GSO Coma Corrector anyone?

[Barry Fitz-Gerald]

Has anyone had experience of the GSO Coma Corrector used for visual in a SW 250 F4.7 NEWTONIAN or similar - or maybe even the Stella Lyra one offered by FLO which I guess is the same or similar?

Is a Coma Corrector worth shelling out for - or is the visual improvement marginal? 

I would get a Paracorr but I would have to sell the telescope to pay for it.

 

 

[Sargares]

I’ve got one for the exact same scope. 
 

it needs some simple modifications to make it work (spacer) and then you ideally need to set the coma corrector with your most info is eyepiece and then parfocalise the rest (or just focus them in the coma corrector by sliding them out untill they focus. All easier done than it sounds) 

 

personally I don’t use it full stop with higher magnification and I can take it or leave it on low power. I can see the coma without it in for sure but it doesn’t annoy me enough that I can’t get by. If I’m having a proper session I will use it but if it’s just a spur of the moment thing I usually don’t bother. 
 

personal taste. if the coma really annoys you then it’ll get more use, it’s really not the hard to use once you’ve done the small amount of set up to make it work though. 

[Barry Fitz-Gerald]

Thanks for that info, That is very useful for me - if it is not providing a dramatic improvement I think I can live with the coma as well - especially as I do a lot of spur of the moment viewing and seldom go for tight doubles and so on.

Another factor that I never considered was my own deteriorating eyesight contributing to the less than pin point stars - I should have realized this much earlier but never factored it in.

Last night I experimented with a pair of new specs to correct for astigmatism and the difference was noticeable - less spiky stars and sharper focus - so it looks like I was the weak link in the optical train al along. So maybe a TeleVue Dioptrix might be a wiser investment instead.

 

[Paz]

On 12/10/2021 at 14:26, Barry Fitz-Gerald said:

Thanks for that info, That is very useful for me - if it is not providing a dramatic improvement I think I can live with the coma as well - especially as I do a lot of spur of the moment viewing and seldom go for tight doubles and so on.

Another factor that I never considered was my own deteriorating eyesight contributing to the less than pin point stars - I should have realized this much earlier but never factored it in.

Last night I experimented with a pair of new specs to correct for astigmatism and the difference was noticeable - less spiky stars and sharper focus - so it looks like I was the weak link in the optical train al along. So maybe a TeleVue Dioptrix might be a wiser investment instead.

 

When I got my first ever scope I thought something was wrong and after some research I thought it had astigmatism. But after further research and testing I worked out it was my eyes not the scope. That was the first I realised I had astigmatism!

I have a televue dioptryx, and the views are great and the optical quality is better than my specs but there is a  challenge with it in keeping the dioptryx aligned correctly if you are rotating your head  compared to the eyepiece. This is easy if you are observing a bright star as you can tell when it's right, but if you are looking at something faint or extended it's not so easy.

Putting an alignment marker on the dioptryx can help but then seeing that in the dark becomes the challenge.

Edited October 13 by Paz