June 2004 - UVAA - mailman.xmission.com

Workshop/Moon Watch
by Jim Gibson 29 Dec '04

29 Dec '04

There will be a workshop/moon watch at Fort Provo on Saturday night May 1st starting at 6:30. PM. The park has to be cleared by 11PM. The work shop will be given by John Zeigler and he will present a discussion on the light train and on eyepieces (how the work, not necessarily which ones to buy). If time permits, Jim Gibson will present a short introductory discussion on the moon and it features. To make things interesting for the new folks a free CD will be given away that can be used as an aid to learning moon features and their names. There is also some material on the Apollo missions on the CD. There will be 2 Telrads for sale at the price of $40.00 each for any one who is interested. Fort Provo can be reached by getting off of I-15 on Provo Center Street and going West. From the West side of I-15 go to the 2nd stop light at Center Street and Geneva Rd. Turn right and go about a block and you will see the Fort and the park on the right-hand side. Bring lawn chairs, a snack, the kids, and a telescope or binoculars. If you have none of the above, come anyway. When you arrive look for some strange old guy with a parallelogram and binoculars and if Rich Tenney doesnt show up, then look for a young 60 year old guy with a suave short hair cut and with a parallelogram and binoculars. Jim Gibson --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢

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Eyepiece comparison
by Jim Gibson 28 Jun '04

28 Jun '04

When I first got interested in stargazing, I took a telescope making class from Brent Watson. In teaching us about the optic train Brent stressed how every piece of glass inserted in the light train has an effect on what we see and that we would be handicapping ourselves if we built a great mirror and then didnt get good quality eyepieces. In a short time of research on the web, right or wrong, it seemed apparent to me that the standard for comparison in many cases was the Tele Vue Nagler eyepieces. It seemed to me that most folks were looking for the same quality eyepiece but for a cheaper price as the Negalrs tend to be expensive. At the time I was using a 5 Meade that came with 0.96 no-named Japanese eyepieces that were cheapies in order to keep the price in line with Wal*Mart standards. I got a 1.25 adapter from Meade and my first real quality eyepiece was a 13mm type 6 Nagler. I will never forget the experience of my first view through the Nagler after having become used to the 0.96ers. In bringing the moon into sharp crisp focus I was immediately stunned with the image before me and all I could do for the longest time as my eye traveled across the detail of the moons surface was to say to myself, Wow! Wow! Wow! I have since joined the throng of those looking for the Wow experience for a cheaper price. In my pursuit I have heard some good things about many eyepieces like University Optic Orthoscopics, which I managed to pick up a few. I recently bought a 15mm (1.25) eyepiece form Seibert Optics (http://www.siebertoptics.com/SiebertOptics-1.25in-eyepieces-ultra.html#15mm) and I also bought a 15mm and a 19mm (both 2) from Russell Optics (http://www.citlink.net/~optics/products.html) that were very reasonably priced; on sale at the time for $60.00 a piece where as the Siebert was about $150.00 I then asked our own illustrious Chuck Hards if he would evaluate them, and he graciously accepted the challenge. Following is Chucks evaluation. Keep in mind Chuck is only commenting on his experience with these individual eyepieces. Smaller companies may tend to have a somewhat larger variation in the quality of their output than a big company like Tele Vue has. So if some of you have one of these other eyepieces and really like yours, you may have a good one. I dont know enough about either company to make a judgment as to whether these individual eyepieces are representative of the companies standard output or not. I do value Chuck's many years of experience and his perceptiveness in all areas pertaining to astronomy. > > Chuck Hards wrote: > > Hi Jim: > > > > OK, here goes, while it's all still fresh in my mind. > > > > I used the Orion 80mm ED scope, on the Weightless > > mount. Both 50mm finder and a red-dot sight, > > Williams Optics 2" diagonal. > > > > TV Nagler 13mm type 6: Great imagery, no detectable > > abberations out to the edge of the immense field. > > Short eye relief, cannot see entire FOV with glasses > > on. Magification is low with the little refractor > > and this eyepiece, but it looks like my 12mm Konig is > > just as sharp and maybe a bit sharper, at the expense > of half the FOV. But the Nagler is a "Cadillac" of > eyepieces and there's no denying it. Sweet. [Chuck next looks a the Seibert ultra wide 15mm] > > Silver Eyepiece (marked only "15 U") 1.25" OD:a > nice eyepiece, although not a particularly wide > apparent field. Well-corrected out to near the very edge, > > fair eye-relief, the fold-down eyeguard is a boon to > > eyeglass wearers and allows the entire FOV to be > > taken-in with glasses on. Requires a lot of "in" > > travel, I was worried I'd bottom-out on my secondary > > mirror's surface and slid it into the diagonal > > carefully. But this eyepiece performs well, > > mechanics aside. I'd keep this one in my box if I didn't > have an obviously better one at the same focal length. > > You can feel good about this purchase. [Chuck now looks at the two Russell eyepieces] > > 15mm "Super-Wide" 2" OD: This eyepiece was > obviously not in the same class as the first two as soon as > I focused it. What appears to be strong coma is > > probably severe astigmatism in this eyepiece. Stars > > are stretched-out beginning only 1/2 way to the > edge of the field. The test for astigmatism is to watch > > > it change from a vertical slash to a horizontal > > slash as you rack through best focus. In a comatic > > condition stars would have "wings", flaring away > > from the center of the field. > > Eye-relief was too short to use with glasses and > > even uncomfortable without them. But the distortion > alone makes this eyepiece a big loser. > > > > 19mm "Super-Wide" 2" OD: Same general complaints > as the 15mm, but to a much lesser degree: I could > > almost live with this eyepiece, say on a large finder. > But not for any kind of critical viewing. > > > > The 15 and 19 are Russells, aren't they? They just > > go to show you that wide-field is no good if it's not > > sharp too. Sell them on-line or at the next > > swap-meet. Is the silver one a Siebert? That one's not bad at all. > > > > Thanks again for letting me play with these, it was > > fun and enlightening. > > > > C. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers!

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Moon Watch
by John and Lisa Zeigler 23 Jun '04

23 Jun '04

Is anyone interested in going out to do a moon watch in Rush Valley or elsewhere on July 2nd? I know - fourth of July weekend, but it would be an excellent night for seeing the full moon! I think we might announce it to our star party group, and if anyone else can come, that would be great! Lisa Zeigler www.johnstelescopes.com <http://www.johnstelescopes.com/> www.mirrorkits.com <http://www.mirrorkits.com/>

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Beautiful green bolide Friday night, 11:29 pm.
by Richard Tenney 12 Jun '04

12 Jun '04

I witnessed a spectacular, bright (~mag -2?) green bolide Friday night at 11:29. It was traveling West out of Virgo, and really lit up the sky. I actually wasn't sure it was real, thinking in fact that it might be local fireworks (because of the distinct green color and how it faded) until my Sister in law that lives up in Heber confirmed yesterday that she saw it too. Anyone else on the list happen to be out at that time? Seems there has been a fair amount of meteor activity lately; my wife and I saw another fairly bright (~mag 0) meteor last night heading South-West out of Ursa Major about 10 pm or so. Rich __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/

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RE: [UVAA] Beautiful green bolide Friday night, 11:29 pm.
by Lambert, Aaron 07 Jun '04

07 Jun '04

I was out Friday night hunting faint fuzzies in the Virgo cluster from 10 PM until just after midnight. (Just finished my A.L. messier list - yay!) I didn't notice anything like what you described, but then I was intently staring in the eyepiece and at charts, so it wouldn't surprise me if I just missed it (and it would just be my luck, too). I did notice quite a few satellites wander through my FOV, though. :) Aaron > -----Original Message----- > From: Richard Tenney [mailto:retenney@yahoo.com] > Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 9:34 AM > To: Utah-Astronomy; UVAA > Subject: [UVAA] Beautiful green bolide Friday night, 11:29 pm. > > > I witnessed a spectacular, bright (~mag -2?) green > bolide Friday night at 11:29. It was traveling West > out of Virgo, and really lit up the sky. I actually > wasn't sure it was real, thinking in fact that it > might be local fireworks (because of the distinct > green color and how it faded) until my Sister in law > that lives up in Heber confirmed yesterday that she > saw it too. Anyone else on the list happen to be out > at that time? Seems there has been a fair amount of > meteor activity lately; my wife and I saw another > fairly bright (~mag 0) meteor last night heading > South-West out of Ursa Major about 10 pm or so. > > Rich > > > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. > http://messenger.yahoo.com/ > > _______________________________________________ > UVAA mailing list > UVAA(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uvaa >

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Re: [UVAA] Question on GO-TO scopes
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 04 Jun '04

04 Jun '04

Here is what "The Backyard Astronomer's Guide" has to say on it. Do You Need a "Go To" Telescope? For the $300-to-$500 cost of a good beginner's scope, should you buy one with the "Go To" capability, such as a Meade ETX-AT or DS-2000 model? They are seductive. Just press a button, and away they go. They make it fun to explore the sky with kids. In the low-cost "Go To" scopes, what you sacrifice is image quality for any object you do find. For the same $300 to $400 that a small 70mm-to-80mm "Go To" telescope costs, you could have any of the following: a larger 90mm-to-105mm Maksutov, a 90mm long-focus refractor, a 130mm Newtonian reflector or a 6-inch (150mm) reflector on a Dobsonian mount. All will shoe brighter, sharper images, provided you do the work to find objects. Star-hopping guides and charts are the low-cost alternative to "Go To" computers. Using them to star-hop across the sky requires that you learn the sky, essential knowledge for cultivatin a long-term love affair with the stars. Debbie

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here's the return address...
by Richard Tenney 04 Jun '04

04 Jun '04

Sorry for the multiple mails folks; seems either Yahoo or the mail list is being weird about this guy's message getting forwarded (I need to check the settings). Anyway, if you want to respond to him/her, here's the return address: rfrachtling(a)pol.net Thanks and sorry about this hassle, Rich __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/

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Fwd: Request assistance
by Richard Tenney 04 Jun '04

04 Jun '04

Let's try this again; somehow the message didn't get attached. Here it is: =============================== Hi, I'll be travelling to southern Utah (Bryce Canyon, Zion) in early August. I'm interested in renting a telescope when I get to Utah. I was wondering if you or anyone in your club might know where I might be able to do so. If you know of any other astronomy experiences to be had in the area I would like to hear about them. We live in North Carolina and I am looking forward to a real night sky; something that is scarce on the east coast. Thanks, R.Frachtling Chapel Hill, NC Note: forwarded message attached. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/

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Fwd: Request assistance (this is not spam from Nigeria!)
by Richard Tenney 04 Jun '04

04 Jun '04

Anyone (especially folks down south like Debbie) want to show this guy some Utah hospitality? Rich Note: forwarded message attached. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/

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