Oh joy!

I've taken up suggesting people try the 82A for smaller aperture telescopes - and citing your logic in so doing! You 'turncoat!'

But your reasoning is/was sound. So I'll continue suggesting folks' try both to see what works best for their particular scope & their own vison. Arrrgh! Never a dull moment in the world of astronomy - and spending one's $£$£$£$'s on!

Perhaps you'd like one of these?

http://www.telescope.com/Accessorie...e-Imaging-Filter/pc/-1/c/3/sc/48/p/113382.uts

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Dave


p.s. - Even a devout 'Filter-Nut' like myself has never thought of getting the above!

 

LOL! Seriously though, I still stand by what I said about the 82A. I find the 80A is a bit aggressive sometimes even for lunar observing.

The 82A seems to highlight rilles, rays/ejecta, dorsum (wrinkle ridges) and other lunar features in a way that the 80A doesn't. It's very subtle and acts in a similar way to a lot of 'Moon & Skyglow' filters.

I still believe that an aperture of less than around 5" wouldn't work so well with an 80A, my 102mm (4") Mak has never been successful with an 80A even with a 1mm exit pupil (0.98mm with a 12.5mm EP giving 104x). I believe that with reflecting scopes below 5" any filter that transmits less than 50% will be hard work. Even an aperture of around 5"/13cm only really bright targets would benefit. Jupiter and Venus especially.

These Baaders look good, apparently they stack well to create other colours due to their high transmission. My TS Optics/GSO filters are decent enough, but the Baader filters are much better quality. I find cheaper filters can create reflections and tend to dew quickly for some reason. I was considering some Lumicons but they aren't easy to come by over here and their filter threads are weird. At least I know the Baader filters will fit everything.

Too cloudy to view anything tonight.


https://www.firstlightoptics.com/all-filters/baader-colour-filters-for-visual-use.html

 

Those Baader 1.25" colour-filters cost £32 EACH?! That's ridiculous! No wonder you're looking at the lower-cost alternatives.

Here's a basic set over here:

http://www.telescope.com/Accessorie...our-Color-Filters/pc/-1/c/3/sc/48/p/99590.uts

That's $12.50 each. Buying a single colour is under $20 just about anywhere. Singles can be found at under £13 each - if you hunt around a little. That's good information - thank you! Now that I know how much of a hit a single colour-filter is going to be, I'll factor that into my advice. Man! £32 comes in as about $39 a piece. I'd absolutely be checking prices with other vendors over there, Mak.

Egads!!

Dave

 

I have some Taiwanese made TS Optics filters (actually rebranded GSO) which were a similar price to the Orion ones. They're OK but I've noticed some small problems with them. Paint has flaked off threads which could contaminate an eyepiece field lens, they seem to dew slightly more easily and can suffer from visible reflections.



http://agenaastro.com/lumicon-1-25-80a-blue-filter-lf1070.html

This Lumicon 80A is listed at $47.95 at Agena (£38.31 Sterling). And that's without British Value Added Tax and import charges. Lumicon filters are difficult for me to purchase locally. Plus, as good as they are, in my experience, Lumicon filters don't have M28.5 x 0.6 threads and my own Lumicons don't thread into half of my eyepieces or diagonals. Baader filters, apart from being almost indestructible, thread into anything. I bought the Baader set, which worked out £40 or so cheaper than buying them all individually. I've been told they stack well so I can create other colours such as yellow-green etc.



This used Baader set appears to be $482.86 (£385.95) and even Agena sell them individually at $41 (£32.77) when in stock.



One thing that I've slowly come to realise is that if you want quality you often have to pay for it. I don't think it's always the case of 'you get what you pay for' but I have a lot of Baader filters and they're worth every penny.



Speaking of quality, why can't I find a really good 6mm Plossl without some sort of problem? So far a 6mm Celestron Omni seems to be the winner, albeit now wearing the Solomark drawtube. The 6mm GSO looked promising but won't focus with the Baader helical on the Bazooka due to the added back focus created by the helical itself. The Omni has no problems with this whatsoever. The Solomark 6mm was decent enough but has a visibly noticeable odd blue coating, which might be perfect for Jupiter lol. I've even ordered a 6mm Vixen SLV, it isn't a Plossl, but has lanthanum glass and is the nearest thing I can find. I'm not going to knock on Al Nagler's door about this, but I really wish TV had a current 6mm Plossl.



This 'Sky-Watcher' 6.3mm Plossl (above) looks like a contender. Although sold as a Sky-Watcher it actually has no brand name. My guess is that it's actually a Barsta Plossl, probably identical to the Orion Sirius series. In fact, this particular 6.3mm Plossl is wearing a smooth aluminium drawtube on temporary loan from a 10mm Orion Sirius Plossl. The original aluminium tube had an undercut.



The overall appearance and the identical focal lengths to the Sirius and Synta Plossl ranges tend to make me think they are all Barsta. The image above is from the Barsta site itself. In daylight tests the 'Sky-Watcher' 6.3mm seemed quite competent and produced a bright sharp image.

 

I am speechless!

I'll write more on this later - but I've never heard of this price before now. I'm off to squeeze-out my synapses!

(what's left of...)

Dave

 

Which price is that Dave? I think the Amazon quote of the equivalent of £385.95 for the Baader set is a bit bollocks. Someone's not converted their yen into pesos correctly somewhere. Nothing new there with GIGO Amazon lol.

The Baader set cost me £149. I think that's a decent price for a set of six high quality filters.

Most Lumicon Wrattens I've seen on US sites have been around 40~50 US dollars, Baader filters are often more.

 

Oh yes! That one wanting ton & tons of money? Ahahahahaha! Yes that one was 'special.'

I was just caught off-guard by these prices. And quite pleased I have all the colour-filters I need. I've never seen a price of about $20/ea. being asked for those. And I'm sure the Baader one's are of excellent quality - like the majority of their products.

Still with my jaw dropped -

Dave

 

Wratten colour filter prices vary, and as we both know, is no indication of actual quality. They seem to be in three basic categories here: under a tenner, around £13 ~ 15 and around £30. The first can vary from cheap and nasty with dodgy inferior glass and totally incompatible threads to basically just being in the second category. The second category are just fairly well made filters that do the job but can have problems. The third category, roughly twice the price of the second are basically well made and should last a lifetime.

 

I'm glad the last time I needed a few color-filters to cover new projects, it was years ago and most I found were from Hoya in Japan. Never a thread problem or poor quality view. They just did their job.

I'll be revising my ways of suggesting color-filters to include only higher-end ones.

Thanks, Mak!

Dave

 

It reminds me of the marketing slogan for Baader filters: 'tools not toys'. Sounds about right. Eventually I cracked and ordered a 6mm Vixen SLV. These have lanthanum glass and are apparently like ortho's on steroids.


Then I had a funny turn and ordered a BST 3.2mm Starguider. My first Starguider ever!


I didn't realise it had a flared tube, but it will work in the Bazooka if I take the Baader helical off, or, if I'm lucky, I could use a T-adapter. It's only for the Bazooka really and will give me 281.25x, so basically I've bought it for looking at the Moon. Everyone this side of the pond raves about them. It will nice to see what all the fuss is about.

 

Looks quite nice, too! But 3.2MM in myMaksutov would ring-the-bell at 562.5X. Not very likely, unless I was on the Moon!

I have a Baader Hyperion of 3.5mm - which I believe are no longer made - for anything I wanted to play with on. But the only scopes I've got where this would come in would be the ST80 F5 and the 200mm Newt. at F4 - and I hear tell the Hyperion EP's don't work well on these.

I'll be interested to read your findings with those. I'll wager that Vixen LV will be 'stellar!' That rare-earth element - Lanthanum - is magical! Anytime I see a Vixen with an 'L' in it's name, it's always a safe bet. I'm still kicking myself for not having bought the full-range of there LV's around 2002. They were inexpensive, and the views I had still knock me backwards! Flat-field & nary a seagull across the FOV.

Dave

 

I've heard the same about Hyperions. I've never actually owned one, although once or twice I've come close to pulling the trigger.


I had another session with Jupiter last night 23:30 ~ 01:30 BST. Transit was 00:37 this morning. I started off with the 6mm Solomark Plossl and the 80A giving 150x for an 0.86mm exit pupil.



I found this (above) from the attached PDF. I can't wait to try the Baader blue filter with the 6mm Vixen SLV.



After a while the transparency improved and I thought at times I could discern a lot more detail in the NEZ. I gradually upped the magnification (now with the Baader Neodymium filter) to 164x, 180x and even attempted 200x with a 9mm Celestron XL/2x XL Barlow combination. Unfortunately I couldn't get the back focus with the helical so switched to a 4mm Sky-Watcher UWA for 225x. A bit earlier I spent a long time with the 5.5mm Bresser (164x) and it was looking so good I decided to see how far I could push it. I still highly rate those little 60° Bresser 'Plerfles'. If I'd have had the right eyepiece combinations I might have made 250x.



I had some beautiful clarity at 225x and the NEZ colours were amazing with a rich variety of different shades of brown. I watched the GRS slowly move across the surface from right to left. All of the colours were quite vibrant with the GRS being very red. Eventually I lost the transparency though and called it a night. When I got back in and was checking my gear over I discovered debris had formed in the 4mm UWA and I can't clean it off. I think it's almost certainly internal and would be very visible with lunar observing. Exactly the same thing happened with the 5mm UWA last summer. Furthermore, I can't unthread the drawtube/Smyth negative to investigate more closely. I replaced the 5mm UWA last year with this 5mm TSO Planetary HR (below).



Which is basically an upmarket version of the Sky-Watcher UWA. I was impressed with the UWA's originally and often recommended them. I can't in all honesty do that now. They seem to have some problems with internal debris, often only appearing after months of use. I've since read other reports of this. The UWA's and the TS Optics Planetary HR are almost certainly both Barsta (BST). The HR's are better made though and don't suffer so badly from EOF shadows, internal reflections and scatter. They are twice the price of the UWA's.



So, the Easter Bunny is bringing me a 4mm TSO Planetary HR which is now winging its way from the Fatherland as we speak. Also, I couldn't resist this 4mm AH ortho' from FLO. I've been looking at it for weeks and it seems like a no brainer now lol. This will be the shortest f/l Abbe ortho' I've ever owned.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/japanese-made-eyepieces/hutech-orthoscopic-eyepiece.html

Pasg Hapus (Happy Easter) & a Blessed Eostre* .

Eostre* ~ originally an Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring


Oh yeah, and any more borked eyepieces and the bunny gets it!

 

Lapin Fricassee? Save me a bowl!

Like the school-bus driver in South Park - "Sit down!! Or the Bunny gets it!!" Said she - holding a pistol.

My brother always served-up Rabbit for his kids on Easter. But called it Lapin in French so they wouldn't object - or scream! Good, inexpensive meat in Holland where they lived at the time.

I'm amused that the #82A appears to be a green-filter? Or has my colour sense derailed? I was thinking of hauling my Maksutov out as it was 80°F. and clear blue-sky. But I just heard T-storms are approaching us (of course!). Ah well, at least I LOVE a good T-storm. I was actually hit by a lightening-bolt here before. It blew-out every electrical-gadget in the house - which I'd unplugged when I heard the 'rumble' coming closer - except the TV. The bolt came right through my upper-deck door and threw me into a wall across the house - you could say it made a 'lasting-impression!'

The TV, which was on when it hit, was the only electrical appliance to not get fried. It flickered, went out, and then came back on to The Weather-Channel. I peeled myself out of the wall and took stock of damages.

A True-Tale,

Dave

 

Rabbit hasn't been popular to eat here since the myxomatosis outbreak in the 1950's. Apparently it took out 99% of them. Or maybe it was Watership Down, see the film; now eat the cast.



Or Art Garfunkel ...



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078480/?ref_=nv_sr_1

The original Easter Bunny was a hare anyway. There's plenty of them around, I used to see them 'boxing' in fields near me when I was more able bodied.

They must have run out of colours when they made the PDF lol.

Too cloudy outside tonight for Jupiter, must be April lol. Could be a storm brewing though ...



Not only is it cloudy, QuickMap is down.

 

That #58 Green-Filter being called a #82 was rather amusing. But I am wondering how many people went into a 'Panic-Mode' and booked an appointment with an eye-doctor as a result.....?

I downloaded a copy of it, only to see I already had it in my files. I must have missed that gaffe on my first pass around 2 years ago! Silly me - it's quite funny. Now I have a new use for it: A "Where's Waldo?" file - most of it's data is quite good & well done as an overview of the filters it describes. But I can now also use it as challange & puzzle. Ask the person I give a copy to:

"Read through this. Then tell us what glaring error it contains?"

A sneaky, underhanded way to increasing ones' 'reading-comprehension' skills! Me thinks I'll add a footnote to this in my "Miles-O'-Files" copy.

Temperature here in Podunk is dropping like a rock. Raining on & off - but no T-storms! Arrrgh! Or the gusts of wind up to 50-mph, as they threatened us with. As a friend of mine once to said: "Meteorology is the only 'science' where you can be utterly wrong in your answers - and still not get tossed-out on your backsides!" That earlier 80°F. today was but a cruel tease.

Catch you laterzzz...

Dave



Latest Acquisition?

 

Is there a filter for pants weather?



Dunno if I can stay awake until 04:30 ~ ish, it'll probably still be cloudy though.

 

Why yes - now that you mention it! One of these:




We call them 'Raincoats.'

<I'll go away now...>

Dave

 

Technically, we call that an anorak. A word that is also roughly congruous with the US term 'nerd'. Anorak is Eastern Canadian Inuit for raincoat or something, I don't know how it spread across the rest of the Commonwealth from Canada. Apparently train spotters and other obsessive types would wear them as they were out spotting trains and the like, so the word anorak became synonymous with socially inept behaviour and an obsession with what many would deem boring hobbies.



Sounds a bit like astronomy lol. And people who read nerdy anorak books like this, which Mr Amazon just stuffed through my letterbox. How about knocking on my door Mr Amazon?



I have a raincoat like this, not so good for astronomy, but they do look cool. I think we call anything waterproof with a hood an anorak. Anorak probably literally translates from Inuit as 'waterproof coat with hood'.



The BBC weather mendacity app on my tablet claims that it could be clear by midnight. I may get to see the GRS again tonight! I remembered that I can get 225x by Barlowing an 8mm TV Plossl, so I may try this magnification again tonight.



Here's looking at you kid, I mean, Jupiter.



I just can't picture Bogey wearing an anorak and doing this scene lol.

 

I think the word 'Anorak' here is a style and/or brand of outerwear. Raincoats are simply called that - or a poncho. Poncho is usually a lighter-weight type of garment that is pulled over one's head and consists of a Nylon® sheet with holes for one's arms. I always carry one when I go on a camping-trip into the mountains - and when I do that - my intention is to vanish for awhile! So I carry enough gear to do just that, and weight becomes a factor. I generally heft a 60lb. pack.

"Nerds" indeed! Perhaps Inuit language made in-roads to English during the 'French-Indian Wars' when the French and British both wanted what became today's Canada. All a part of the '7-Years War.'



That looks to be an interesting book. Seeing other peoples' suggestions on how to observe the 'Vacuum-Cleaner of the Inner Solar-System' - Jupiter!

I clearly remember my first look through a telescope my neighbors' gave to me at a quite young age. I enjoyed scaring the daylights out of my parents by climbing out a 3rd. - story window and onto the very steep roof - while carrying the telescope with me. Always up to the top-ridge where I set-up the scope. They didn't follow me, at least! And Jupiter was the star of the show - which I had a hunch about that un-twinkling 'star' to be.

Onwards & Upwards -

Dave

 

I thought a poncho was what Clint Eastwood wore in those macaroni westerns.






Still looks promising.