Meade Infinity 102

[Mak the Night]

8 minutes ago, Ray1103 said:

Thanks Mak! Doesn't look good for my little dog but she will be in the sky. Anyway, i forgot my new Barlow is 2.5 so yes, thats great! I'm not used to the that spec so every little bit helps I guess! Once again you come through! 100x might be a good view and still give me some eye relief. Oh, Agena e-mailed that the Starguider will ship today so thats good. Looks like I am getting there. One day, on my bucket list, I will get an Apochromatic refractor and be done with it ✨

I'm sorry about your dog Ray, it's sad when they go. I don't know if apochromatic Barlows actually improve eye relief, although I believe a straightforward Barlow does. I'm pretty sure, with some patience with the varying and often turbulent atmospherics, you should see some detail on Jupiter with a 102mm aperture. I know you'll be impressed with the Moon!

I tried my old 15mm Omni Plossl in the TS Optics/GSO 2.5x apo' Barlow to see if the undercut was a problem. It was OK inserting, more or less, but you may have to loosen the thumbscrew/set screw a lot to extract the Omni. It can be extracted, but hold the Omni from the side of your hand grasping the top with your thumb and forefinger (or more fingers) as if you were picking up a beer can to drink from. This makes extracting the eyepiece easier than holding your hand above the eyepiece and pulling it directly up. Sometimes, gently jiggling the eyepiece as you pull it out can help free the bottom lip of the undercut from the compression ring.  Also, be careful when unscrewing the set screw as you may have to unscrew it quite a bit and you don't want it falling out in the dark. I'd definitely practice inserting and extracting the Omni from the Barlow before using it outside.

Apparently GSO have ceased putting undercuts on their EP's now, hence why all the new Orion Sirius Plossls have no undercuts either (they are GSO).

Undercuts are fine in anything without a brass compression ring, possibly safer. TeleVue flared undercuts also extract fairly easily. Some shallow/wide undercuts are fine as well as a whole. But the standard narrow/deep GSO style are a PITA!

[Ray of LIght]

Thanks for your kindness Mak, I know it's off topic but even though she is older and sick we are taking her to my Vet and see what they can still do. Thanks again! I received the HPS Barlow and it looks very nice. I tried extracting the 15mm Omni from my new Barlow and I had no  problem, but, temperature or whatever may screw me up. So far so good! When I mentioned Apochromatic Refractor I meant a telescope! Like a 2,500.00 telescope! Not gonna happen anytime soon. Thats why I mentioned bucket list ?. So we will see what happens but the Barlow, at least, looks great! 

 

[Mak the Night]

Yeah, I knew what you meant about the telescope, there's a reason they cost that much lol. Most traditional Barlows aren't apochromatic, but some are and they are usually more expensive. Some optical amplifiers, like the TeleVue Powermate, aren't strictly Barlows and as far as I know don't extend eye relief which Barlow lenses do. My 2.5x Powermate doesn't extend the 10mm eye relief on my T5 Nagler as far as I can tell.

For lunar viewing, and perhaps Saturn and Venus, I found the 2.5x of the Powermate invaluable on my 102mm Mak, although it was less useful for Jupiter as I couldn't use 200x plus on it.

I'm glad the Omni didn't give you any problems on extracting from the GSO apo' Barlow. I managed it, but I had to unscrew the thumbscrew quite a bit and I could detect the bottom lip of the undercut catching the compression ring. As my right arm and hand is partially paralysed relatively smooth extractions can be important to me.

The cloud seems to be clearing a bit here, or it could be my imagination lol.

[Ray of LIght]

Sorry to say my little Dachshund passed tonight and she is in the heavens we both love. 

I am kind of upset but I remember seeing that the HPS Barlow is advertised as being Apochromatic. I see you have the TS version. Pretty sure this and the Starguider were good investments, will be great to try them out soon (as soon as weather cooperates!) ✨

 

[Mak the Night]

I'm sorry to hear your dog has passed Ray, it's only natural to be upset. I'm pretty sure the HPS/TSO/GSO Barlow is apochromatic, it's pretty good quality for what it costs. I'm never too sure about the light path with a 'shorty' but I needed a decent short Barlow for my little Mak. If you have a stable mount on a 102mm refractor, Alt-Az or EQ, you should be able to get away with bigger & heavier eyepiece combinations.

I got to see the Moon at 5am this morning, there was a bit of wispy cloud but I got a good 40 mins before it became too light.

Great Terminator shadows. I looked for Hercules as I knew it was on the Terminator and it was easily visible. Janssen was a surprise though, it was so prominent it made the Moon look a bit like the Death Star out of Star Wars lol! The Virtual Moon Atlas jpeg below doesn't do it justice.

[Ray of LIght]

Hey Mak, glad you got out for awhile. Raining here today and have to take care of dogs remains, good day for that I guess.

I should have a night or two this week that may be decent. I am hoping the HPS Barlow/Starguider combo wont be too heavy. I don't think so because, as you said, my scopes mount is pretty sturdy and the Barlow is fairly light and not too tall. Hope to talk later and I appreciate your kindness ✨

 

[Mak the Night]

Yeah, it was a 'who dares views' situation and I had to take a chance. A few minutes walk from where I live are some woods bordering farmland. The woods are at a quite high altitude above sea level and a friend of mine had a house that virtually backed right into the woods. We used the woods as a type of dark site as some other local amateur astronomers do. He also had a Border Collie who I'd known since she was a puppy. He would walk her there every day, when she passed he buried her there. He's moved from the area now and since I became disabled it's virtually impossible for me to get to the woods.

I can easily fit my binoviewers or heavy eyepiece combinations on my 102mm Mak as I use an EQ 2 with it. The counterweight is a couple of kilo at least. So you should be fine. One thing about an EQ manual mount is that once it's set up well all you need to do is twiddle the slo mo controls occasionally.

[Ray of LIght]

I do a lot of twiddleing with my alt-az lol! But getting good at it and a lot if telescope tapping ?. It's a good scope with the right filters and eyepieces it seems. I have trees all around but try to make the best of it. I may have mentioned that they will be cutting down some tall dead pine trees which will help.

 

[Mak the Night]

Alt Az is a lot more intuitive and easy to use than an EQ. Once I've set the EQ and tripod low enough to sit and observe I'm pretty good for anything rising and setting in the plane of the ecliptic. Anything near the azimuth isn't too hard but sometimes other directions alter the angle of the finder and height of the OTA. If I set my Newtonian facing west at shoulder height (so I can stand and observe) and then if I slew south east to watch anything rising I can often sit to observe without changing the tripod height.

[Ray of LIght]

I give you credit, I don't think I could do the eq tango. I guess the alt-az is good for a guy learning the ropes. I kind of like it I guess. So I will order the Baader Moon and Skyglow filter on Friday from Amazon, it seems that Agena is out of stock on that one. They are the same price, 79 US. I wanted to ask you: should I put the Moon filter in front of the Fringe Killer on the diagonal? In other words the Fringe Killer is on the diagonal and the Moon and Skyglow will be threaded onto the Fringe Killer? Does it even matter? I did hear they made a good combo, especially for where I live. I appreciate and respect your input and you know my thanks are always there. 

[Mak the Night]

My next mount is going to be a GOTO Alt-Az ... big time! I'll see about a simple Alt-Az for the 102mm Mak in the future as it may be a relatively easy set-up for planetary/bino viewing. But that will be a while yet as my next priority is the SCT.

EQ mounts are pretty mandatory for astrophotography as they track the most accurately.

This bloke explains it all lol:

I don't think it matters that much which order you stack the filters in necessarily, you'll find people almost certainly have their own individual preferences, and filters tend to be another contentious issue in astronomy. I've noticed many filter forum threads on Cloudy Nights get quickly closed by moderation lol.  I'd personally put the most aggressive filter at the head (last threaded onto the diagonal) of the light train. It's best to experiment and see what suits you. Remember that filters aren't magic bullets and essentially block an amount of light entering the eyepiece.

I've attached a PDF about filters you may find interesting.

 

SAS-The-Use-of-Astronomical-Filters1.pdf

[Ray of LIght]

I didnt join Cloudy Nights for a reason. Cant you ask a question like I did? Thank God I asked you I guess. 

[Mak the Night]

IIRC I asked about the efficacy of Astonomik UHC & OIII filters compared to the Lumicon ones. I didn't start the thread, but David Knisley answered my question directly and so did Don Pensack. In a nutshell, they both thought that if Astronomik were true to their published filter curves they were close to the Lumicons. The Astronomik were slightly cheaper than the Lumicon filters. Either way, I went Lumicon in the end. I don't know why the thread was eventually locked, it seems to happen a fair bit at CN. It all seemed amicable to me though and both David and Don were very helpful, they both have years of experience in astronomy, and really know what they're talking about. Some forums can be a tad polemical I guess. Astronomy is very subjective as we are all different and have different tastes and experience things subjectively. I love observing the Moon for instance, but I've heard it referred to by astrophotographers as 'the devil's searchlight' lol.

[Ray of LIght]

I' ve heard of Don Pensack, I don't know a lot but I know he is very experienced. I have also heard about CN, things we need to take off line. I think I am getting the jist here. I would observe whatever I pleased, by the way. I love the moon too and when I get all my kit together I will be doing plenty of that too. I would like to concentrate on DSO's one day. Maybe they will be called the "devils ashes" lol. Can't please everyone Mak ✨

 

[Mak the Night]

There's a lot of good info on CN but it is quite different from here in some respects. I want to get more into DSO's with a bigger aperture. You're OK with a refractor of 102mm I reckon, but Mak's have the power but not the FOV or the exit pupil abilities for DSO's apart from the more obvious Messier Objects. I'm hoping more aperture and a 35mm Baader Eudiascopic helps there lol.

[Ray of LIght]

Yep, those Baader eyepieces look very nice indeed. When did you say you would have the new SCT? Can't wait to see that one! Is there a link where I can take a look at it? The filter question has me a little confused. I am not sure which would be considered the the more aggressive filter. I was just going to keep the Fringe Killer on the diagonal and screw the Moon and Skyglow on to that. I will experiment also, as you suggested. I do realize that filters can only do so much but with the light pollution issues and haveing the fast achromat I figured they were worth a try i guess. I should hopefully have the Starguider this week, I cant wait to test that one out, and the new Barlow! Hopefully talk later. Kind of miss my dog but it will take time ✨

[Mak the Night]

When I say 'aggresive' I meant the one that transmits the least light. For example; the Wratten No.12 'Deep Yellow' transmits 74% of the total available light passing through it, effectively blocking 26%. No.12 is a ‘minus blue’ filter often used in ophthalmology and optometry and as a contrast filter in cinematography. It is also a longpass filter blocking visible wavelengths below 500 nm. Wratten No.25 'Red' is a longpass filter blocking visible wavelengths below 575nm. It only transmits 14% of the available light and so would be considered more aggressive than the Deep Yellow filter. Some high-contrast sports sunglasses use minus blue filters and appear yellow.

The (Celestron) Wratten No. 12 Deep Yellow & No.25 Red can be seen below as the first two filters in the top left of the tray on the left. Immediately below the Deep Yellow is a Wratten No.21 Orange (46% light transmission) right next to a second No.25 Red filter.

I'm sorting out a dew controller and power supply for the SCT, which should be with me shortly.

http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/telescopes/nexstar-evolution-925

[Ray of LIght]

All I can say is congratulations and WOW!!!

[Mak the Night]

Cool isn't it? Lol

[Ray of LIght]

It is more than cool my friend! I wish I could have kept my 130 Sky Prodigy but it was too heavy for my back issues (3 back surgeries). I love my 102 and will do the best I can. That is a great scope you got there, very happy for you! ✨

[Mak the Night]

It'll no doubt take me an hour to set up, but the 102mm Mak more or less does that anyway, what with the EQ and counterweight and all. It will be excellent physiotherapy for my arm and leg. It was frosty last night as I predominantly watched the Moon rising for 30mins or so with my 90mm Mak. But the sky was full of stars and I could scan the Milky Way on low power. Mars and Saturn were both visible with Jupiter starting to set low in the west. I thought, if it was a tad less frosty, and I had a good dew controller, I could spend hours exploring the cosmos with a big cat'.

I started the day and ended it observing the Moon. By early this morning the Terminator had moved to show Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina quite well, with the Theophilus mountain quite distinct.

It's moments like that which make it all worthwhile.

[Dave In Vermont]

I won't touch explaining why CN leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. And hence why many folks  use it to scalp info out of - but interact as little as possible. I think you, Ray, already had my take on this phenomena in that 'other place' down-the-hall and to the left.....

And I extend my deepest condolences in your loss, Ray. As my grandfather said: "The more I see of most people, the better I like my dog." His wife "wouldn't let that filthy animal in MY clean home!" So my granddad built a beautiful doghouse in his garage 'for Jock.' Then he went on down the hall. Collected his bedding. And both he , and Jock, moved into the doghouse for the rest of Jock's life.

Now for some more filter-data for any & all takers:

http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/resources/by-dave-knisely/filter-performance-comparisons-for-some-common-nebulae/

By David Knisely of the Prairie Astronomy Club, one of the 'experts' in the subject. He doesn't mind re-prints, as long as they're credited.

And:

http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/resources/by-dave-knisely/useful-filters-for-viewing-deep-sky-objects/

These, plus MTN's contribution, should get you up to speed!

Dave

 

[Mak the Night]

57 minutes ago, Dave In Vermont said:

I won't touch explaining why CN leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. And hence why many folks you it to scalp info out of - but interact as little as possible. I think you, Ray, already had my take on this phenomena in that 'other place' down-the-hall and to the left.....

And I extend my deepest condolences in your loss, Ray. As my grandfather said: "The more I see of most people, the better I like my dog." His wife "wouldn't let that filthy animal in MY clean home!" So my granddad built a beautiful doghouse in his garage 'for Jock.' Then he went on down the hall. Collected his bedding. And both he , and Jock, moved into the doghouse for the rest of Jock's life.

Now for some more filter-data for any & all takers:

http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/resources/by-dave-knisely/filter-performance-comparisons-for-some-common-nebulae/

By David Knisely of the Prairie Astronomy Club, one of the 'experts' in the subject. He doesn't mind re-prints, as long as they're credited.

And:

http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/resources/by-dave-knisely/useful-filters-for-viewing-deep-sky-objects/

These, plus MTN's contribution, should get you up to speed!

Dave

 

CN reminds me of those pubs which are quite decent but you know at some time a fight will break out lol. I think most filters should work well on an f/5.8 refractor. Any eyepiece with a focal length of around 17mm or greater should give an exit pupil of about 3mm or above.

[Ray of LIght]

I would love your Grandfather! I agree! I have one dog left, out of three. My last one is blind and deaf, and a great dog he is. Dachhund. I appreciate all your guys advice and understanding. Will be on again in a little while, right now having a meltdown. ✨

[N3ptune]

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