The mirky mystery deepens yet more - in my weird mind anywhose.....

ScopeStuff, which sells some of the most esoteric parts, pieces, and oddities known (and unknown) to astronomy-nuts, has these Antares FR's for sale on their site. I've been dealing with Jim - the proprietor - for years and he's a great guy! And he only offers this Antares 0.5X in it's 2" format. And his price: $28.00 postpaid. That's a few pence under £23.00 in what's left of your currency, Mak.

http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_fr25.htm

So I'm going to ask Jim a few questions about the 2" and has he heard any complaints about the thread-pitch on these. I'm trying to find out the parameters of this problem.

And Mak & Ray? If you haven't taken a hike through the ScopeStuff website, you really should! It's got 'stuff' for the 'stuff' you've never even thought of existing! An amazing inventory - if you're looking for something that is beyond the scope <koff!> of larger dealers, like Agena & Rother. Have it's main-entrance:

http://www.scopestuff.com/

I'd pack a lunch, a warm coat, and a flare-gun. I think a British Expeditionary Force is still lost in there.

'Ta,

Dave

 

From what I can gather the 2" Antares reducers are fine and never suffered from the same problem. It could be that your mate knows about this issue with the 1.25" reducers and that's why he doesn't stock them.



If you see the British Electric Foundation in there see if you can get Billy Godfrey's autograph for me.

 

I haven't got a Telrad either. I couldn't use one to view near the zenith anyway. I'm sure the book will be useful though. It should be delivered tomorrow so I'll tell you what I think of it. I think the 6x30 that comes with the ST80-t is a straight-through type as opposed to a 90° RACI. The 45° diagonal is fine for terrestrial use but I am not sure about the light path for astronomical use.



I have a couple of 45° diagonals, they can come in useful if you have limited mobility. I stacked Wratten #8, 12 and 15 filters all together to see the phase on a twilight Venus which was so low in the sky (14°) I had to use a 45° diagonal.



Now, that's what I call stacked lol. I could see the phase at 25x though. It was still really bright!

 

I planned to use my Orion 6x30 on the Skymax as originally I intended to use it just for lunar/planetary. If I can coax f/6.3 out of it though with a reducer that actually works I might try one of the 9x50's. It still won't be as fast as the ST80.

Technically it's only a 22mm bigger aperture than the ST80. A typical Mak obstruction/Gregory spot (plus any baffling) takes around 20% of aperture away I believe. That would only leave the Skymax with a realistic 81.6mm of aperture. So probably only 1.6mm larger!

I'll stick with the ST80 for MO's. I'll keep you appraised about the book. Retail Xmas therapy can work lol.

 

I believe you're right, Mak - that Jim may know about the 1.25" problem. When I get to asking him about this, his wheels will start turning and he'll 'climb-the-ladder' to find out what's going on with Antares. To wit: He'll ask high-up wholesale distributers what gives.

We almost went to war with Canada the last time we did this! But I got my answer!

Laterz -

Dave

 

I'm guessing that Antares had loads of the 1.25" reducers with undersized threads and just coated them to make them fit. Or their partner manufacturer did.



I think the Canadian Air Force scrapped all of these so you should be OK. I'd keep an eye on Dan Aykroyd and William Shatner though.

 

You nut!

D.

 

Did I mention Pamela Anderson?

 

The book arrived. It's a nice sized hardback about 22cm by 28.5cm in size. It seems well bound.


I've only glanced through it so far but it seems packed with charts and easy to recognise diagrams. It's aimed at beginners and advanced. The author discusses different finder scopes and there is even a diagram on how to make a simple finder out of a wire coat hanger!


Next to a Vegemite jar for scale lol. Plus, it's recommended by the Journal of the British Astronomical Association apparently (the book that is, not Vegemite, they'd probably go more for Marmite ROTFL).

http://www.willbell.com/HANDBOOK/mess.htm

 

OK, Celestron 17mm Plossl, now with a smooth Baader aluminium draw tube (from a borked Baader EP), sitting on the original Celestron case it came in (now full of TeleVue EP's).



This is the same 17mm Celestron Plossl I once got stuck in a TV 3x Barlow for nearly an hour. Which was my first lesson in how drawtube undercuts and brass compression rings sometimes don't get on. This has been one of my favourite eyepieces for years, although I'm not sure why. I think it looks kinda cool with a Baader drawtube. Does this now make it a Baadertron? lol

Cue Ladytron video ...

 

I think it could be a very useful book. Sometimes I like old fashioned non-ebook/PDF paper to read lol.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmite

 

The Astromania diagonal on the left looks like a conventional prism diagonal. The set screws at 60° are pretty standard. The GSO diagonal on the right is the Amici as it has a roof. It is almost identical to my TS Optics Amici which I'm pretty sure is GSO.



The diagonal to the left of my TS Optics Amici is a bog-standard Celestron prism diagonal which gives a mirror reversed image.



I have a couple of these, you can see the one that came with the Big Cat still in its box above. Regardless of what many claim they're quite adequate diagonals and well made. The draw tubes actually thread straight out to facilitate cleaning.



The main body is resin but the base plate is metal.



Above are two mirror diagonals, a Sky-Watcher on the left and an Omegon on the right. These give mirror reversed images like the standard prism diagonals. The Sky-Watcher isn't too bad but the Omegon is cheap plastic.

If your GSO Amici prism is the same as my TS Optics one it should be pretty good on your ST80 and give you a correct image.

 

My TS Optics Amici was the first Amici diagonal I bought. I used it on the Mak for ages until I acquired others. I'm pretty sure it's GSO as I know TS sell a lot of GSO gear rebranded. Although my TS Amici has no name on it.

To be honest I can't tell any difference between it and the Celestrons, apart from the correct image of course. I think there's a lot of gibberish talked about Amici diagonals.



The prism roof can give a white reflection line either side of a very bright object occasionally on a refractor. Although this isn't noticeable on an SCT or Mak particularly. I've seen it on Jupiter with the ST80. It's no big deal though. You won't see it with most DSO's or lunar viewing. I doubt you'd even see it on Saturn with the ST80. The bottom three Amici prisms above are (left to right) an Antares, Orion and TS Optics. They're all exactly the same to look through in my experience. I've a feeling the Orion is Synta and the TS Optics is GSO. The Antares is more compact in a way (the nosepiece/eyepiece tubes are shorter) and feels very sturdy. I like it for the bino as it holds it well. I don't like to put the bino in the Omegon Amici (top) as it has a compression ring and the bino has a flared nosepiece.



The 6x30 should be OK for most objects. You'll feel the extra weight of a 9x50 on the ST80 that's for sure. I usually end up using a 19mm Panoptic as a finder anyway lol.

 

I have 3 Meade cheap 1.25" prism 90° diagonals. Pretty much unused. I'll be giving them away around here. If I needed to buy a 1.25" diagonal - I already have a 1.25" GSO Dielectric ($75 at Agena) - I'd get another of the GSO's. That critter is sweet! In the 2" I have one that came with the Skywatcher Maksutov - and it's abysmal. Wouldn't wish it on anyone (well...maybe one). And 4 WO Dielectric's.

It would appear I like 'em. Oh yeah - I almost forgot that I also have a Orion 1.25" 45° diagonal. It rather appears I never use it.

Your "Baadertron?" Sounds like just the thing for ol' Laughing-Boy himself!


This telescope has the same Japanese-optics that Unitron used later on.

And Ladytron?! Now you're beginning to scare me! Speaking of which, my old friend Chris Chandler - who operates a recording-studio for musicians he encounters (I 'discovered' Chris on a street-corner in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Playing his guitar and singing - very original & political stuff! I dragged him to a radio-station I was on and threw him the microphone. He wound up with a recording-contract with a very good record-label) - just sent me the latest person he's recording. He went political-activist and now is doing to others what I did for him.

Heard about Standing Rock over there, Mak?



Maybe we could conspire with your 'Baadertron' idea.....How does 'BaaderVue®' sound? The 'BaaderTron' could be one of our lines of EP's!

Back to my bunker now.....

Dave/Raul

 

I wonder why Japanese optics have been so good for so long? They've been making superb optics for over a century. The 'Baadertron' works well. I had to replace the Baader BCO that got borked, but cannibalising eyepiece parts works and it means I can happily stick that 17mm Celestron into anything now without fear of it actually getting stuck anywhere. When you can only effectively utilise one hand hang-ups with compression rings are frustrating and can potentially be disastrous. I want a collection of small Plossl or similar EP's with straight draw-tubes that can be placed into short Barlows on the ST80. Thus keeping the overall weight down and they will all fit into my grab'n'go kit.

Standing Rock is widely reported here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38214636

I think Siouxsie was part Lakota (I believe her father was French Canadian).