65 replies to this topic

[Joe442]

Thanks for this. I’m learning all this. I downloaded the file and can see where to enter the info but not able to enter any. I’m on an iPhone. Is this why?

[Starman1]

Thanks for this. I’m learning all this. I downloaded the file and can see where to enter the info but not able to enter any. I’m on an iPhone. Is this why?

The Excel Reader is a free download for Android, but I think you may need to buy Excel on an iPhone.

There are other apps that allow Excel to be read and edited, but I haven't used them.

Why not just read the file on your laptop or tablet, where you'll have more real estate to peruse?

[Joe442]

The Excel Reader is a free download for Android, but I think you may need to buy Excel on an iPhone.

There are other apps that allow Excel to be read and edited, but I haven't used them.

Why not just read the file on your laptop or tablet, where you'll have more real estate to peruse?

Thank you. I will try the laptop and maybe find an app for iPad. You’re right about the phone it will drive me nuts. 

[04gto]

Here is your new guide for 2024.

It includes a number of new entries and a few new companies.

A couple old companies disappeared.

Fill in your telescope's focal length and f/ratio at the top left, hit enter, and all the calculated columns will fill in.

Thank you so much for this. I am a complete newb to this hobby, having only owned a scope for under 2 years. This guide, and your previous versions, have saved me many, many hours of research and countless dollars. I cannot imagine how many hundreds of hours it would take to research and compile all of the data contained within. I will certainly pay it forward. 

[HalfEazy]

Here is your new guide for 2024.

It includes a number of new entries and a few new companies.

A couple old companies disappeared.

Fill in your telescope's focal length and f/ratio at the top left, hit enter, and all the calculated columns will fill in.

Thabk you so much for this, really helps newbies like me learn

[Starman1]

I'm slowly working on the 2025 version, but got interrupted by a bathroom remodel and the fires in LA, for which I was evacuated for 11 days.

The most recent 2024.5 version is here:

https://www.cloudyni...ide/?p=13401184

[Elara]

It can’t have been an easy chapter ( those wildfires: just awful!)
Anyway, good to know and thank you as always, such a lot of work involved; very much appreciated and looking forward to reading!

[Kubie]

I love this thank you for all of your work

[davidgmd]

Don, so glad to hear you’re back in your home safe and sound. A bathroom remodel is disruptive enough. Hard to imagine  the combination of displacement and uncertainty of a wildfire evacuation.

  
Thanks again for this wonderful resource!

[MrsM75]

Thank you so much Sir Starman1 for the guide.

 

Sir, I do not know where to ask, so can I ask you here about eyepiece, since I'm thinking of buy one. I can only choose 1 of the Delite 11mm vs the Delite 9mm

 

I read on the internet that the Televue 9mm is actually like 11mm
And the Televue 11mm is actually like 13mm

 

Is this true?

[Starman1]

Thank you so much Sir Starman1 for the guide.

 

Sir, I do not know where to ask, so can I ask you here about eyepiece, since I'm thinking of buy one. I can only choose 1 of the Delite 11mm vs the Delite 9mm

 

I read on the internet that the Televue 9mm is actually like 11mm
And the Televue 11mm is actually like 13mm

 

Is this true?

No, that is not true.  Tele Vue focal lengths are highly accurate.

How many brands have you seen where the focal length is listed as 17.3mm or 18.2mm, or 3.7mm?

Tele Vue is very fussy about that.

So buy according to the magnification you want, and you can trust the FL.

 

Note: like all eyepiece brands, focal lengths are never exact, like 11.00mm.

If you have a way of measuring every eyepiece, you'd see +/- 0.05-0.1mm variations in all brands.

There are reasons for that I won't go into here, but if you figure the magnification based on focal length for Tele Vue eyepieces, you will be closer to exact than with most brands.

 

The issue you have is that the focus point for your eyepieces determines the focal length of your Maksutov scopes.

It is likely every eyepiece yields a slightly different telescope focal length.

How important is that?  Not important.  Just use the manufacturer's focal length and the eyepiece manufacturer's focal length and you'll be close enough.

 

This is just one of the small inaccuracies in the astronomy world we all accept.

[MrsM75]

Thank you Sir starman1, I will buy the 7mm Delite for sure as that would be my planetary eyepiece for my Mak. But since for sure I be getting the 7mm, then I think it make more sense to get the 11mm then, as 9mm would be very close to the 7mm.

 

I think you said you own a set, so do you see a different in quality between the 11mm Delite and 9mm?

 

Thank you Sir, sorry for my so many silly questions.

[Starman1]

I did not notice any qualitative differences among the Delites.

I did notice my eye did not like the 3mm because the small exit pupil highlighted problems in my eye.

And I did have a preference for the 18.2mm in a friend's f/10 scope.

Other than that, the 7mm was my most-used Delite, which yielded a 1mm exit pupil in my f/7 refractor.

 

Over time, I drifted to using wider apparent field eyepieces in the refractor, so sold all the Delites.

But I have nothing bad to say about them.  Contrast and sharpness is world-class.

[MrsM75]

Thank you Sir. Since you the expert in eyepiece, I want to ask you this.

 

Televue 32 Plssol 50 deg, eye relief 22mm

Vixen NPL 30 Plssol 50 deg, eye relief 24mm

 

Did you compare this side by side when view, did you find the Plssol of Televue better (just because it Televue), or it basically the same? I mean Plssol it Plssol.

[Starman1]

Thank you, Sir. Since you are the expert in eyepiece, I want to ask you this.

 

Tele Vue 32 Plössl 50 deg, eye relief 22mm

Vixen NPL 30 Plössl 50 deg, eye relief 24mm

 

Did you compare this side by side when viewing; did you find the Plössl of Tele Vue better (just because it is Tele Vue), or it basically the same? I mean a Plössl is a Plössl.

It has been 30 years since I last used Plössls in my scopes, and I never used Vixen NPLs.

The difference you'd note is that the Tele Vue 32mm has a slightly wider true field in your scope than the 30mm NPL.

 

Just an aside, and not a criticism, just because you might want to know, since your English has improved so much in just a short time:

In German, P-l-o-s-s-l is writen Plössl or Plößl.

In English, it's written Plossl or Ploessl.

All of those are accepted spellings.

[Dobs O Fun]

Thank you Don for your contribution!

 

The 2025 version is here.