Trick
journeyman
Reged: 01/08/09
Posts: 65
Loc: Australia
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Received my two last week order number 9728, 21 March 09.
One will remain sealed in its box.
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Meade 4500
Long Perng 72mm F/6 (Hybrid Equinox/Megrez)
Vixen SP
Mead LPI
35MM EOS Film
EOS 1000D
Lat = 35 degrees, 27.4 minutes South
Long = 149 degrees, 5.1 minutes East
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PiperKev
super member
Reged: 12/19/06
Posts: 161
Loc: Grafton, OH
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I picked up an OSN MX2000 tripod at Walmart this morning, which I believe is the same tripod that Elias was referring to in an earlier post. Hopefully I'll get to try it out tonight (if it ever stops raining, that is!!). Did you try your Galileoscope on this tripod, Elias? If so, how did it work?
Cheers,
Kevin
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Orion SkyQuest XT6 Classic
Sears 4-6333 60mm f/15 refractor
50mm f/10 "Galileoscope" refractor w/Daisy Electronic Point Sight finder
TeleVue Plossls: 32mm, 11mm
Orion Sirius Plossls: 25mm, 20mm, 10mm
Astro-Tech Paradigm 15mm
Celestron Ultima 2x barlow
Orion LaserMate Deluxe + Meade 126 2x barlow
Telrad
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ixeru
member
Reged: 06/15/09
Posts: 18
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Thanks senske, but I have already bought a tripod.
I couldn't use my Galileoscope to observe the sky yet because, although where I live hardly ever is cloudy, there is light pollution (I wish I lived in your country)
I hope to use it on Saturday! (without tripod :S)
Best regards!
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BSJ
member
Reged: 12/22/08
Posts: 95
Loc: Grand Isle, VT
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Order 914 arrived today via USPS.
Now I gota figure out how to assemble the EP...
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Brian S. Johnson
________________
Zhumell Z10D, Orion ST80
8-24mm Hyperion Zoom
8mm, 17mm, 21mm Baader Hyperion 14mm & 28mm Fine Tune Rings
OPT OIII, Baader Fringe killer, Baader Moon & Sky Glow
Nikon 10x50 Action Extreme
StarDust Observing Chair
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PiperKev
super member
Reged: 12/19/06
Posts: 161
Loc: Grafton, OH
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Quote:
Now I gota figure out how to assemble the EP...
Flat sides out.
Thanks to carolune!!
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Orion SkyQuest XT6 Classic
Sears 4-6333 60mm f/15 refractor
50mm f/10 "Galileoscope" refractor w/Daisy Electronic Point Sight finder
TeleVue Plossls: 32mm, 11mm
Orion Sirius Plossls: 25mm, 20mm, 10mm
Astro-Tech Paradigm 15mm
Celestron Ultima 2x barlow
Orion LaserMate Deluxe + Meade 126 2x barlow
Telrad
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newbir1970
member
Reged: 05/05/09
Posts: 25
Loc: Hudson Valley, NY
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I walked into my office and the package(order #87) was on my desk. It actually arrived yesterday(07/22/09), but I didn't get it until today as I am only here part time. I am excited to try it out. It arrived via USPS.
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Looking for the stars!
Mike C.
Edited by newbir1970 (07/23/09 12:20 PM)
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GregAlt
member
Reged: 06/23/09
Posts: 30
Loc: Seattle, WA, USA
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Btw, I found a good, cheap, carrying case. A plastic blueprint tube with screw on end cap and shoulder strap for $14. I found a place close to my work that had this in stock so I was able to walk in and try it out first. It's good fit and looks nice.
They sell it online for $14 which is about as cheap as you can get without using a cardboard mailing tube.
http://v5.britlink.com/BL5/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=44829&Alias=thecompleteline&ItemID=1890033
The model number is: Safco 3053
http://www.completeline.com/
The tube can extend, but I found making it as short as it goes to be a good fit.
You can probably get something sturdier for $25+, but I couldn't bring myself to spend more on the case than the telescope. 
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Orion XT8i - 8" f/5.9
Nikon Action 10x50 Binoculars
Galileoscope 50mm f/10 (20mm ep + 2x barlow)
25mm, 10mm Sirius Plossl eyepieces (1.25")
12.5mm Black Knight OWL Super Plossl
2x Knight OWL Barlow
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richard7
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/02/07
Posts: 1540
Loc: Sacramento
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Picked mine up at the Apt. office today. Must have gotten here within last 2 days.
Had it assembled in 15 mins. Now to wait until it gets dark.
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Richard Trost
Orion 130st, Ioptron e/r80
Meade 10x50, Konusvue 20x80, Zhumell Tachiyon 25x100
Coffee thermos and cup
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Robert Cook
super member
Reged: 07/23/09
Posts: 101
Loc: San Diego County, California
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Quote:
I'm amazed that it's possible to have a 50x refractor on a tripod for around $35.
So how do you think the Galileoscope compares with the Meade 50AZ-P at a similar package price? Obviously, there is no comparison with regard to using them as educational aids, but I'm talking about how they compare just as inexpensive telescopes.
Let's see, the Meade has a finder, a diagonal, and a focuser with knobs, while the Galileoscope has none of these. However, the finder is probably as useless as all of the cheap 5x24 finders I've ever come across, and the focuser is probably pretty nasty, too (0.965" most likely). The Galileoscope appears to have a significantly better eyepiece (despite the plastic lenses), and would seem to be able to accept other 1.25" eyepieces as well. Looks like the Galileoscope is a real winner among both educational telescope kits and ultra-cheap telescopes in general. 
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erick
member
Reged: 11/21/07
Posts: 77
Loc: Bacchus Marsh, Australia
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Quote:
When I assembled my Galileoscope, I did two extra steps to eke out its best:
· I masked off the edges (and any other parts that meet) of the primary tube, front hood/dew-shield, and focuser tube, and spray-painted the interior with a flat black paint.
· I used a “Sharpie” to blacken the edges of all the lenses.
Both steps are intended to minimize stray reflected light, and should give me slightly better contrast than I’d otherwise have. It would be interesting to put my scope head-to-head with a “stock” Galileoscope to see how much (if any) improvement I got.
It's not too bad already, with some baffles and "roughened" internal finish, but there are certainly internal reflections when Jupiter, Venus, the Moon are near the field of view. BUT, given the challenge of aiming the GS, that might be a good thing - having a hint that you are getting close.
Edited by erick (07/24/09 12:24 AM)
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erick
member
Reged: 11/21/07
Posts: 77
Loc: Bacchus Marsh, Australia
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Quote:
Jupiter ... I think in good conditions, with patience, a shadow transit near the equator would be visible....
Well, I strained and stared last night during a good shadow transit of Io (easily seen in an 8" reflector)and couldn't pick it up. Maybe my ancient eyes? Or maybe a shadow transit is beyond the reach of a $15 telescope? 
Edited by erick (07/24/09 01:23 AM)
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Sarkikos
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/18/07
Posts: 1038
Loc: Suburban Maryland
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I think it has more to do with the aperture (50mm vs 200mm) than the price. On the other hand, my 90mm Mak will show several bands, the polar regions, and shadow transits on Jupiter. (I think I also the little Mak may have shown me that spot left by the object that struck Jupiter last Sunday.) And my bigger scopes will show much more than that. But you can only go so far with a 50mm, no matter how good the optics.
Mike
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Celestron 10" f5 Newt on 1stBase (DSO)
Zhumell 8" f6 Newt, Bosma 6" f12 MCT (NSO)
6" f5 Newt, 130ST, 4.5" f4.4 Ball w/GLP, ST80 w/Crayford (RFTs)
C4-R (NSO/DS)
90mm f13 MCT (Luna/DS)
SkyMaster 25x100, 15x70
Zhumell 20x80
Barska XWA 10x50, 8x40
OptiView LPR 10x50
Const View 2.3x40
BV-125C
CG5, 2 drv / CG4, 2 drv, wood legs, ScopeStuff saddle / CG3, 1 drv
SV AZ / 501HDV on Bogen 055XB / P+ on Oberwerk
QuikFinder, Telrad
Orion Dynamo Pro 12, Dew-Not
Have GLP and not afraid to use it!
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BFedRec
newbie
Reged: 07/24/09
Posts: 1
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w00t! My ID is finally approved for posting (I created it once a few weeks back and I think my approval got lost in the mail). As a kid I always wanted a telescope, but it was never in the family budget (we won't get into the whole BS story I was fed, and believed for far too long, that the middle star in Orion's belt was really a portal into Heaven). I hadn't really thought about buying one in ages (mainly because I didn't want to buy a cheap toy one and didn't think spending the money for a decent one was in the cards) until Phil Plait posted something on his twitter feed about the Galileoscope back in Feb/March and I got very excited about the prospect of a $15 scope I could use with my kids.
I ordered two Galileoscopes (well 4 if you count the give-ones too); One sent to my house in GA (ordered early-ish in March), one to be shipped to my in-laws house in upstate NY (ordered in late may). The family was going to be spending most of the summer up there and I wanted to make sure if the first one didn't get to us before they left in mid-June that they'd at least get one once they got up to NY. Alas as it turned out the NY order apparently puked and the GA one didn't get to us until after I was back (I spent a couple weeks up there in the middle of their stay), so the kids didn't get to use the wonderful lack of light pollution they had all summer and will have to deal with the state of things in suburban Atlanta.
That said... I put the GS together when it came here and have been on my back deck the last two clear nights and managed to get a decent view of Jupiter both nights (first night I could just barely see its moons too), and see a sliver of the moon last night (just after dusk, with a nice purple sky, surface texture nice and clear). I'm already looking at more expensive scopes to upgrade to in the future... though think this will do well for me and the kids for a while. Is there an obvious "next scope" for a beginner on a budget? (thinking in the $75-125 range)
Edited by BFedRec (07/24/09 04:16 PM)
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medieval1
super member
Reged: 12/18/08
Posts: 160
Loc: Colorado Springs
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My 11 year old daughter and I put her GS together last night. She had a blast just putting it together and getting a better understanding of the optical path.
After it got dark (a bit after 9pm here) we took it out and set it up on my camera tripod. Viewed a view stars then put it on Saturn and Jupiter.
We were both pretty WOW'd about the views from this scope. I am very impressed.
I had told my daughter that the optics were plastic and not glass like our SCT to keep costs down. She and I were both amazed at the quality of the lens. The "whomp" factor of the primary was awesome. That lens is heavier than I would have imagined.
We spent a good hour last night looking around. The 25x EP was pretty easy to use. The 18x took some patience with finding your target but was quite nice once found. Very impressive.
Much kudos to the designers on this scope!
I'm shipping my second scope off to my nephew.
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Jim West
Meade LX200-ACF 8"
Coronado P.S.T
Canon 40D (unmodified)
Meade DSI Pro II w/color filters
Galileoscope
astro.jameswest.com
Lifetime member of Colorado Springs Astronomical Society
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Zoeff
sage
Reged: 06/10/09
Posts: 252
Loc: Haarlem, Netherlands
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Quote:
Is there an obvious "next scope" for a beginner on a budget? (thinking in the $75-125 range)
Depends on what you want to do with it, in that range you won't be able to do that much more than what you can already see with the GS. In fact, the quality of the GS would normally cost about 75USD!  Nebulae only really become visible with a 6" telescope, 4" is probably the minimum.
For double the price you specified, you could get a cheap and simple 6" Dob. With that you'll be able to see nebulae a lot more clearly. These things are quite large and bulky though...
EDIT: By clearly I still mean a faint smudge that doesn't move with the telescope. Those amazing images you see in the imaging section of this forum are made by exposing a camera for several hours, thus collecting a lot of light. Your eyes don't have this ability.
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Telescopes: NexStar 8SE, 90ED f/5.5 doublet, Galileoscope
Accessories: Hyperion 36mm, GSO 32mm, E-lux 25mm, Hyperion 8mm,
DBK 41AU02.AS, 2x Barlow, 0.63x Focal Reducer, Solar Filter, UHC Filter
My (astro-)photos can be found on flickr.
Edited by Zoeff (07/24/09 05:21 PM)
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hamelph
newbie
Reged: 07/07/09
Posts: 3
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Friday July 24th: I've received my Galileoscopes (ordered 2 for my boy and girl, and gave one) which was ordered March 11th, order #7505. I live in Montreal, Quebec.
It might interest any Canadians out there to know that there was no border fee added.
Will assemble them this week-end with the kids. Rainy week-end forecasted, so not much else to do...
Philippe
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NoiseJammer
super member
Reged: 09/16/07
Posts: 180
Loc: Gone walkabout
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Quote:
Is there an obvious "next scope" for a beginner on a budget? (thinking in the $75-125 range)
You might want to try your hand at an ATM project. Here's a great $90 ball scope that I just came across.
Clearest
Bruce, Toronto
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tidalsearch
member
Reged: 03/03/09
Posts: 12
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OK, I guess I was just too anxious. My two scopes came today. Order #1313 on Feb. 23 delivered to Raleigh, NC. One is for the family and the other will be auctioned at our public school fundraiser in the fall. Can't wait to start using it. 
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Robert Cook
super member
Reged: 07/23/09
Posts: 101
Loc: San Diego County, California
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erick wrote:
Quote:
Well, I strained and stared last night during a good shadow transit of Io (easily seen in an 8" reflector)and couldn't pick it up. Maybe my ancient eyes? Or maybe a shadow transit is beyond the reach of a $15 telescope?
Sarkikos wrote:
Quote:
I think it has more to do with the aperture (50mm vs 200mm) than the price.
Jovian shadow transits are such high-contrast features that I would have thought that they'd be visible in the Galileoscope, if just barely. I haven't received mine yet, but I'll certainly give it a try when I do.
To give a sense of scale, according to my "back of the envelope" calculations the size (angle subtended) of the central portion of the Airy disc in a 50 mm telescope is close to that of Io's shadow (very close in the longest visible wavelengths). This is well below Dawes' limit for this aperture, although this still does not necessarily imply that it's impossible to observe Io's shadow in a Galileoscope. The minimum aperture required according to Dawes' limit is approximately 90 mm, but 50 mm can get fairly close in blue light. Who knows, perhaps a blue filter (e.g. Wratten #80A) would help slightly. And of course there are the significantly larger moons Ganymede and Callisto--a 50 mm aperture would seem to be right on the threshold of detection for those with keen vision and observing skills.
BFedRec wrote:
Quote:
I'm already looking at more expensive scopes to upgrade to in the future... though think this will do well for me and the kids for a while. Is there an obvious "next scope" for a beginner on a budget? (thinking in the $75-125 range)
The most that you could get for around $125, new, would be either a 70 mm refractor complete with a cheesy mount or a 90 mm refractor by itself that you might be able to mount on your camera tripod. While a 90 mm telescope would be a substantial upgrade over a 50 mm telescope, to be sure, as others have pointed out it's not going to open up whole new classes of objects to observe (certainly not under light-polluted skies, anyway). I concur that a 6" Dob would be the next major step up for a (relatively) minimal investment. And if you could stretch your budget slightly for an 8" Dob, then it may be the only telescope that you'll ever need. Yeah, we've all heard that one before, but it just crosses the threshold into resolving globular clusters quite well and making a fair number of galaxies detectable even under moderate light pollution--6" telescopes can do a good job and come close, but don't quite make it to this level.
medieval1 wrote:
Quote:
I had told my daughter that the optics were plastic and not glass like our SCT to keep costs down. She and I were both amazed at the quality of the lens. The "whomp" factor of the primary was awesome. That lens is heavier than I would have imagined.
Isn't the objective lens made of glass?
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Zoeff
sage
Reged: 06/10/09
Posts: 252
Loc: Haarlem, Netherlands
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The primary lens is made of glass if I recall correctly yes.
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Telescopes: NexStar 8SE, 90ED f/5.5 doublet, Galileoscope
Accessories: Hyperion 36mm, GSO 32mm, E-lux 25mm, Hyperion 8mm,
DBK 41AU02.AS, 2x Barlow, 0.63x Focal Reducer, Solar Filter, UHC Filter
My (astro-)photos can be found on flickr.
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