The Astronomy hobby thread - Page 24

Eric Hahl · Eric Hahl's Garage

One more thing to note. The scopes we are talking about are inexpensive starter scopes. The refractor will be an Achromat and has a focal ration of f6.5...it will not be able to focus all of the color down to a single point. What this means is on the brightest stars you will see some color fringing. This will also show on the edge of the Moon, craters and planets. It can't be focused out. The view is still nice but not quite perfect.

The reflector will not have this type of aberration as is uses mirrors, not lenses.

Pazuzu · 01-22-2020, 12:29 PM

Also, that refractor is going to have you bent over sideways or laying on the ground to look through it, after standing up next to the mount to use the phone interface.

BAH!

Get the newtonian, at least the eyepiece and phone stuff will be at a similar height when you're standing in the dark and the cold trying to find something.

Also, have someone in mind to forward the scope to, for when you decide that either (a) you don't like it or (b) you decide that you've moved past it. You will hit one of those two paths sooner than you think with a scope like that.

The technology is interesting, and based on some well established techniques that people are currently using, but i think that the implementation might turn out to be too simple to be really effective.

stevej37 · 01-22-2020, 01:39 PM

^^^ That is something I'm considering..the viewing position.
As far as losing interest...Hah!..been there, done that. It's only $400

I don't understand what you mean by the tech being too simple to be effective?

flatbutt · 01-22-2020, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

Also, that refractor is going to have you bent over sideways .

not with a right angle prism.

Pazuzu · 01-22-2020, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevej37

^^^ That is something I'm considering..the viewing position.
As far as losing interest...Hah!..been there, done that. It's only $400

I don't understand what you mean by the tech being too simple to be effective?

Meaning, something like that needs to work 100%, 100% of the time, for a rank amateur to enjoy it. I'm not sure that the software implementation, or the phone interface will prove to be 100%, 100% of the time.

The first night that things don't work, is the beginning of the end of someone's enjoyment of this scope. It's not good enough equipment to use without the tech, so you can't even fall back on "I'll just manage by hand when it doesn't work well". It's going to make a newbie dependent on the tech, and when it breaks (or just hiccups), they won't even have the basic sky-skills that a Dobsonian or binocular owner will have acquired.

My view of telescope tech is that the tech should be used to make specific requirements of the scope work for you, rather than being the reason for a scope.

flatbutt · 01-30-2020, 12:51 PM

New Hi-Res pix of the sun

https://www.nso.edu/press-release/inouye-solar-telescope-first-light/

masraum · 01-30-2020, 06:21 PM

Wow, very cool.

stevej37 · 09:38 AM

Well...I looked at what my viewing sightlines would be. Too many trees to make it worthwhile.
Living in a rural area..there are deer every day. Fox, rabbits, and every kind of bird native to this area. So, I decided to go with a Celestron Ultima 80 scope instead. Like it a lot so far. There was a Hawk about 100yds from the house yesterday. Mounted the cell-phone to the scope. Took a few pics..but they turned out grainy. I need to play around with it more.

stevej37 · 02-11-2020, 09:45 AM

masraum · 02-11-2020, 10:30 AM

You can also point that at the sky, of course. You could get decent views of planets, the moon and other celestial objects. You might not get a whole lot out of most nebula (you'll still see the Orion nebula), but you'll see clusters and galaxies with it. Maybe you'll decide that the time outside in the cold and damp is worth something a bit more or maybe you'll peak skyward occasionally but mostly use it for critters. Either way, enjoy the view.

stevej37 · 02-11-2020, 12:43 PM

^^^ Yeah..I'll surely use it this summer for sky viewing. The only stable surface is on my deck...and that is covered with about a foot of snow right now!
When using my cell-phone for pics...should I use the eyepiece with the rubber cup rolled up, or leave it as is? I think rolled up with give a better pic, but it doesn't seem to make much diff.

Bill Verburg · Bill Verburg's Garage

A map of every object in the solar system >10km in diameter

masraum · 02-11-2020, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevej37

^^^ Yeah..I'll surely use it this summer for sky viewing. The only stable surface is on my deck...and that is covered with about a foot of snow right now!
When using my cell-phone for pics...should I use the eyepiece with the rubber cup rolled up, or leave it as is? I think rolled up with give a better pic, but it doesn't seem to make much diff.

It probably doesn't much matter. Having it extended might keep extra light from getting into the image, but if you're shooting during the day anyway, that probably won't really matter.

Rusty Heap · Rusty Heap's Garage

Evaluation of this deal from you in the know?............seems like over $3K of gear for $1500.

nice 11" Schmidt Cassegrain with lotsa extras. Whats a fair offer?

https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/pho/d/north-lakewood-celestron-11-inch/7071713284.html

tcar · 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Verburg

A map of every object in the solar system >10km in diameter

Fantastic! I see Pluto in Neptune's orbit
Many people don't know that Pluto's elliptical orbit (if those are orbits) actually brings it closer to the Sun than Neptune at times...

flatbutt · 02-11-2020, 05:29 PM

An 11" SCT is around $3k just for the OTA and tripod so yeah 1500 is a great price...if all of the optics are in good shape. 11" is big for a beginner though, if you are a newb that is.

Pazuzu · 02-11-2020, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

Evaluation of this deal from you in the know?............seems like over $3K of gear for $1500.

nice 11" Schmidt Cassegrain with lotsa extras. Whats a fair offer?

https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/pho/d/north-lakewood-celestron-11-inch/7071713284.html

If I was local I would buy it and flip it. That is a high grade scope.

Here's the caveat...here's my guess in the scenario...guy bought $3k in stuff to "get into astrophotography", but since he didn't know exactly what he was doing, he bought a very expansive ALT/AZ scope which is very poor for imaging past a few seconds (especially at 11 inch f/10...). He'll get perfect guiding on a star, and images spun around that perfect point. Tried a few times, got super frustrated, and wants it all GONE. I see it almost every day.

Buy it for $1500, sell the very nice guide scope/camera/rings/dovetail setup for $400 and have a very large, very nice visual use scope for about 1/3 of it's value. Even better, if you don't need the hard case, sell it (it's a very nice JMI case, probably would go for a few hundred itself).

Pazuzu · 02-11-2020, 08:00 PM

Oh yeah...that's a huge telescope too. It's Celestron CPC1100
Set up video: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2m10sg
https://www.celestron.com/products/cpc-1100-gps-xlt-computerized-telescope

65 pounds to lift, balance and secure on the tripod. Don't let it slip...

Eric Hahl · Eric Hahl's Garage

C11's are great. Like mentioned, this one is for visual use. It can however, be de-forked and put on an equatorial mount some day for photography if needed.

Rusty Heap · Rusty Heap's Garage

they have a "wedge" to move from ALT/AZ to make it a equatorial........I want to do long exposure photowork.........is this the right path and solution ?

https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-Wedge-Pro-Black-93664/dp/B0040GXO8K

here is a review off of amazon.

Received the wedge in great shape two days after order placed. It requires minimal assembly with no problems and is ready for use in about 20 minutes. The wedgle is very well built and engineered to do exactly what it is supposed to do and that is, convert an Alt-Azimuth mounted telescope into a an equatorial mounted scope. The whole idea is to eliminate field rotation when doing long exposure imaging.

The wedge is placed on the tripod head and attached by 3 cap screws and holds it securely. There are two possible orientations on the tripod head during install, one better than the other. The top of the Celestron tripod has a triangular face. You will want to place the wedge with one of the points of the triangle oriented toward the rear of the wedge. In that way, during the install on the tripod, the wedge will NOT fall off prior to inserting the 3 cap screws. The other orientation (with a flat side of the triangle oriented to the back of the wedge) will allow the wedge to fall off the head prior to seating it with the screws.

Putting the C-11 scope on the wedge has different ergonomics than the placement of the scope in alt/azimuth mode, for sure. Initially somewhat difficult, you will quickly develop the right technique to do it and it becomes a non issue.

The adjustments for alignment on the Pole star absolutely solid. Very good!

Performance in equatorial mode is perfect! Love it. My first effort so far was a series of video images of Jupiter. The planet was low in the sky so resolutions were not optimal. In spite of that a series of decent 20 second video clips and a bit of massaging in Registax, yielded some detail. See attached.
The wedgle works great. Fine product, heavy duty and solid, nicely engineered.