9611 replies to this topic

[Piggyback]

Hi Stefan,

 

Very nice setup!  it is the first time that i see a system that has a frontal H-alpha filter. Does it have additional elements on the focuser side? I am looking now into the website of Beloptik, but i cannot find it.

 

Regards

Carlos  

Hi Carlos,

 

The frontal part on my Beloptik setup is an energy rejection filter to keep temps inside the tube at an acceptable level. The H-Alpha filter sits in the back. Unlike the heated DayStar systems the Beloptik system can be used instantaneously without a heating element. If you have a chance to talk to him, tell Oliver I sent you. He is a very nice person to talk to. The site is beloptik.de

[Terra Nova]

Hi Terra,

 

i am looking for a Tento 20x60 as i also love using and collecting classic binoculars, how is your experience regarding eye relief compared with the Zeiss Dekarems? 

 

Regards

Carlos

Hi Carlos, I have no idea really. Mine seem to be MIA. They were severely out of collimation as well as dirty when I got them, so much so as to be unusable. I sent them to Suddarth Optical Repair and they had them for five months. They cleaned and collimated them as as I intended to use them for astronomy I also had the lens edges and prism backs blackened. Five months and >$400 USD later, (not counting what I paid for the binoculars themselves) I got them back. The weather at that time was terrible so I could only use them during the day. The limited terrestrial images I saw from them seemed clean and sharp. Finally, weather and family obligations cleared and I had a chance to put them on a tripod and take them out at night (at the beginning of October). I was horrified when I looked through them. All the stars looked like close doubles, I looked at Jupiter and Saturn and both were partially superimposed double images. They were out of collimation STILL! Not nearly as bad as before and undetected when handheld and things jiggling. But still unusable for what I intended them for and basically unusable in general as far as I’m concerned. 20” out of collimation is unacceptable! I contacted Cory the next morning and he said send the  back immediately. I sent them back that day, with tracking and insurance. Tracking said they were delivered to SOR but I got no confirmation from Cory. I’ve contacted him twice and not heard anything back. So I have no clue what’s going on? Right now, it seems to be a $600 loss and pretty p…..ed off! I will never again do this. Only new binoculars for me in the future! I bought a new pair of Pentax SP 20x60 WPs and I like them very much. I’m probably going to get the new Oberwerk 20X70ED Ultras  in the near future as I’m a devoted binocular observer; more so than telescopes anymore.

[Corcaroli78]

Hi Carlos, I have no idea really. Mine seem to be MIA. They were severely out of collimation as well as dirty when I got them, so much so as to be unusable. I sent them to Suddarth Optical Repair and they had them for five months. 

Hi Terra,

 

What a history..... i hope they appear soon, but anyway the investment is not a small amount and certainly you can get a decent porro bino for the money. Not all classic histories are happy histories.

 

Regards

Carlos  

[Paul Sweeney]

Terra,
$400???? What are they doing, gold plating them? I sure hope they don't charge you for the re- repair.

[Bomber Bob]

I'll have my eyes on the skies tonight after sundown:  There's a LONG W-E gap in the broken layers and it's slowly sliding my way...  Maybe an FC-76 vs. Comet contest...

 

No Joy:  Gap filled with strings then clumps of clouds as it approached The Swamp.  Too Bad -- temps were much more comfortable (warming-up to rain tomorrow!)...

Edited by Bomber Bob, 23 November 2022 - 09:06 AM.

[CHASLX200]

Terra,
$400???? What are they doing, gold plating them? I sure hope they don't charge you for the re- repair.

Maybe shipping knocked them out. Everytime my Meade 7" ED came back from Meade it was out of collimation.
 

[Terra Nova]

Terra,
$400???? What are they doing, gold plating them? I sure hope they don't charge you for the re- repair.

The basic cleaning/collimation is around $250. That’s what I had done to my Zeiss 10x50 Dekarems and they came back beautifully and only took a couple of months. But With the Tentos, I also had the lens edges and prism backs blackened to optimize them for Astronomy. I wish I would have never bought them. I should have just stuck with the Pentax 20x60s. They are really nice binoculars; a narrower field than the Tentos, but still a very sharp view.

[Terra Nova]

Maybe shipping knocked them out. Everytime my Meade 7" ED came back from Meade it was out of collimation.
 

Probably. I have no idea really. But I’ve had lots of other binoculars shipped with no collimation problems.

[CHASLX200]

Probably. I have no idea really. But I’ve had lots of other binoculars shipped with no collimation problems.

I am not sure as well. But i have had many scopes shipped to me, that were fracts that were all collimated. But that 7" ED was wrong from the get go. 

[Terra Nova]

I am not sure as well. But i have had many scopes shipped to me, that were fracts that were all collimated. But that 7" ED was wrong from the get go. 

And that certainly was the case with the Russian binoculars. They were a mess when I got them to begin with. I should have just sent them back but they came from Israel.

[Terra Nova]

Not a classic but I’ve been enjoying daily checks of the sun (when it’s SUNNY! - sorry, that’s a winter in the Ohio Valley joke), with my Lunt 8x32 Sunoculars. They’re sharp little roofs and it’s amazing how much I can see with them. They’re light weight but it still helps to be seated do that my right arm is braced so the view is absolute steady. I check what I’m seeing with my SOHO phone app and it’s very close. Right now, there’s a big spot and associated small trailing group at about 20° S lat, and a corresponding smaller group (i could see two aligned spots) at 20° N.

 

Last night, I observed with my classic Zeiss West (Oberkochen) 15x60s mounted on my trusty old (and classic) Bogen 3040. (The binos are around 60 years old, the tripod around 40.) I also had my new Pentax SP 20x60 WP binoculars out. My observation report for last night is here:

 

https://www.cloudyni...ter/?p=12305033

 

I highly recommend the Pentax 20x60s and the little Lunt Sunoculars. The Pentaxes are an amazing bang for your buck!
 

[steve t]

I was out, with the 4" Newt, starting at 9:00 PM EDT and going until 9:30 PM.

The seeing was good.

At 125X and a Moon & Skyglow eyepiece filter, I was able to make out a lot of detail along the edge of the bands on Jupiter. For my location Mars is still playing hide and seek among the bare branches of the trees to the east of my place, so I'll need to wait until early December before I get a good look at it.

[norvegicus]

For quick solar looks and deciding whether to get a telescope out I've been using a classic Focal (Kmart) "Siam Cat Optics" 20x60 binocular with a pair Seymour Solar filters that attach to the objective bells with a set screw.   It's one of the easiest to stabilize 20X binoculars I've used.  If I lean a shoulder against something or rest my elbows it's stable enough to get a nice view of solar action.

 

https://www.seymours..._Filters.html#/

Edited by norvegicus, 23 November 2022 - 11:59 AM.

[Bomber Bob]

BONUS Session last night...  NWS forecast was for mostly cloudy (storms coming in this afternoon), but I went outside after dinner, and Jupiter was bright as a button.

 

I had my FC-76 set up in less than 2 minutes.  It was in the clear, but intermittent turbulence; still, TAK-sharp at 150x, so I brought out my Mizar Comet, too.  Sketchable cloud belt views in both at 150x & 200x; in fact, I couldn't tell much difference between them, except only the FC showed different colors for the Galileans.  Saw that one moon was very close to Jupiter, approaching a disk eclipse, and guessed by its size & color it must be Io (and it was).  Had the scopes about 5 feet apart (trickier to NOT bump them than it sounds!), and made a trail in the lawn going back & forth.  Io's disappearance lasted longer in the Comet by about a minute...

 

Mars!!  My First Red Planet Session this season, and these 2 small scopes performed perfectly -- optically, mechanically, and functionally.  It was above the oaks around 0230Z, but... Mercy!  It was in the sky waterfall -- washing & dancing around randomly.  By 0300Z, it was stabler.  Syrtis is obvious in both at just 100x  But... I got confused by the Tak's mirror-reversed versus the Comet's inverted view!  Once again, and more challenging than with Jupiter, I couldn't see any difference between the 2 scopes at 100x / 150x / 200x.  The Martian Disk is that weird soft color, made of tan + tangerine + rose.  Syrtis is black, very prominent, while the other surface features are shades of gray, except Mare Acidalium, which had hints of brown in the mix.  Mars got into 8+ seeing after about an hour, so I tried "pushing" both scopes to 250x, then 300x... and all the surface details washed-out except Syrtis.  IIRC, Mars was at least 20" across in my first views with the Sears (RAO) 6336, and at 250x, I sketched Syrtis's "crow feet", pointing north.

 

[Yes!  My 2014 sketches with the 6336, and my 2016 sketches with the Unitron 142 BOTH showed this feature.  The 6336 stayed sharp at 300x, too.  FYI: I'd forgotten, but in my Tinsley 6" Cass back in 2020, I watched a small patch of haze slide across Erythraeum at 250x & 300x.  So Glad that I archived electronic copies of these!]

 

Did I have a good night?  Oh, yes!!  I'll share the joy:  I hope All Y'all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

[Bomber Bob]

Quietest SUN that I've seen in months:  Only 3 Clusters, and all 3 are small & widely-scattered; along with a few small & isolated Spots.  I used my TS-65/500 + Lunt Wedge.

 

Very Windy Day!  Very very Clear.  Humidity is dropping by the hour, and No Moon tonight, so it should be a great DSO session.  Got my Kenko SE-120 F5 on the VersaGo.  Put a Vixen 1.25" adapter on my TS-65/500; and, my BB-made 1.25" aluminum sleeve on my Mizar Comet.  And, as usual these days, my FC-76 is on standby, too...

[Bomber Bob]

Boom! Boom! Boom!  Saturn, The Moon, & Jupiter in the FC-76 under clear skies, and in a strong North Wind tonight.  About 20 mins each on the Gas Giants at 200x... Titan + 2, and 2 well-defined cloud belts.  Setting GRS, a large black barge, and 5 belts.  The Moon was sharp! at 300x, and ink-black shadows along The Terminator.  Simply... Lovely.

[steve t]

Just got in after doing some solar observing with the 4" Newt. @62x.

At 12:00 PM EST there appears to be two large spots, on the eastern edge of the Sun, that are just rotating into view. Being on the edge of the Sun they are very foreshortened. The spot furthest to the east look like a very narrow slit in the photosphere.

[Bomber Bob]

Fingers Crossed...  southern branch of the mid-level jet stream is just north of The Swamp, and skies are all scattered cirrus.  But... that's progged to improve after sunset.  I hope so, as I recently downloaded & installed ZWO's latest Windows software to my new laptop (with the Big Screen!); and, daytime testing with my ASI120MC went well -- no annoying skips or pauses during AVI captures.  The ASI Suite includes about everything needed to create videos, stack videos, & do some basic post-processing...

 

Gonna start at Square One with The Moon.  If that goes well, then Jupiter; and, if I haven't started tossing gear around in frustration, make some stabs at Mars...  I don't need perfect seeing for this Test, but calm & cloud-free would sure help... my nerves!

Edited by Bomber Bob, 01 December 2022 - 04:19 PM.

[highfnum]

criterion dynascope 4 inch 

my first scope

 

[highfnum]

dynascope 4 inch

[highfnum]

RV6 

[steve t]

highfnum - Looking at your images and all I can is wow. Amazing contrast.

Thanks for sharing

[monolithic]

On the night of Dec. 1 my 10" f/7 reflector showed me:

- Alpine Valley rille and surrounding area
- Rupes Recta and surrounding area
- Io shadow transit; moon seen over Jupiter
- 85% sure I saw Ganymede albedo, NASA sim checks out. Possibly Tashmetum-Osiris region
- Syrtis Major and other dark features on Mars; prominent polar cap

- Huygenian region, which was firmly a direct-vision object at 297x. Absurdly bright, even in B7 w/ first quarter moon; mottling detected throughout the nebulosity
- Trapezium E and F

[Bomber Bob]

Debra had a rough patch last night, so I was indoors.  She's doing better today, and I just came in from some fun Sunset Observing with my TS-65/500.  Started with The Moon at 1615L (2215Z), using all TAK .965" accessories... Brilliant whites & grays against a dark blue background.  It & Jupiter were in the clear, and I did some accessory comparisons while taking in the GRS.  My 1960s RAO 2x Barlow is good for sharpness, but adds yellow to the views at 100x & above.  Thrifty as I am, I could be persuaded to invest good money in a quality TAK, Tani, or Vixen Barlow -- if I can find one in this smaller barrel...

 

Looks like Europa & Io are gonna put on a show later this evening, and if the pesky moisture will stay up in B'ham, I'll be out there cloud-dodging for sure...

 

Cotton Ball Clouds... didn't stop me from seeing Io pop back into view, but they did keep me from any imaging attempts.  The Moon was a different case:

 

 

The new ZWO software works!  Given the conditions, with clouds streaming across the field, I'm pleased.  No video freezing, no USB glitches.  Shoot!  Just for fun, I ran the ASI120MC in FULL AUTO mode, and it was able to compensate for the wildly changing illuminations.  Gotta give some credit to my new Dell laptop, too.  First pic is 100% RAW, sampled only the best 30% of 3000 images (I like that I can set that max, because I've forgotten to STOP Capture in the past).  Second pic is after applying one of my Moon templates to it in IrfanView.  (Haven't learned all the bells & whistles in the ASI Suite, yet.)

 

[I'd say my FC-76's hazy flint cleaned-up pretty good.]

 

And... I'd left my TS-65/500 set up on the lawn, and Mars was in clear & calm air.  Once Again, Syrtis is obvious in this scope at just 100x.  At 200x, Utopia is gappy, but a cool shade of very dark blue-gray.  In a 65mm refractor.  (Makes me wonder how well a TS-80 would do...)

Edited by Bomber Bob, 02 December 2022 - 10:07 PM.

[CHASLX200]

RV6 

Capture 2022-12-01T20_22_47rv6dl.jpg

Capture 2022-12-01T20_31_06rv6dl.jpg

Capture 2022-12-01T20_17_24rv6.jpg

Very good shots. That is how i see Jupiter at around 500x in the 12.5" and the nice round balls for the moons on my 27" Monitor.