PATS 2012 - Good Products, Great Fun, and Sad Realizations

A Tale of Two Shows

Last Sunday I made some time to visit the Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show in Pasadena.  It's a yearly exposition of astronomy related vendors and clubs which claims to be "the largest and most exciting astronomy show on the west coast".  This was the second time I've checked it out, and can't say that it's either the largest, or most exciting astronomy show on the west coast, but it's a nice way to spend and afternoon and maybe find a deal or two from one of the vendors.

The show runs Saturday and Sunday; tickets at the door are $20.  I think last year I purchased in advance and received some discount. There is an exhibit hall with booths setup and a series of presentations in adjacent rooms.  The Pasadena convention center is pretty sizable, and the PATS is not really large enough to fill the entire space.  This year it was sharing the main exhibition hall with the Bride World Bride Expo. 

As I was walking towards the hall after purchasing my ticket, it was pretty easy to guess who was attending which event.  The people walking around with the Sky and Telescope bags, or with arms full of astro gear were here for the PATS.  Everyone else had copies of Bridal World or flowers.  Lots of flowers.

PATS was sharing with the Bridal Expo... the line is for the Expo.  There was no line to enter the PATS exhibits.

The Exhibition Hall

Everybody attending the show got a free issue of Sky and Telescope and a program upon entry.  I briefly glanced at the program schedule and did not see anything to interest me, so I headed straight to the exhibits.  This was only my second year, and I remember it being pretty small, but this year seemed even smaller.  According to the program there were 44 vendors, and they were arranged in four rows.

I did an initial walk through of the exhibit in about 15 minutes or so and even though it was not a huge show, it was very nice to be surrounded by like minded folks.  The booths ranged from the large and professional, to the small and volunteer.  It was not very crowded, which meant the venders were available to chat and spend some actual time with the attendees.

There was not really any specific thing I was looking for.  I thought that it would be nice to see some of the newer gear, talk to some of the organizations and clubs, and maybe find something for my telescope project.  If nothing else I figured it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.


The Big Names

As one would expect the three heavyweights in telescopes and accessories were on hand.  Meade had a large booth, spaciously appointed with selections of their current line.  They had mounts, SCT's and one 16" LightBridge to round things out.  This was the first time I had seen their convertible Alt-Az/GEM mount.  It seemed pretty solid and was presented in the Alt/Az dual scope configuration.  Pretty neat.

Meade Instruments

Right across the way was the smaller, but still impressive, Celestron booth.  They had a nice selection of their SCTs on GEMs, along with eyepieces and some educational items, such as microscopes and a very small/cheap newtonian.  You can see the little guy at the screen right end of the table in the pictures below.

Celestron.  Notice the little guy at the far end of the table.  A Newtonian Finder?

The FirstScope is a 76mm f4 reflector with a spherical mirror.  Immediately upon seeing it's diminutive size, I was launched into a several minute daydream of using it as a finder.  I suspect it would work, but it would be difficult to get the image into the 'correct' orientation.  Some people have no issue with the mental gymnastics required for non-correct image finders.  I, however, prefer to use finders that orient the sky the same as my un-aided eyes, so this dream was dashed.  

Around the corner, Tele Vue had a large, but sparse booth.  They only have so many telescopes in their line, and eyepieces don't take up much space.  It is pretty impressive to see a full set of Ethos, Nagler or Delos eyepieces though.  Speaking of which, there is still time to enter the the International Dark Skies Association Dark Sky Giveaway for a chance to win an entire set of Ethos eyepieces!

TeleVue - Home of the Eyepiece!

On the right side of the picture above you can see a gentleman pointing to a black case.  He's probably explaining to the other gentleman that you can use one telescope to collimate another!  This was the most interesting thing in the booth as far as I was concerned.  There was an artificial star stuck in the diagonal of one telescope, which was then pointed at and rigidly joined to a second you wanted to collimate.  The optics of the first scope made the star appear like it was very far away, far enough to use it to collimate or star test.  It was a clever idea and an interesting experiment in optics.


The Up and Comers

Aside from the bigger names, there were a few other telescope manufacturers.  PlaneWave and Williams Optics were there, showing two different approaches to astrophotography.  PlaneWave produces very well corrected, large aperture, exotic telescope designs mainly for non-visual use.

PlaneWave Instruments

Williams Optics sells smaller aperture refractors, also geared more towards astrophotography.  They produce very high-quality versions of a tried and true design with some higher tech innovations.  Both booths really showcased the quality of manufacturing from these smaller run shops.  Not to say that Meade or Celestron don't produce quality scopes, but the fit and finish from these two are difficult to beat.

Williams Optics

The REAL BIG Name

I spent a fair amount of time talking to the guy at the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) booth.  Observing is a part of the hobby I enjoy quite a bit, but I also have an interest in the science and technology of astronomy and this project has it all.  When complete, this will be the largest telescope ever produced.  Well, it might actually end up being the second largest, as the Europeans are working on a 39 meter scope.

The Thirty Meter Telescope Outreach Booth

It was fascinating to hear about the design of the scope, but also about some of the long term issues such a large telescope faces.  Many amateur astronomers are aware that the reflective coatings on mirrors degrade with time.  Often, mirrors are sent out for re-coating to restore their reflectivity.  To maintain the highest level of performance continuously, so that the massive investment can be best utilized, the TMT will be swapping out several mirror segments weekly for re-coating.  This will allow them to re-coat each of the 492 segments every two years.

After the first few minutes I was ready to donate to help the cause.  Turns out, they are not looking for donations, just doing general outreach.  Very cool.  If you love telescopes, the website is an interesting read.

The Vendors

Theoretically, all the booths were vendors, but there were only a few booths you could actually buy things from and take them home.  The two largest were Woodland Hills Camera & Telescope and Oceanside Photo & Telescope.  Both had nice booths with a wide selection of things to tempt the crowd.

Woodland Hills Camera & Telescope

OPT - Oceanside Photo & Telescope

Both offer special pricing, and no sales tax, at the show.  This makes almost everything at least 20% cheaper, so it's a nice time to buy.  If you don't feel comfortable deciding on your feet, they will honor the same deal if you call or visit their websites a few days after the show and mention PATS.  I found both crews to be very friendly and knowledgeable.

Among the vendors actually selling product was Howie Glatter.  He's an ex-hippie who now spends his time inventing and patenting useful things for telescopes, mainly in the area of collimation.  It was great fun to talk to him about his design and manufacturing process, and the merits of various types of collimation equipment and techniques.  He's very friendly and very knowledgable.  All his products were wonderfully machined, solid and well designed.

Howie Glatter, Inventor / Collimator

One of his products I had never seen before were nebula filters designed to fit over the eye lens of binoculars.  As soon as I saw this I was struck by the cleverness of the idea and his implementation.  Compared to the objective lens, the eye lens has much less area to cover, reducing price and weight.  To protect the delicate filter from eye gunk, he sandwiches it between two pieces of optical glass.  This allows you to clean them without worrying about scratching the coating.

Eye Lens Binocular Nebula Filters - Very cool idea

To affix the filters to the binoculars, he mounts them in a metal ring of various sizes.  By ordering a size the correct diameter for your binos, it can be held in place by the rubber eye guard.  You roll the cup down, place the filters over the eye lens and roll the eye guard back up holding the metal ring in place.  It's tricky to describe in words, but simple and easy when you see it in person.  If I were not planning on buying a new pair of binoculars in the semi-near future, I'd think about buying a set.

The Truth About 16" Scopes

As I was heading out, I saw that the Meade both was relatively empty and decided that I should really see what a 16" scope would be like to use.  I'm leaning towards this size, and I was hoping it would allow me to observe without a ladder or stool.  Sadly, I'm not so sure this would be the case.  

Me and a 16" LightBridge.  Notice they Eyepiece Height

One of the Meade reps was kind enough to take my photo next to the LightBridge pointed at Zenith.  I'm about 5' 6" tall, a bit under average for a male human, and there was a pretty wide gulf between my eye and the eyepiece.  There was another show attendee, slightly taller than average, who could walk right up to the scope and peer into the eyepiece... sigh.  I did not measure exactly, but I figure anything over 70 degrees would be a stretch for me on this 16" f4.5 scope.

So... what does this mean for my plans?  It means I have to think about them.  Observing at the zenith is uncomfortable anyway, so maybe it's not bad?  Perhaps a small box would not be too cumbersome?  Can I find an f4 mirror at a reasonable price?  Is a 15" a better size?  Would another structure offer a significantly lower eyepiece?  Are elevator shoes expensive?  There are a lot of questions to consider.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on the questions above, or about aperture vs. eyepiece height, or any experiences you have had observing with feet on, or off, the ground.  

The PATS Bounty

So I left the show with a lot of questions about my telescope design, but I also carried out some other things.  Before leaving I gave into the tempting opportunity to purchase a new finder scope.  I knew I wanted something larger than 50mm for my new scope and I was leaning towards an Orion ST 80, then I saw this great StellarVue 80mm finder.  

The StellarVue is an 80mm f3.75 achromat that comes complete with an erecting prism, helical focuser, and 23mm eyepiece with reticle.  It's roughly the same price as the 80mm f5 Orion with an erect image prism and 32mm plossl, both of which would provide about the same 3.9 deg TFOV.  

After some quick cell phone research and a few calculations I choose the StellarVue for two reasons.  First, it's shorter focal length means I can get an even wider 5.2 deg field of view with a 32mm plossl if I decide to upgrade it.  Second, it's just a bit over 50% of the weight of the Orion, which will help with any potential balance issues.

My Haul from the Show

You can see the finder, with mounting rings, in the picture above.  I thought the 50mm finder was large when I first got it, the 80mm is more like a small scope than a large finder.  It looks almost comical on the Orion XT8, but I think it will be much more proportional on my new scope.  The comical nature won't stop me from using it in the meantime though.

The extra aperture will be nice to hunt down some of the NGC objects and dimmer Messiers as I progress onto dimmer and more difficult objects.  The scope/finder should also provide nice views of the wide field objects like the Double Cluster, or the Coathanger.  I'm looking forward to sweeping it over the Milky Way under a dark sky!  As soon as I have a chance to try it out, I'll write up a review here.  That new moon can't come soon enough.

If you are in the Los Angeles area next year in September, I would suggest checking out PATS.  At the very least it's something to do between observing sessions!

My Current Eyepieces - A Lesson About Investing

A few weeks back I did a post about My Current Scopes.  I wanted to take stock of the two telescopes I have, share a bit about how and why I decided to buy them, and to ruminate about what each has to offer.  My goal was to help me get a better idea of what's important to me in a telescope by really thinking about my experiences to date, and to see if there was anything I wanted to sell or salvage in pursuit of my new telescope.

It seemed popular and elicited some useful feedback, so here is another somewhat rambling look at another part of my current observing kit; eyepieces.  I realized pretty quickly that eyepieces were a huge part of the observing experience.  Like most parts of a telescope, they can work well and disappear into the experience, or they can work poorly and remind you of their frustrating presence all too often.

Before I dive into my eyepiece experiences,  I'll warn its a bit long and can be technical in parts.  This blog is aimed mainly at people who have been observing for a while, so I'm going to assume a bit of eyepiece jargon knowledge.  If you'd like to get up to speed, or need a refresher, you might want to check out Astronomical Telescope Eyepieces: A Discussion for the Beginner.

My Eyepiece Menagerie with the XT8

Brand	Type	MM	Afov	Relief	X Pup	Mag	Tfov
Orion	Plossl	25	50	17	4.23	48	1.04
Orion	Epic ED 2	12.5	55	20	2.11	96	0.57
Orion	Epic ED 2	7.5	55	20	1.27	160	0.34
Teleview	Plossl	32	50	18	5.41	37	1.33
Teleview	Nagler 6	13	82	12	2.20	92	0.89
Teleview	Delos	6	72	20	1.02	200	0.36

If you are looking at the chart above and thinking "This seems a little haphazard" you are right.  They are listed in the order I acquired them and they seem to show an almost studied disregard for planning.  There is a story, and I've learned something from it.

The Story

The first telescope I purchased as an adult was my Orion XT8 dob and it came with the 25mm plossl eyepiece.  I used it for several observing sessions, enjoying the views and getting oriented in they sky again after a long absence.  The 25mm plossl gave pleasing views and was comfortable to use, but it was not long before I felt like I needed some options.  Particularly some higher magnifications for globulars, planetary nebula, and the occasional peek at one our solar system neighbors.

Orion Epic ED2s

After doing a very little bit of research and seeing some positive reviews of the relatively inexpensive ( < $100 ) Orion Epic ED2 eyepieces, I jumped in and purchased two; a 12.5mm and 7.5mm.  These gave me basically 2x and 3.3x times the magnification of the included 25mm plossl with a little more apparent field of view and eye relief.

I debated getting a 2x barlow instead of the 12.5 as it would give me the same magnification as the 12.5mm, and I'm not really sure in retrospect why I did not.  It might be because of the terrible barlow I had when I was a kid.  It really seemed to degrade the view, and with the added inconvenience of another set screw to work in the dark, I just never really seemed to use it.  Every time I purchase a new eyepiece, I think about a barlow, or powermate, instead.  Maybe next time....

The Epic ED2's did provide more options when I was observing, and I did enjoy the higher magnification on globulars and planetary nebula.  Looking back through my observing logs, the 12.5mm seemed to get a bit of use, but I seldom used the 7.5mm.  This is somewhat because I often view extended objects and through my 8" scope they can get pretty dim at high magnification, but I think it was mostly because both were uncomfortable to use, particularly the 7.5mm.

A few online reviews mentioned some issues with 'kidney beaning', darkening of portions of the field if your eye was not in the perfect position relative to the eye lens, but I blithely ignored them.  I had never really seen the effect before, the 25mm plossl was easy to view through, and it did not really sound so bad.  "Okay, so I just look through the eyepiece dead center, no problem at all".

Sadly, this was not as easy as I thought and it was just distracting enough that I found myself avoiding the eyepieces, even when an object probably would have benefited from some more magnification.  I'm not an optical engineer, so I can't really say why one eyepiece with 20mm of eye relief  would exhibit this issue, when another with the same eye relief would not, but these eyepieces seemed positively vexing to view through.  The 12.5mm seemed better in this regard, so it got more use than it's brethren, but even at their comparatively low price point, I felt I was not really getting my money's worth.

Enter Televue

Disenchanted by my experiments at the high end of magnification, I decided to expand my eyepiece collection in the other direction.  There are some great objects, or collections of objects,  that are over the 1 degree field my 25mm plossl provided.  I had also recently purchased my Celestron C6 and, with a longer focal length than my XT8, I wanted something that would provide a wider field.

The C6 has a 1.25" visual back, and I want to be able to share eyepieces as much as possible, so I started looking into the widest true field of view (tfov) 1.25" eyepiece I could get.  After some reading and math, A 32mm plossl seemed like the way to go.  There were some exotic designs that could squeeze a little more tfov out of 1.25", but they were pricey and it seemed like a lot of additional money, complexity, and optical surfaces, to get a very fractional increase.  Besides, I did enjoy the view through my 25mm plossl, and I was a little shy about more exotic designs based on my experience with the ED2's.

I'd read just about everywhere that Televue is the cadillac of eyepiece manufacturers.  Reviews of Ethos' or Naglers abound with tales of life altering views and hefty price tags.  So when I started looking at 32mm plossls I was surprised to see them among the results.  Amazon had them for a bit over $100, and I just happened to have a gift card, so I made the leap.

The eyepiece arrived a few days later and as soon as I opened it I felt good about my purchase.  It was well packaged in a substantial box, and it has the feel of fine craftsmanship.  The knurling was distinct, clean and even, and the text was crisp and easy to read.  These are small touches, but they added up the impression of a long lasting piece of kit.

When I took it out under the stars, the view was great.  It was a very comfortable eyepiece to use, had high contrast and a view as sharp as I had seen through my telescopes.  In short order it became my favorite eyepiece to use in both scopes and the double cluster with the XT8 and the 32mm became one of my favorite targets.

Eyepieces as Investments

My experience with the Televue 32mm plossl on the one hand, and the Orion Epic ED2's on the other, showed me how important an eyepiece is to my overall observing experience.  Since they can be used with any telescope I might own, and can last a lifetime with proper care, I decided I was going to invest in them.  I figured it would take longer for me to fill out my eyepiece case, but I hoped I'd be happy with each and not regret my purchases.

It was about this time that I wished I had more observing friends, or that I was part of an astro-club.  I could only scour reviews and go with my limited experience to decide on which eyepieces I wanted to save up for and purchase.  Looking through a variety of eyepieces owned by other people would have been a wonderful decision making tool.  I've still not joined a local club... something that I need to rectify sometime soon.

Nagler Type 6 13mm

A few months later I had saved up enough money to purchase a Televue Nagler Type 6 13mm.  It seemed like a good next step in magnification, providing a slightly smaller tfov than my 25mm plossl, but with almost double the magnification.  It's also small and light, which I really like.  No balance issues and it's easy to handle in the dark.

The Nagler 13mm has proven to be a spectacular eyepiece.  I really can't say anything negative about it, save for the price.  It seemed high when I purchased it, but it's become a staple of my observing and I never feel it get in the way of what I am viewing.  If there is an object that can take some additional magnification, I never hesitate to switch eyepieces now.  I do wish it was parfocal with the 32mm plossl, and I'm tempted to try some parfocalizing rings to make switching magnifications even easier.

Delos 6mm

To round out my eyepiece set I wanted something about double the magnification of the 13mm Nagler.  My first thought was a 7mm Nagler.  I was really pleased with the 13mm and the small size was attractive compared to other short focal length premium eyepieces.  As I was saving up and contemplating my purchase Televue released their first round of Delos eyepieces.

The Delos are designed for 72 degree, 20 mm eye relief at every focal length.  Early reviews were very good, comparing them very favorably to the legendary Ethos eyepieces, only with a smaller apparent field of view (afov).  As time went on, people posted head to head comparisons with similar focal length Naglers and it was pretty much universal that the Delos offered a better experience for a small (~12%) extra cost.

When I was ready, I spent the extra money and purchased the Delos.  I don't have a similar Nagler to compare it with, but I do find the sharpness and color rendition superior to my 13mm, which is absolutely no slouch!  It's incredibly comfortable to use, and my only issue is the size and weight.

Size Comparison: Delos 6mm, Nagler 13mm, Plossl 32mm

As you can see, it's somewhat of a beast.  Not the largest, or heaviest, eyepiece out there, but compared to the Nagler and Plossl, it's very large.  In the diagonal of my C6 it's almost comical.  Fortunately, I only have balance issues in my dob if I'm observing lower in the sky, and engaging the friction springs on the XT8 generally holds the scope in place.  I'd really like to do a side by side with a 7mm or 5mm Nagler someday just to see if the extra size is worth it.

The Lesson

I've been very happy with my more recent eyepiece purchases.  To me, and my observing experience, they were completely worth the extra money.  It was a learning experience, and I want to apply my lesson to my better telescope project.

My intention is to buy or build a telescope which will last me a long time.  Both in durability, and  usefulness.  I want to be frugal, but ultimately if I don't enjoy the observing experience, it will be a false frugality as I'll just end up purchasing another scope, or replacing cheap parts.

I've already been saving money for a while, and I expect that I'll be saving for a while to come before I can invest in my new telescope.  I'm planning to use that time exploring my options and thinking hard about where the quality/price sweet spot is for each component.  At least when I buy my new telescope, I'll already have some fine eyepieces to use!

Since I've narrowed my better scope down to something in the 14-16" range, I thought it might be interesting to plug a hypothetical 16" f4.5 scope into my eyepiece/telescope spreadsheet to see what I could expect.

My Current Eyepiece Collection with a hypothetical 16" f4.5

Brand	Type	MM	Afov	Relief	X Pup	Mag	Tfov
Teleview	Plossl	32	50	18	5.41	57	0.88
Teleview	Nagler 6	13	82	12	2.20	140	0.58
Teleview	Delos	6	72	20	1.02	304	0.24

Not bad, but eventually I expect to purchase some sort of wide field 2" eyepiece to get me back to a 1+ degree field, and perhaps add a bit more magnification to take advantage of the increased light collection and resolution a 3-4x jump in aperture might afford.

I'd be interested to hear what anyone has to say about their own experiences trying to balance cost and quality.  With plenty of time ahead to think about the issue, I'm sure there is plenty to learn.

Clear Skies!  I'm hoping to get out of the city to take advantage of the new moon.  I hope you can as well.

GSSP 2012 Observing Report

The Golden State Star Party is a yearly event held under very dark skies near Adin, in Northern California.  How dark?  Well, here it is on the fantastic Dark Sky Finder right on the edge of a black zone.  You can look all over California on the map and find only a handful of black sky sites, and most are tiny islands.  True, this is on the edge of a grey zone, but compared to my normal semi-dark observing location, Joshua Tree, CA, on a blue/green border it’s a wonderful sky.  Definitely worth the 11 hour drive from Los Angeles for four nights.

Heading Up
I split the trip into two parts, leaving Tuesday and staying overnight in Sacramento.  This was a nice opportunity for me to visit some friends and family, and it allowed me to get to the location fairly early on Wednesday without having to leave at some insane hour in the morning.  Arriving somewhat early is important since setup takes a while and, like most star parties, the use of white light after dark is prohibited.  

The drive is actually pretty beautiful after Reno, NV. The elevation starts to build and the landscape is rolling hills with light tree cover.  Not long after I crossed back into California I passed this tree, full of shoes. I'm not entirely sure what the story is here... actually I'm not even a little sure. I had to turn around and take some pictures.

The Shoe Tree.....

Forever a piece of me in California

The rest of the drive was uneventful.  The weather looked great as I was heading north and I stopped several times to take photos since I had plenty of time. 

The Road to Adin, CA

I arrived around 3:00pm after a leisurely drive through the very scenic countryside, giving me plenty of time to setup my camp and telescopes.


Wednesday

Unfortunately, my early setup did me no good.  By the time I arrived it was cloudy, and the weather reports indicated it would stay that way through the night.  As the afternoon progressed, more and more anxious astronomers arrived, unpacked, and watched the sky.  A few folks did not even bother to setup their scopes predicting the cloudy night to come.

There ended up being a few gaps in the clouds after dark, just enough to keep me awake and hopeful until almost midnight, but not enough to actually observe anything.  Total bust on that count, but I met some nice people camping around me and got a chance to check out some of the equipment being setup.

Thursday

I woke up late in the morning and the sky was still grey, if anything it looked even worse than the day before. My apprehension for the evening was building, but I had a whole day ahead of me to walk around and talk to some folks about their equipment. Attending a star party is a great way to learn about, and potentially try out, a host of equipment. I love walking around and seeing what people have brought. Since everyone is there for the same purpose, it's easy to strike up conversation. There is always something to talk about, even if it's just our common desire for clear skies.

As I started to walk and talk, one of the first camps I stopped at had two scopes built from DobStuff.com kits. I was already starting to think about my next telescope and building a kit scope like this was high on my list. I'm kicking myself for not getting any pictures, but the scopes were beautiful! They were 12" and 18" inches with similar caramel color stains. I've seen pictures on the website, but the scopes look even better in person. The two owners had nothing but good things to say about the kits and Dennis Steele who makes them. I had a chance to try moving them a bit, and the motion was smooth and the whole assembly seemed rock solid. Part of this was probably the skill of assembly, but it was very promising and really inspired me to get going on my new scope.

I spent several hours walking around until the rain started. There was rain off and on for the rest of the day, and I had to move my scopes under the pop-up shade structure I brought, but it was a nice time overall. By evening the rain had stopped, but it was still cloudy. I hoped for the best, but had a sinking feeling I would be turning in early again tonight.

Each night there is a speaker who gives a presentation. Thursday's speaker was Mel Bartels speaking about "The Nature of Telescope Design". It was a wonderful presentation covering some of his past and current telescope designs along with a bit of engineering and philosophy. When the talk was over everyone shuffled out of the tent into a cloudy night... but it did seem LESS cloudy than before the talk.

Almost magically over the next hour or so as the twilight turned to actual darkness the clouds completely disappeared! It was fantastic; by the time I would have started observing anyway the sky was clear and looked magnificent. Checking back in my log I gave it a 7 for seeing and an 8 for transparency (out of ten). For my highly objective rating system this is pretty darn good.

My plan for the night was to try for every Messier and bright NGC globular cluster I could in Sagittarius. I started with the humble globular cluster NGC 6440 and logged it at around 10:30pm

"Very small and dim. Took a lot of searching and high magnification to identify as G.C. Unresolved even at 200x. Round, with tight core and uniform gradation out to edges"

The night was very warm and I spent the next three hours making my way through Sagittarius logging 13 globulars and two bonus objects; NGC 6822 Barnards Galaxy and NGC 6818 the Little Gem planetary nebula:

"A mini ring nebular! Very small and beautiful. Non stellar circular glow in 13.5mm, shows dim center and ringlike appearance with 6mm. Seems to have blue-green coloring"

It was an incredible night.  Tracking down a lot of smaller, dimmer NGC globs was a real treat.  

Friday 

The day started out pretty warm and I was woken up early by the morning sun.  I decided to go out and explore the countryside and surrounding towns.  The closest is Adin, CA, and the GSSP is an event around those parts.

Adin is a very small town with a few shops and homes. It's got a nice general store where you can pickup any supplies you might need. There were signs in the window advertising the GSSP public night that very evening.

I returned to the star party and walked around a bit. The sky was cloudy, but I had hopes it would clear up. My intention was to do some wide angle astrophotography with my Canon T3i. Nothing fancy, just the camera on a non-tracking tripod with a 24mm lens. I had recently purchased an intervalometer (timed shutter release controller) and was hoping to use it for some time-lapse series. To test everything out I took this time lapse during the day. You can see the clouds drifting over the observing field.

Fortunately the sky cleared up before dark and it looked like another wonderful night. The Public Night started around 9:00 and lots of folks from the surrounding towns came to visit. After showing a few people Saturn through the scope, I started observing in earnest a bit after 10:00. I rated the seeing a 6 and the transparency an 8 again. Before I dove into my evenings observing plan, I setup the camera facing south to catch Sagittarius and the milky way passing by. I started the intervalometer and went to work.

My plan for the night was to get all the M objects in Scorpius, and a couple of NGC's that I thought I might be able to see with my scope, then move over to Ursa Major to view a few Messiers I have missed to date and revisit some old favorites. I ended up observing 25 objects in about 4 hours, which has to be some record for me. I'd never seen many of them before, and most I'd never seen so well. One of my favorite of the night was the Lagoon Nebula, which I was observing for the first time through a new OIII filter I picked up at one of the vendors just that day!

"OIII Makes a great contrast difference. Helps show full extent of nebulosity with dark lanes much more visible. Split easily into several lobes. Fills 3/4 of 13.5mm ( 0.9 deg) field"

I also checked out the Trifid and Veil nebula, both of which looked great with the OIII.  It made for a much nicer view than my narrowband nebula filter.  Before I packed it in, I retrieved the camera and took some images to stitch together a panorama of the milky way

Several images stiched together, ISO 3200 f/2.8 30seconds each

I got a little off center towards the north end of the milky way, but I think it's one of the best I've taken so far.  The time lapse turned out pretty nice as well.  You can see a few little clouds sneak in right towards the end, but I don't think they bothered anyone.  Just look at how dark they are, with no light from the ground to reflect back, they are like huge dark nebula.

Saturday

Saturday was very sunny and hot. It also featured two of my favorite parts of the GSSP; the Swap Meet and Telescope Walkabout. The swap meet is free for anyone to grab a table and display their wares. It ranged from people with one or two items, to folks who brought bin after bin of odds and ends. I was sorely tempted by several items, including a used Williams Optic refractor, but held off knowing that I had a bigger goal in mind; namely my new big dob.  

Anyone who has an interesting telescope and wants to share can sign up for the Walkabout. It's basically a bunch of folks walking from scope to scope on the list, hearing a brief speech by the owner, and then asking questions and discussing.... and it's great. There were home-made bino-scopes, ATM projects of all sorts, a few high-end commercial pieces and this interesting re-build of a Meade Lightbridge:

Rebuild of a Meade Lightbridge 16"... into a BBQ

Yes, that really is a 16" Lightbridge. Well, at least the primary, secondary and focuser from one! It features a 24" webber BBQ, bamboo truss poles, and a bike rim upper cage. It's dead simple, the whole thing sits in a milk crate and it actually has pretty good motion; sort of like an oversized Astroscan. The owner said it sets up really quick, although he admitted it does not hold collimation well. I'm not sure this is the way I want to go, but it did show how simple and inexpensive a telescope could be... minus the mirrors!


One of my favorite scopes I saw as I walked around was not on the tour, and there was nothing particularly innovative. It was just large. Very, Very Large. Sadly, I did not get to speak to the owner or catch a glimpse through it at night, but it was impressive to behold.

28" Ultralight Dob. Notice how it dwarfs the 10' shade structure

The ultralight, relatively small, mirror box made this seem much more reasonable than the 20"+ Obsession type scopes, but it's still probably more than I would want to handle on a regular basis. Besides, I'm completely decided that I want a flat foot scope. I've been up ladders in the dark, and the views are great, but I feel it would really interrupt my observing flow to climb up and down, reposition the ladder, and such. Besides, some computerization would be required to make the scope usable as you would not want to be actually looking for objects on a ladder, just observing objects.

It stayed clear all day and the night seemed even better than the one before. As the sun set I spent some time with Mars and Saturn waiting for the darkness to settle in. I was somewhat surprised by how steady the air seemed, and I judged the seeing a 7 tonight with 9 transparency... almost as good as this location can be!

Since I had a long drive the next day, I only spent about three hours observing and logged 12 objects. If the total seems low, it was. My targets were a little tougher and I did not find everything I was looking for.  My favorite observation of the night was also the last of my GSSP experience: NGC 6369 Little Ghost Nebula. This small planetary is magnitude 11 according to my list, and was tough to find low on the horizon. It was very satisfying to find, and created a yearning in me to go seek out other difficult planetary nebula.

"Not much more than a dim, bloated star. OIII helped in finding and identifying, but the view is better without. Need to try again when higher in the sky"

Sharing the View and the Impromptu Eyepiece Shootout

I also spent a fair amount of time that last night with some of my neighbors checking out the views through their scopes. One was a standard 15" Obsession, with servos and the whole kit. The view was great, and it was interesting to use a tracking dob. The second was a home built 16" newt on a split ring equatorial. It was a beast! 700 pounds! He transported it in a custom trailer and got it in and out with a winch system.

Towards the end of the evening we had a little eyepiece shootout. The representative from TeleVue was loaning out eyepieces and they had each checked one out during the day. There was a 17mm Ethos (~$800) vs. the 20mm Nagler (~$500) providing roughly the same true field of view (TFOV). Viewing the Veil Nebula both eyepieces gave fantastic views. To me, the higher magnification of the Ethos produced a slightly darker background, but it also had a strange sort of pincushion effect near the edges. It was not objectionable, but a few people commented on it. The Nagler produced a better corrected image as far as I could tell. For kicks we also compared my 32mm TeleView plossl. It has a slightly smaller TFOV and lower magnification. I really enjoy using that eyepiece, it's fantastic and not too expensive, but after the wider field Nagler and Ethos the 58 degree apparent field of view (AFOV) did seem a little tight.

The Nagler and Ethos were both fantastic, but for it's slightly cleaner view and the price difference, I think I'd choose the Nagler, hands down. Heck, you could almost get TWO Naglers for the price of the Ethos and an 82 degree apparent field is no slouch! Spending some time sharing the view through a telescope, and talking about the hobby we all love, is one of my favorite aspects of going to star parties. I'm glad I took it easy the last night and just took the time to enjoy the company, it was a great way to wind down.


Heading Home

I woke up early on Sunday to beat the heat tearing down my camp, but still I ended up sweating in the heat by the time I was done. It's always sad to say goodbye to people I got to know over a few days, and to leave the observing field. I stopped to snap this last picture as I drove out of the gate to head home.

The Entrance, or in this case, Exit, to the Golden State Star Party

If you've never been to any Star Party, I suggest you try to attend one locally. There are several near Southern California, check my yearly events links to the right, and if you feel like making the drive, I hope to see you at GSSP 2013.

My Current Scopes

Now that I have thought about what I want from a new telescope, and before I start to dive into the design and what I might need to buy, it seems like a good time to take inventory of what I have currently and how I got here. Since I want to be frugal about my new scope, allowing me to get the most function I can for the least money, I might end up re-using some pieces I already have. I've also been considering selling a scope to make room and free up budget for a new scope. So here is the current state of things....

Me with my kit at the GSSP 2012, it's sunset, but my face is pretty red from four days of sun

• Orion XT 8 - My workhorse telescope
• 8" f5.9 Dob with crayford focuser
• Telrad
• 9x50 RACI Finder
• Flocked and upgraded with ebony star and teflon azimuth bearing

• Celestron C6 XL - My travel scope
• 6" f10 Schmidt Cassegrain OTA
• Red Dot Finder
• 9x50 RACI Finder
• Astro-Tech 99% di-electric diagonal
• Desert Sky Astro DSV-1 alt/az mount on surveyor tripod

Each scope has a story behind it, why I decided to buy it and what I hoped to accomplish. Owning and using both will help inform my decisions as I go forward designing my new telescope. If you enjoy long rambling stories of telescope purchases and use, then read on!


Orion XT 8

This scope is what got me back into astronomy. Since I was a kid, until eight or so years ago, I owned a 4.5" newtonian on an un-driven german equatorial mount. It was second hand when I got it, and looking back, I'm sure it could have used a new coating on the mirror. However, it was my reference point, and when I wanted to get back into astronomy I knew I wanted something bigger. Then, as now, I had a limited budget and a dobsonian seemed like a good, cheap way to jump back in. At around $350, the XT8 seemed to fit the bill. It had almost four times the aperture of my 4.5" scope, came with everything I would need to start, and had good reviews. I knew it would not be a top-notch scope, but it would be solid and reliable.

It's a basic 8" Synta dob... It's got optics that don't have any obvious defects, the mount is solid with an interesting spring tension system on the altitude bearings, and a fairly nice Crayford style focuser. It came with a 25mm plossl eyepiece and a red dot finder. After I unpacked it and set it up, it was ready to go. It's proven to be a solid performer and is small enough to handle easily, getting it into and out of the car is a not too difficult, and it's got a good amount of aperture. I'd recommend it as a great scope for anyone looking to get into astronomy.

After observing with it for a couple of months, I found a few things that I thought could be better. The first addition was an Orion 9x50 RACI finder. It was a wonderful addition, and really helped when observing from less than perfect locations. It's got a nice wide field, about 5 degrees, and enough light gathering to actually see some of the brighter deep sky objects.  

About the same time I got the new finder, I purchased some Protostar flocking material. I went with the Flockboard light trap sheets which are a thin plastic sheet with the flocking material on one side. It's not adhesive, you just use the natural tendency of the plastic sheet to flatten out to hold it against the side of the tube. It installed easily and I held it in place by running the spider bolts through it. This keeps it in place and it is certainly much better than the somewhat black paint that was inside to start with.

To round things out, I added a nice knob on the bottom of the scope to make it a bit easier to push around the sky. I observed with this scope for over two years, just like that. I purchased some eyepieces and other accessories not directly attached to the scope, but only recently did I feel the need to change anything.

Before the Golden State Star Party 2012 (GSSP) I decided to upgrade the azimuth motion with an ebony star kit from Scope Stuff and to purchase a Telrad. These were both great decisions.  I had a Telrad on my first scope, and the red dot finder is just no substitute. If you have a scope big enough to support it, get one. They are inexpensive and a joy to use. I can't believe I held out for two years. The ebony star kit comes with a precut circle of ebony star laminate and three new virgin teflon pads. Installation was pretty easy, I used spray contact adhesive and should have been a bit more careful, but it worked wonderfully. The amount of force to move in altitude and azimuth is now roughly equal and the scope is much nicer to use for extended periods, especially at high power.

Celestron C6 XLT

A little over two years ago I had an opportunity to travel to Hawaii with my company, Maui to be precise. I read stories of the incredible skies and lack of light pollution on Haleakala and I decided I needed a travel scope. A lot of people would have decided on some sort of short tube refractor, and they would have been very wise. I, however, decided I wanted as much aperture as I could fit on a carry on.

Schmidt-Cassegrain scopes are somewhat light-weight, compact, and have generally good optics. I did some checking, and figured I could JUST fit a 6" SCT in a carry-on suitcase with enough room for a mount and tripod. High Point Scientific was having a great sale on Celestron C6's and I jumped right in. I did not have a mount picked out, or a tripod, but I wanted it. I convinced myself I needed that scope.

I did a bit more research and decided on a Bogen #3047 tripod head, flipped over on it's side, to mount the scope in an alt-az configuration. I found one on eBay for $30 and I purchased it. To keep the whole arrangement off the ground, I bought a Benro A2190T tripod. It's a nice tripod and it has a unique design which allows it to fold flat for more space in my bag. It seemed like I was all set for my trip.

The first time I took the scope out under the stars it was painfully obvious it was under-mounted. The tripod was passable, but the photographic head was outmatched and focusing was a nightmare, even at low power. The entire field would shake for 10 or more seconds any time I touched the scope. On top of this, the clamps had to be so tight to support the weight of the scope that pointing it was an ordeal.  I only used it this way once, for maybe half an hour. It became pretty clear why small, light refractors are generally favored for travel scopes.

I was determined to make the C6 work as a travel scope, so I started searching for a new mount. The Desert Sky Astro DSV-1 seemed to be a good choice. It was not super-expensive, it seemed solid, and was not the absolute heaviest mount. I like alt-az mounts in general, so it was a good choice. Ordering was simple, and the mount arrived quickly. It was great! Solid, simple, with good motion. If I did not expand the tripod legs all the way and used the scope sitting down it was pretty stable. I tried it out a few nights before the trip, figured out how to pack everything away in a single carry-on and I was ready to go!

There was a surprising lack of interest in the telescope/mount/tripod bag as I travelled though security, and before I knew it I was in Hawaii. I only had one night for actual observing... my total stay was short and the drive up to the volcano is long. When the evening arrived I drove the rental car up the mountain with my C6 travel kit. I got up to the top before sunset and watched the sun set as I was above the clouds; Pretty incredible. The sky was clear and it seemed perfect.  

As the sun set the temperature dropped and I started to setup the scope in a parking lot near the top of the mountain. I waited anxiously for the remaining tour buses to leave or turn out their headlights so I could have some darkness. After a frustrating hour or so the parking lot cleared out and I could start observing. Before I could even get fully dark adapted some unusual high-altitude clouds rolled in, completely obscuring the sky. My one night in one of the best places to observe in the world was at an end before it even started. Who knows what wonders I could have seen! Before the clouds rolled in it was incredible... transparent skies and oh, so dark. Since Hawaii is further south than my normal observing locations, and I was at the top of a volcano, I could easily see Omega Centauri, one of the best globular clusters in the sky. When I say easily, I mean easily with my naked eye; Direct vision easy. Right there, like any other star. I managed to get the scope on it before the clouds covered it and was rewarded with a wonderful explosion of stars, but as soon as it started my first observing outside of California was at an end.
Despite the clouds, the C6 performed wonderfully! I ended up buying another 9x50 RACI finder for it and upgrading the tripod to a beefier surveyors tripod from Desert Sky Asto. It won't fit on an airplane, but I can use it extended enough to stand up and observe comfortably with very little shake or vibration. The scope performs so well I ended up leaving the big scope at my observing site in Joshua Tree and I use the C6 anytime I do observing around the Los Angeles area, short trips to Malibu, camping, etc. I hope one day to take it back to Hawaii, or to Australia to see the wonders of the southern sky.

Odds, Ends and the Future

I've accumulated a variety of other things, chairs, eyepieces, charts and the like. I'm sure I can use just about all of these with the new scope, and I'll inventory them in a future post. I'm not sure which scope I might sell, but at this point I expect it would be the XT8. It's a great scope, but it will end up in a strange middle spot. Not my most portable scope, but not my largest either. Why truck it around when I can go for something with 2x the aperture for only a little more effort? I'll be sad to see it go, but if it finds another good home it's got years of service ahead of it!

A Better Scope

After observing for a few years, and attending a few great star parties, I decided I wanted to get a better telescope.   I currently own two scopes, more about them in a future post, but they each have some drawbacks for me.  So when I decided to start this project and spend a year trying to get the telescope I really want, a scope that would let me do the observing I like for a long time to come, I had to start thinking about what that would be.  I had to start thinking about some design requirements.

There are lots of great scopes out there, many better than my workhorse Orion XT8, but each in different ways.  I do all sorts of observing, but my favorite objects, the ones I spend the most time observing and go back to again and again, are deep sky objects: Galaxies, Nebula of all sorts, and particularly, globular clusters.  Oh the majesty of a beautiful globular cluster!  I usually observe whatever bright planets are in the sky on my observing nights, but they are secondary to the main event.  So I want a telescope fit for deep sky hunting!

Requirement #1: Aperture

All my favorite objects are dim... so aperture rules the day.  The larger the main mirror or lens, the more light gathered and the brighter the image.  Increased aperture also provides some benefits on resolution, so that’s a plus as well!  With that in mind overall aperture is one of my main requirements.  If it was the only requirement, I’d just get the biggest honking mirror I could and build a scope around that.  Alas, I have some other constraints and considerations.

Requirement #2: Portability

Living in Los Angeles, CA, if I want to see anything aside from the two dozen brightest stars in the sky, I have to travel.  I am fortunate enough to have a semi-permanent observing location in Joshua Tree, CA, where I can leave a telescope, but I still need to move it outside to observe.  There are also several yearly dark sky star parties, like the GSSP, which I would like to continue attending.  Perhaps I’ll even get to the Oregon Star Party... people say it’s REALLY dark.  All of this means that whatever scope I have, it has to be mobile.  I’m going to say I have to be able to lift and put it together myself, and it has to fit into an average car.  

Requirement #3: Economy

Hey, I’m not made of money.  I’d like to have a fancy 20” Ritchey–Chrétien, with it’s flat and coma-free field, but that will have to wait for another day.  I want the most aperture I can get for the least money.  I want to spend where it counts, aperture, optical/mechanical quality, and save on everything else.  Fortunately, there are some things I know are NOT important to me that I can give up.


Trade Off #1: Tracking

At this point I’m pretty much a dedicated visual observer, and I don’t mind pushing the scope around.  I usually use lower magnification for wider fields, so it’s not tough to track by hand.  Astrophotography is great, and I’ve done some wide field imaging with a tripod and DSLR, but the real deal is a something I can live without for the next while.  I love seeing the dedicated guys at the star parties, their kit is awesome, and they produce some jaw-droppingly beautiful images, but you gotta give some things up in any design, and this is one I am willing to let go.  By foregoing this ability in my design, I’ll save a ton of money.

Trade Off #2: Goto, Push-To, DSC’s, etc.

This stuff is great, but I LIKE hunting down faint objects with nothing more than a good star atlas, my trusty telescope, and lots of effort.  I enjoy observing, and the thought of zooming from one object to another is intriguing, but I find there is a great reward in learning the sky and star hopping to find that elusive thing.... whatever it is.  It might be nice to add Digital Setting Circles later, for finding tough objects, or if I’m just feeling lazy one night, so I’ll try to keep the design open to it, but I’m definitely willing to go without for the sake of the budget.

Trade Off #3: Refractor Like Views

I was not entirely sure how to encapsulate this point.  At first it was going to be Image Quality, but I certainly want the best image quality I can design into the system.  However, I am willing to put up with a few things that will enable more aperture.  A really good telescope based off a lens, a refractor, will give outstanding views; Contrasty, highly detailed, velvet black field, just beautiful.  I’ve seen the view through a good 5” apo-refractor and it was stunning.  But, it was painfully expensive, and that 5” of aperture is never going to show the same objects a 10” scope will... no matter how good the optics.  I’m okay with some coma, a side effect of most large aperture designs, and diffraction spikes... if it gives me another magnitude or two.  

The Winner Is...

With this subset of requirements:  Aperture and Economy, and the allowable trade-offs it seems pretty clear that a Newtonian design, on a simple altazimuth mount, is the way to go for me.   I’m pretty lucky that there has been a LOT of exploration of this design space.  John Dobson pioneered this thinking in the late 1960’s, creating the Dobsonian Telescope. There is a reason most 10+” scopes, and just about every 16+” scope at star parties are of this general design; It’s robust, it offers large aperture at low cost, and it can be made portable, fulfilling my third requirement.

So now that I know basically what I am looking for, I can start filling in some of the details.  How big is big?  What can I actually move from place to place?  Do I buy this thing, or build it?  What am I going to need to spend on this better telescope? I'll be posting my thoughts on the details of the design in another post.

Clear Skies