1227 replies to this topic

[PKDfan]

Indeed! I am curious as well.

I am going to try to do a comparison with an artificial star with the original objective vs the new one. I have a cell phone eyepiece adapter, so maybe I can even gather some actual photographic evidence.

Even if the new lens isn't that great, it's worth the money just to try it.

In the meantime, I have a trip coming up next week to the mountains in Alberta and the lens won't be here in time. So I dusted off my modified Meade 50mm finder and I'll take that with me instead. It's like 1/2 of a binocular but I can swap out the eyepieces!

Any old port in a storm Rick !

Its an ideal little scope for that.
And a real beauty.

Hope your trip goes smoothly !


CSS
Lance

[John R.]

Indeed! I am curious as well.

 

I am going to try to do a comparison with an artificial star with the original objective vs the new one. I have a cell phone eyepiece adapter, so maybe I can even gather some actual photographic evidence.

 

Even if the new lens isn't that great, it's worth the money just to try it.

 

In the meantime, I have a trip coming up next week to the mountains in Alberta and the lens won't be here in time. So I dusted off my modified Meade 50mm finder and I'll take that with me instead. It's like 1/2 of a binocular but I can swap out the eyepieces!

 

I love my AT50 finder. Great little (but heavy) RFT. Also, can stand magnification up to at least 65x. 
 

Edited by John R., 21 March 2025 - 09:23 PM.

[jcj380]

I've thought about giving my AT50 finder to my grandson since he's expressed some interest in astro. 

 

Not gonna happen.  

 

I agree it's a great half-binocular.  Really nice not having to contort myself to observe near the zenith.

Edited by jcj380, 22 March 2025 - 09:23 AM.

[JimP]

Well I just offered to buy the 80mm refractor just like the one I owned decades ago.

Jim Phillips

[apalsikar]

Recently moved from a Newtonian Reflector  Skywatcher 150P to a small 55mm / f4.8 Petzval Refractor Askar SQA55.  Very compact and powerful scope and doubles as a Telephoto lens as well

 

Great Optics at a very reasonable price

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by apalsikar, 25 March 2025 - 01:45 AM.

[Jon Isaacs]

 

I like smaller refractors and I like larger reflectors. 

 

This 50mm finder started the mega thread. (3.5 mm Nagler plus 2x Barlow = 140x)

 

This 60mm F/7 achromat could use a metal focuser but is surprisingly good.

 

This AT-80LE is an carbon fiber 80mm F/6 FPL-53 doublet. I had a AT-72ED, I liked this one better.  80mm F/6 FPL-53 doublets are quite rare.. This one had belonged to Don Yeier of Vernonscope.   

 

The 90mm F/5.5 Svbony 48P, an achromat along with my William Optics Megrez II FD.  I've had it for more than 15 years.  It's an 80mm F/7 FPL-53 doublet, it has excellent optics.  It's been around.. 

 

Small refractors are easy scopes, easy to setup, easy to use, easy to push to the limit... Pushing a small scope to the limit is good training, good practice for pushing a large scope to the limit..  The scope that has caught my eye, the AT-70ED.  A nice birding astro-scope at around $330... 

 

Jon

 

 

Someone gave me a like on this post, November 2022 so it brought this to my attention.  I finally got my AT-70ED in February 2025.. 

 

Jon is a fast worker. He sees something he wants and he goes for it immediately.. More than 2 years, that's trival on galactic time scales.  

 

Jon

[vrodriguez2324]

Someone gave me a like on this post, November 2022 so it brought this to my attention.  I finally got my AT-70ED in February 2025.. 

 

Jon is a fast worker. He sees something he wants and he goes for it immediately.. More than 2 years, that's trival on galactic time scales.  

 

Jon

Jon,

 

I think it was me just a few minutes ago . 

 

About two weeks ago I started to seriously consider a small refractor. Two weeks after that now I have two.

 

On a galactic time scale there is no real difference between 2 weeks and 2 years. I guess we're equally impulsive. ST80 and SW72ED

 

Victor

 

Edited by vrodriguez2324, 25 March 2025 - 06:42 AM.

[Rick-T137]

Well, I'm upping my "small refractor" game with a 50mm f/4 Meade finder that I've converted into a tiny travel scope. My normal travel scope (70mm f/7.1) is awaiting a replacement objective lens, so I decided to take this little guy with me on my trip next week to the mountains in Alberta. I'm sure it'll be a bit of a CA monster, but it should still be fun!

 

Game Boy Advance SP case closed:

 

Case Open:

 

Ready to rock:

[jcj380]

I'm sure it'll be a bit of a CA monster, but it should still be fun!

Try a light yellow filter?

[Rick-T137]

Try a light yellow filter?

I have a Svbony SV231 "fringe killer" filter that I normally use with my Celestron Omni AZ 102 - Imma gonna take that with me, and I'm sure it will help. Thanks!

[vrodriguez2324]

Well, I'm upping my "small refractor" game with a 50mm f/4 Meade finder that I've converted into a tiny travel scope. My normal travel scope (70mm f/7.1) is awaiting a replacement objective lens, so I decided to take this little guy with me on my trip next week to the mountains in Alberta. I'm sure it'll be a bit of a CA monster, but it should still be fun!

Ready to rock:

You could probably squeeze in the Gameboy and Tetris too. That is a nice travel kit!

Edited by vrodriguez2324, 25 March 2025 - 12:06 PM.

[Polyphemos]

Well, I'm upping my "small refractor" game with a 50mm f/4 Meade finder that I've converted into a tiny travel scope. My normal travel scope (70mm f/7.1) is awaiting a replacement objective lens, so I decided to take this little guy with me on my trip next week to the mountains in Alberta. I'm sure it'll be a bit of a CA monster, but it should still be fun!

 

Game Boy Advance SP case closed:

 

Case Open:

 

Ready to rock:

I can see I’ve fallen behind in my micro travel setup. Very nice combo!

[Rick-T137]

I can see I’ve fallen behind in my micro travel setup. Very nice combo!

Thanks! This little baggie is going into my backpack carry on for my flight. I think ultimately it would be neat to have an origami 6" reflector that I could pack, but for an impromptu setup just to have something to take, I think this little fella is going to serve me well.

[desertlens]

This thread reminded me that I've had this one in reserve while my attention was elsewhere. It's a Redcat 51 Petzval (version 1) setup for visual that generates a nice flat field.

 

[johnfgibson]

Well, I'm upping my "small refractor" game with a 50mm f/4 Meade finder that I've converted into a tiny travel scope. My normal travel scope (70mm f/7.1) is awaiting a replacement objective lens, so I decided to take this little guy with me on my trip next week to the mountains in Alberta. I'm sure it'll be a bit of a CA monster, but it should still be fun!

 

Game Boy Advance SP case closed:

 

 

Case Open:

 

 

Ready to rock:

 

What's the mount for that bad boy? I'm looking to do the same for a trip to the mountains in May.

[Rick-T137]

What's the mount for that bad boy? I'm looking to do the same for a trip to the mountains in May.

The mount is a little Orion 7033 Precision Slow-Motion Adapter I bought ages ago. It is Alt Az with slo-mo controls. It is pretty neat and sturdy. Under it is a little table-top camera tripod.

[Rick-T137]

Indeed! I am curious as well.

 

I am going to try to do a comparison with an artificial star with the original objective vs the new one. I have a cell phone eyepiece adapter, so maybe I can even gather some actual photographic evidence.

 

Even if the new lens isn't that great, it's worth the money just to try it.

 

In the meantime, I have a trip coming up next week to the mountains in Alberta and the lens won't be here in time. So I dusted off my modified Meade 50mm finder and I'll take that with me instead. It's like 1/2 of a binocular but I can swap out the eyepieces!

 

Bad news - I've either been the victim of incompetence or a scam - either way my package arrived from China this afternoon. It was supposed to be an achromat 70mm doublet objective. Instead it was a Bluetooth Remote Shutter release. I've applied for a refund - we'll see if I've lost my money. Not a huge deal as it wasn't terribly expensive but it makes me wary of buying from China through AliExpress (I think this was only my second purchase through that site).

 

Meanwhile, the saving for the AT72ED continues... 

[rerun]

Yesterday I had a solar observation at the partial solar eclipse with all of my refractors . Three of them I would call small ones .

 

 

[Erik Bakker]

The partial solar eclipse was great fun with some non-astronomer friends and my Nikon ED82 A with 30x eyepiece and Baader solar filter. I also handed out some eclipse glasses to them, safety first.

Already easy to be seen, the Baader filtered views of this partial solar eclipse in the Nikon 82mm ED at 30x with the native Nikon Wide fixed focal length eyepiece were stunningly sharp and contrasty. The ragged surface of the moon against the bright solar disc was really nice, as were the many big and small sunspots with granulation visible across the sun.

 

Solar images hand held with my Nikon D4 and ED Micro Nikkor 200mm f/4 with Baader solar filter and WB set manually to 10 000 K for a warmer colored sun. Eclipde watchers imaged with Nikon Df and Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 SE.

 

[Erik Bakker]

Here is the same image as the top left one, a bit larger, taken around the eclipse maximum with various sunspots and granulation visible in this cropped hand held 200mm image:

 

[quilty]

like this. Really a joy, such a small (60 mm) H alpha scope:

Edited by quilty, 31 March 2025 - 07:06 AM.

[Erik Bakker]

Beautiful image 

[revans]

Yes, very beautiful image...    

[Jon Isaacs]

Beautiful image 

 

I don't know about that.. it looks all grainy with bright regions and dark lines, I think something needed cleaning..

 

All kidding aside, it is a beautiful image.. 

 

Jon

[quilty]

It's strange. For that little eclipse we had 4! 60 mm H alpha scopes to the public. one for the pics.
The granulation is way more on the pics while the protuberances were more beautiful visually.
And the dark spot was much larger in normal filtered (and projection) scopes with its penumbra.
But those dark files couldn't been seen in the normal scopes and by H alpha visually not that distinctly.
Don't know what image processing did that.

PS: the dark files suggest a vivid movement along the equator. But this is not about the sun, it's about small fracs.
And indeed, those little H alpha scopes do!

PS2: Why do you write the sun in normal but Mercury in capital letters?

Edited by quilty, 31 March 2025 - 11:18 AM.