ValeryD
Vendor (Aries)
Reged: 11/26/05
Loc: Kherson, Ukraine.
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: joelimite]
#5037185 - 01/25/12 01:37 PM
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Simply incredible. I can't imagine the views through such an instrument. They're undoubtedly amazing.
Amazingly colorful (full of false colors) o bright objects.
Many years ago I saw planets through 12" F/15(?) Mertz-Maler refractor on a Repsold mount. Mars and Jupiter float in a colorful purple sea. Views through 15" F/12 must be 2x more colorful.
However, deep sky objects (M42 and M13) were fantastic!
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GeneT
Ely Kid
Reged: 11/07/08
Loc: South Texas
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: bluestar]
#5038061 - 01/25/12 10:01 PM
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Too pretty!
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3RFJeff
member
Reged: 07/29/11
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: GeneT]
#5088766 - 02/24/12 11:54 AM
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Local reporter Darrell Franklin and photojournalist Curtis Jackson produced this excellent short video, which aired last night on KFDX TV-3 in nearby Wichita Falls.
http://texomashomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=165112
Couple things to point out ...
You get to see the massive AP3600 El Capitan mount in action carrying the 15" refractor.
And you get an idea of our mission, the countryside, the dark skies, and the infrastructure.
Speaking of which, those wooden buildings are FOUR new bunkhouses (!) .. the "kilns" are outdoor, wood-fired pizza ovens ... the Outdoor Classroom's deep sinks have hot and cold running city water ... the Obsession shown briefly is a 30" F4.5 (we also have 2 each 18", 20", 25" and two additional 30" Obsessions, plus a TMB 208 apo, two Tak TOA 150 apos, an AP 160 apo, two Stellarvue 152 apos, three double-stacked 90mm Coronado h-alpha scopes, a 22" Bruce Sayres bino scope, a 12.5-inch Bruce Sayres binoscope, two sets of 25x150 Giant Fujinon apos with Unimounts, a couple SCTs, a 12.5" RCO scope, etc.) ... and today we're finishing the fiber pulls and termination on our on-campus Gig-E network ...
Enjoy, and come see us (we let you drive)!
Jeff B.
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Scott99
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/10/07
Loc: New England
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: 3RFJeff]
#5088804 - 02/24/12 12:19 PM
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Jeff that facility is incredible! looks almost too good to be real. How is it funded? Some very wealthy people must be extremely generous. We really don't seem to get that in this part of the country unfortunately.
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3RFJeff
member
Reged: 07/29/11
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: Scott99]
#5088844 - 02/24/12 12:40 PM
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Thanks, Scott! Our founder is a retired anesthesiologist who grew up in a small town just north of here. When he retired, his goal was to help revitalize the area and especially to help with the education of kids throughout this part of Texas. We serve several hundred school districts, mostly rural ones without access to facilities like the big-city ISDs have. He endows our operation with capital and operating grants annually. We also have other grants from area funding organizations.
We have a very small permanent staff (4), and much of the work we do is performed by a sizable group of dedicated, knowledgeable, and generous volunteers. That helps keep operating costs low.
3RF is a 501c3 non-for-profit foundation established in 2005, after about 8 years of more informal operation hosting star parties throughout the Panhandle, Plains, and North Central Texas regions.
One of our most active volunteers is a scratch golfer, and he likens the place to "the Augusta National of astronomy." Another volunteer calls it his "happy place" ... and I think it's a Really happy place.
Our founder's and other grants allow us to operate without charging admission, which is a real boon to the local schools. We also operate a StarsTruck program, which brings solar and nighttime telescopes to schools throughout the region (our travel costs are underwritten by a grant from another philanthropic organization dedicated to supporting education).
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Steve Fisher
Reged: 08/12/06
Loc: Utah
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: 3RFJeff]
#5089609 - 02/24/12 09:48 PM
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Once again the words just escape me. The D&G is of course my favorite but what an outstanding complex. I can only imagine how many lives you have touched and hope it continues for many, many more years.
A visit to look at and through that 15" f/12 has been on my bucket list for several years but each time I see it here it moves up a notch.
Great work!
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3RFJeff
member
Reged: 07/29/11
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: Steve Fisher]
#5090171 - 02/25/12 11:06 AM
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Steve:
We're "sorta" on the way from Utah to Texas Star Party or the Winter Star Party, so if you're ever enroute to either event, swing by and as we say here, "Set a spell ..."
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Scott99
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/10/07
Loc: New England
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: 3RFJeff]
#5090274 - 02/25/12 12:19 PM
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very cool, thanks for the info Jeff. Again, wow, what a generous guy.
I can think of several wealthy individuals who are content to leave dozens of scopes sitting around in storage in their huge house when they could be doing something like this!!!
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Steve Fisher
Reged: 08/12/06
Loc: Utah
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: 3RFJeff]
#5092094 - 02/26/12 01:05 PM
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Steve:
We're "sorta" on the way from Utah to Texas Star Party or the Winter Star Party, so if you're ever enroute to either event, swing by and as we say here, "Set a spell ..."
As I look back it is hard for me to believe that in April of 2009 I drove through huge portions of New Mexico and Texas looking for a retirement spot for my wife and I.
I ended up going as far as San Antonio but drove all over the Amarillo area. I had no idea at the time that you were so near by.
Of course in 2009 you were not quite as "together" as you are now but I have no doubt the opportunity to get to Texas again is in the cards.
I'll look forward to it.
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3RFJeff
member
Reged: 07/29/11
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: Steve Fisher]
#5149530 - 03/30/12 11:12 PM
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Here are a couple more videos made by one of our Select Volunteers, David Moody, that will give you more of a flavor for the campus and our mission:
Volunteer weekend:
http://tinyurl.com/73w8lle
College visit:
http://tinyurl.com/7fjzdx2
Also, to keep track of progress and events, visit our Facebook page; Three Rivers Foundation Sciences
Thanks!
Edited by 3RFJeff (03/30/12 11:18 PM)
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Scott Beith
SRF
Reged: 11/26/03
Loc: Frederick, MD
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: 3RFJeff]
#5149975 - 03/31/12 10:56 AM
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Jeff did you guys do a 6" apo shootout in the past? I think I remember reading one.
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3RFJeff
member
Reged: 07/29/11
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: Scott Beith]
#5150310 - 03/31/12 02:40 PM
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Scott:
Yes, indeedy. It gave us some surprising results. We actually had one 140, one 130, and one 102 in the shootout as well.
Here's basically the way it went:
Scopes included two Tak TOA-150s, one SV 152, one TEK140, one Tak FS-152, on FS-102, and one APM/TMB130.
We used Jupiter for planetary detail comparisons and Nu Scorpii for double-star splitting/color comparisons.
The TEK140 was the CLEAR winner in the planetary detail comparison, with the SV-152 next closest. We called the TEK's overall color view "cool", as compared to the FS-152 and SV 152 views which we called "warm" ... but the contrast and detail was clearly in favor of the TEK.
In the double-star contest the clear winner was the SV-152 and its closest competitor turned out to be the FS-102 (!!!) for overall view and color fidelity, with the FS-152 and TEK neck and neck on resolution, but clearly behind the SV.
During these comparisons, we even went so far as to swap out the same 2" dielectric diagonal to make the comparisons fairer. We fiddled around some with the eyepieces and eventually decided to let each scope's owner/handler decide on the eyepiece that presented the best comparison view within about 25X of the nearest competitor's.
While this was hardly a double-blind comparison, I should point out that all who participated were expert, experienced observers and planetary imagers (the TEK owner was not at the time an experienced imager), and all were confirmed "refractor monkeys" ... In addition, one of the observers present owns enough APOs to open his own store.
We were most suprised at the poor performance of the TOA 150s. We later sent them both back to TNR for refitting and recollimating and they performed much better afterward.
We now have an AP 160 on hand and it performs superbly, but we didn't repeat the shootout with it in the mix. And the TEK owner now also owns a TEK 160.
Edited by 3RFJeff (03/31/12 04:21 PM)
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Scott Beith
SRF
Reged: 11/26/03
Loc: Frederick, MD
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: 3RFJeff]
#5150539 - 03/31/12 05:26 PM
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Thanks for the info on that. 
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3RFJeff
member
Reged: 07/29/11
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: Scott Beith]
#5173951 - 04/15/12 03:53 PM
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Here's a great photo by 3RF Volunteer John Davis, showing the scope in action:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7085/7066715615_8598ba12eb_b.jpg
The observer is Celestron Midwest Regional Sales Manager Lonnie Wege, who is a bit over six feet tall (to give you an idea of scale).
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3RFJeff
member
Reged: 07/29/11
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Venus Transit Day setup
[Re: 3RFJeff]
#5256233 - 06/05/12 02:04 PM
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Here we have it adapted for white-light (Baader Turbo Solar film and polarizer on the 15" scope), h-alpha (Coronado SolarMax 40mm h-alpha filter on the 80mm Stellarvue NightHawk achromat at right) and Solar Continuum (Baader Herschel Solar Wedge on Stellarvue 80/9D finder scope, with Baader Continuum and ND filters, left).
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7075/7156865269_ff6c472465_b.jpg
Now if only the clouds will clear off.
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jmiele
Patron Saint?
Reged: 12/04/10
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Re: Venus Transit Day setup
[Re: 3RFJeff]
#5256395 - 06/05/12 03:38 PM
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Holy moly! Incredible! I'll right over. 
Joe
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GeneT
Ely Kid
Reged: 11/07/08
Loc: South Texas
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: bluestar]
#5256573 - 06/05/12 05:50 PM
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I clicked my heels together three times and said, 'I am not jealous, I am not jealous, I am not jealous.' 
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3RFJeff
member
Reged: 07/29/11
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: GeneT]
#5256752 - 06/05/12 08:04 PM
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I put three snapshots from the transit in a Flickr! album here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chipdatajeffb/sets/72157629999643043/
We have been mostly clear during the transit. Russell Horn is still making videos with the h-alpha scope and I'll post a link when he's got them online.
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3RFJeff
member
Reged: 07/29/11
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: 3RFJeff]
#5294632 - 06/29/12 10:37 AM
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Bit of news ...
On Sunday morning after our Saturday night star party, we're taking the scope out of service for a couple of weeks. We'll remove the rear OTA section, take off the accessories and focuser, and send it to OMI to be shortened.
We're also ordering a VanSlyke 3" ToadLoader focuser and 2" HexTurret to be shipped to OMI and mounted to the shortened back section to be sure we can reach focus.
On its return (hopefully before our two July star parties!), we will mount the following eyepieces, giving the stated magnifications:
41mm Panoptic, 112X
31mm Nagler, 147X
27mm Panoptic, 169X
21mm Ethos, 218X
17mm Nagler, 269X
12mm Nagler, 381X
This will require some rebalancing on initial setup, but after that we won't need to fine-tune the balance when swapping eyepieces and we won't have the problem of accidentally dropping expensive eyepieces (we dropped a 31mm Nagler, but luckily the only damage was a bent filter thread ... whew!).
After that, the only remaining pieces of the puzzle are making a dew shield and remounting the two TelRads. I might also mount a second matching finder scope if I can find one before the scope returns.
I'll post photos as we make them. Stay tuned ...
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Scott Beith
SRF
Reged: 11/26/03
Loc: Frederick, MD
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Re: 15" f/12 D&G
[Re: 3RFJeff]
#5294837 - 06/29/12 12:53 PM
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Please keep us updated on the progress.
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