the furniture again. I'd like a word or two in the fairies' collective shell-likes as I'm sure they can find something else better to do. I'm not too sure how to communicate with them though, maybe it's like writing a letter to Father Christmas and putting it into the fire like when I was little. I'm not too sure how that translates into email and central heating lol! I hope one of us gets to look through a telescope at something astronomical soon.

Above are two pairs of 80A and 25 Wratten filters. The two on the left are from the Celestron AstroMaster Kit and the two on the right are from the Eyeopener Kit. I'm fairly certain they're all GSO but the AstroMaster pair have different writing on them and don't display a country of origin. The Celestron Eyeopener filters actually have what colour they are written on them, whereas the AstroMaster just have the Wratten number itself. The AstroMaster pair also seem very slightly different in that the retaining ring holding the filter glass in the filter casing is a tiny bit smaller (allowing better light transmission). Apart from that I can't see any difference in quality. It will be interesting to compare these with the TSO/GSO filters when they arrive (probably Saturday).

I can understand the Blue 80A being included in any kit as it is almost certainly the most useful Wratten colour. Even with only 30% transmission it can almost certainly be used on scopes as small as 100mm or even slightly smaller. The No. 25 Red only has a 14% transmission though, effectively precluding any real use below a 150mm aperture. You can see how aggressive it is in the above picture compared to the 80A. I'd have thought a No 12 Yellow at least would have accompanied the 80A in the AstroMaster Kit.

These were the filters included in the Eyeopener Kit. If I had to buy all of these as TS Optics versions it would cost  £118.65p!

[Ray of LIght]

3 hours ago, Mak the Night said:

The weather's not just pants, it's positively really unfashionable itchy nylon Y-fronts that have been starched too much and don't fit! There's just been a thunderstorm, or as my neighbour says, the fairies are moving the furniture again. I'd like a word or two in the fairies' collective shell-likes as I'm sure they can find something else better to do. I'm not too sure how to communicate with them though, maybe it's like writing a letter to Father Christmas and putting it into the fire like when I was little. I'm not too sure how that translates into email and central heating lol! I hope one of us gets to look through a telescope at something astronomical soon.

Above are two pairs of 80A and 25 Wratten filters. The two on the left are from the Celestron AstroMaster Kit and the two on the right are from the Eyeopener Kit. I'm fairly certain they're all GSO but the AstroMaster pair have different writing on them and don't display a country of origin. The Celestron Eyeopener filters actually have what colour they are written on them, whereas the AstroMaster just have the Wratten number itself. The AstroMaster pair also seem very slightly different in that the retaining ring holding the filter glass in the filter casing is a tiny bit smaller (allowing better light transmission). Apart from that I can't see any difference in quality. It will be interesting to compare these with the TSO/GSO filters when they arrive (probably Saturday).

I can understand the Blue 80A being included in any kit as it is almost certainly the most useful Wratten colour. Even with only 30% transmission it can almost certainly be used on scopes as small as 100mm or even slightly smaller. The No. 25 Red only has a 14% transmission though, effectively precluding any real use below a 150mm aperture. You can see how aggressive it is in the above picture compared to the 80A. I'd have thought a No 12 Yellow at least would have accompanied the 80A in the AstroMaster Kit.

These were the filters included in the Eyeopener Kit. If I had to buy all of these as TS Optics versions it would cost  £118.65p!

Lol ??! That is so funny! Fairies moving furniture ?! Yep, that sums it up. Anyway, I hope I have all the Wratten filters I need except maybe the no 12 deep yellow.   I took a better look at my original four filters and they do seem well made. I am sure the GSO yellow-green filter I just ordered and the no 12 yellow I will ordrer will be all I need as far as colored filters are concerned. Talk to you soon I hope.

[Ray of LIght]

Sorry, I meant no 8 light yellow. 

[Mak the Night]

The No. 12 Deep Yellow is supposed to be good on Venus to reveal low contrast surface features, although basically you're looking at cloud with Venus. No. 12 is a bit aggressive for anything under 150mm I think. Which is why the No. 8 Light Yellow might be better for the Bazooka for lunar viewing. I think you only need two, three at a maximum really. The Blue 80A and a yellow contrast filter, with maybe the green-yellow.

[Dave In Vermont]

My old set of colour filters has the same variety as your colour-filters. But mine came from Orion(USA) circa. 2001, and were made by Hoya in Japan at the time. From what I can gather from accounts back then, Hoya was top-drawer back then. Thus began my mushrooming filter collection. And my first expensive one:

Venus always held an allure for me. Perhaps it was the seeming impossibility of seeing the surface of it through the sulfurous atmosphere of CO2 that was responsible to this attraction? Who knows? Well I was deeply fascinated when I read of a deep ultraviolet filter that would make variations of the clouds possible to discern photgraphically. And there was only one filter that did this - a Schuyler UV-filter. And the price of this was about $250.00 US. So of course I bought one. My results haven't been too encouraging - so far.....

A few years later Baader came out with their version. And a country-ton has been written - comparing and nit-picking the two. Most agreed the old Schuyler was a hair better. And Schuyler sold out to Astrodon. Another ton has since been written. It got as bad as the war between the two became as divisive as Windows vs. Apples. And I stopped following the debate. I'd had my fill. I hope to resume my own course of trial & error later this year with new equipment.

In the meanwhile, I leave a bit (tiny) of leterature and a photo.

Have fun with your filters!

Dave

Schuyler UV Venus Filter.pdf

 

 

[Ray of LIght]

Sounds good to me.  I have the 80A and I ordered the yellow-green. The no 8 light yellow is out of stock at Agena. I can wait until they re-stock or try to get it somewhere else. I'm not really sure I need it that urgently so I can probably wait. Unless, of course, it works well on Mars. Right now Mars is above the trees and should be great to observe. What filters do you think I should use, now that I brought it up?

[Ray of LIght]

My entry above was in response to Mak's last entry and I also posed a question about filters to use for help with observing Mars (and also Saturn). I must have pressed submit right after Dave did.

[Stu]

5 hours ago, Ray of LIght said:

Sounds good to me.  I have the 80A and I ordered the yellow-green. The no 8 light yellow is out of stock at Agena. I can wait until they re-stock or try to get it somewhere else. I'm not really sure I need it that urgently so I can probably wait. Unless, of course, it works well on Mars. Right now Mars is above the trees and should be great to observe. What filters do you think I should use, now that I brought it up?

Have you managed to see Mars through the scope yet Ray?

[Ray of LIght]

3 hours ago, Stu said:

Have you managed to see Mars through the scope yet Ray?

I recently injured my left arm pretty badly and Mars has only recently risen high enough above the trees in my community to observe, so not yet. I am shooting for this weekend if the swelling goes down enough. Really looking forward to it so I hope all goes well.

 

[Mak the Night]

10 hours ago, Ray of LIght said:

Sounds good to me.  I have the 80A and I ordered the yellow-green. The no 8 light yellow is out of stock at Agena. I can wait until they re-stock or try to get it somewhere else. I'm not really sure I need it that urgently so I can probably wait. Unless, of course, it works well on Mars. Right now Mars is above the trees and should be great to observe. What filters do you think I should use, now that I brought it up?

I'd definitely use the Baader Neodymium on Mars. Also, push the magnification for Mars. Try for 200x if you can, your scope should handle that quite well. Yellow and yellow-green filters are supposed to help with the maria on Mars but I haven't tried this yet. The neodymium is the best thing though, it really helped me see detail.

Mars is at Transit at 22:42 for me on Saturday. The picture above shows the Martian surface approximately five hours earlier, which, if I'm right, will be roughly how you should see it at Transit from your longitude. Cartes du Ciel is pretty accurate with the Martian rotational period.

You may be able to see hints of these features. The image is RACI but I'm not sure what the orientation will look like from your latitude. Although, I'm guessing it's not too dissimilar to mine.

My TS Optics/GSO No 8 and No 11 filters came. They seem to resemble the Celestron AstroMaster filters, which I think may be Taiwanese made. They seem pretty decent. It took me nearly 15 mins to figure how to open the plastic filter box though lol. Not easy if you're disabled.

The filter cases look like they will be useful anyway.

[Ray of LIght]

28 minutes ago, Mak the Night said:

I'd definitely use the Baader Neodymium on Mars. Also, push the magnification for Mars. Try for 200x if you can, your scope should handle that quite well. Yellow and yellow-green filters are supposed to help with the maria on Mars but I haven't tried this yet. The neodymium is the best thing though, it really helped me see detail.

Mars is at Transit at 22:42 for me on Saturday. The picture above shows the Martian surface approximately five hours earlier, which, if I'm right, will be roughly how you should see it at Transit from your longitude. Cartes du Ciel is pretty accurate with the Martian rotational period.

You may be able to see hints of these features. The image is RACI but I'm not sure what the orientation will look like from your latitude. Although, I'm guessing it's not too dissimilar to mine.

My TS Optics/GSO No 8 and No 11 filters came. They seem to resemble the Celestron AstroMaster filters, which I think may be Taiwanese made. They seem pretty decent. It took me nearly 15 mins to figure how to open the plastic filter box though lol. Not easy if you're disabled.

The filter cases look like they will be useful anyway.

Yep, I can get to 200x with my 9mm X-Cel and my TV 3x Barlow. Perhaps I should try Mars with just the Neodymium first and then add the yellow-green to the eyepiece as a test? I guess remove the Fringe Killer even though my first impulse is to leave it on the diagonal with the Neodymium. Not sure. The Meade no. 8 light yellow is not due to arrive until the 22nd. I do have the no. 12 yellow but it may be too much for my scope. Great info as always Mak, thanks!

[Mak the Night]

Yeah, definitely try Mars with the neodymium first, even without, just as a comparison. You could probably leave the fringe killer in the diagonal, although I personally wouldn't use the No.12 in combination with the neodymium as you'll probably find it's blocking too much light. The No.12 was the original minus-blue contrast filter I believe. At 74% transmission it should work relatively well with a refractor on a bright target. I found it was sometimes a little aggressive for twilight lunar viewing on my 102mm Mak. But refractors are more efficient with the available light.

[Ray of LIght]

23 minutes ago, Mak the Night said:

Yeah, definitely try Mars with the neodymium first, even without, just as a comparison. You could probably leave the fringe killer in the diagonal, although I personally wouldn't use the No.12 in combination with the neodymium as you'll probably find it's blocking too much light. The No.12 was the original minus-blue contrast filter I believe. At 74% transmission it should work relatively well with a refractor on a bright target. I found it was sometimes a little aggressive for twilight lunar viewing on my 102mm Mak. But refractors are more efficient with the available light.

I won't use the no. 12 for sure but I wonder if the yellow-green might help? If not I will leave things as they are and just go for it. The Baader UHC-S should arrive soon but that is not a planetary filter so that gets saved for DSO's strictly, right?  How is the weather going? Still pants and fairies moving furniture?

[Stu]

3 hours ago, Ray of LIght said:

I recently injured my left arm pretty badly and Mars has only recently risen high enough above the trees in my community to observe, so not yet. I am shooting for this weekend if the swelling goes down enough. Really looking forward to it so I hope all goes well.

 

Hope the arm recovers quickly Ray

[Mak the Night]

2 hours ago, Ray of LIght said:

I won't use the no. 12 for sure but I wonder if the yellow-green might help? If not I will leave things as they are and just go for it. The Baader UHC-S should arrive soon but that is not a planetary filter so that gets saved for DSO's strictly, right?  How is the weather going? Still pants and fairies moving furniture?

The fairies must be on holiday as the sun's out. I've just checked my EQ 2 mount/tripod as I've been leaving it at the bottom of the garden the past few days as it really helps setting up time if I only have to carry the OTA out. The RA slo mo worm drive needed a spot of 3 in 1 and isn't stiff any more. You may as well try the No.12 on Mars, you never know. I'd observe it for a bit with the neodymium first though so you know what features to expect. I've been told the UHC-S can be useful for Venus, but I haven't tried this myself. I'm itching to try the UHC-S with the Bazooka on something with a 17mm Plossl, giving me a 2.4mm exit pupil for 53x.

As my OCD is getting the better of me, these are all (more or less) of my Wratten filters in order. The second ND filter under the Celestron 0.9 is the Baader equivalent. Of these, the only two too aggressive for apertures below 150mm are the No.25 Red and No58 Green IMO. The No.25 and No.58 transmit only 14% and 24% respectively. By comparison, the No.56 Light Green transmits 53%.

[Ray of LIght]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Hope the arm recovers quickly Ray

Thanks Stu, I appreciate it! Hope to be out soon. Mars is in a good position and I have a lot of new gear that needs first light!