20" Dobsonian - link to article:This is my primary visual telescope. It's an excellent performer with a Steve Swayze Optics primary mirror. I built this telescope during 1999, and have had some good times observing with it.
8" Newtonian - link to article:I built this telescope during 2000 as an everynight telescope. It was designed for visual use as a finder on the 20", full-time visual OTA for high-powered observing, and for photography on an equatorial mounting. It just goes to show you that a Newtonian is a simple, all around performer. With it I can see those little white spots that occassionally show up on Jupiter, or view up to 2.33 real degrees at a time. I even ground the primary mirror myself, so I am even more convinced that Amateur Telescope Making (including optics) can be done by anyone!
C102 Celestron 4" F10 Refractor: I bought this scope to be a guider for my imaging rig. It is durable, but the focuser is not great. The images are actually very good. There is some color on the moon and Jupiter, but if you use a Minus Violet filter the image is very nice. Detail on Jupiter is above what you what expect for this scope. It is a bit heavy for a guidescope, and needs good rings. I got the Losmandy DR125's which are pretty sturdy.
Commercial EQ Mount
Losmandy G11: This mount is permanently mounted in my observatory for imaging. It has an 8" f5.5 newtonian mounted with a 4" piggy-back refractor for guiding. This is definately the max load for this mount. It does not track perfectly, but the autoguider (an st4) does a pretty good job of fixing up the mechanical problems. There are some fixes recommended, and I recommend you perform them to fix up the tracking problems. I have not, and I still throw 10%-20% of 2 minute guided images away. I reallly need to work out the kinks, but overall I'm satisfied with the mount. I do not have the goto version. I have the stepper version which seems of good quality to me. I did have to have the stepper controller (the brains) fixed because it failed. I have heard this is typical, and they are about $150 to replace... so that is a risk I don't like. The illuminated polar finder is very nice (provided you have the Losmandy version, and not the Celestron). There are plenty of accessories for mounting various OTA's and this is a mount that should be around for a while.
Eyepieces
40 mm Pentax-XL: I bought this eyepiece during the build of the 20". I didn't really spend a lot of time researching it or even deciding what my needs were in this purchase, but I am very pleased with its performance. The eyepiece has a 65 degree apparent FOV, and yields close to 1 degree in my 20". I get over 2.3 degrees real FOV in my 8". The exit pupil is a little large in the 20", and just right in the 8", but the viewing is spectacular. This eyepiece does not show any distortion (as with the Panoptics), but the stars are not quite perfect near the edges. This has not been a major projem for me. I primarily use this eyepiece for the larger Messiers, and especially for finding things. Also, M31 or M33 is beautiful through the 8" with this eyepiece. This eyepiece is very comfortable to use. It has very good eyerelief, and the cup that your eye fits "into" is very comfortable.
25 mm Orion Kellner: This eyepiece is about 10 years old. I'm quite sure I didn't spend a lot of money on it, but it's a nice eyepiece. The apparent FOV is around 50 degrees, and I have found it to be a good all-purpose eyepiece. I can't get rid of it because I know it will serve one of my kids or friends well when they need it.
21 mm Pentax XL: I purchased this eyepiece because I love the Pentax 40mm XL so much. It is the most comfortable eyepiece I've used, and I needed something in this magnification range. I found the eyepiece to be just as comfortable. The edge was better than the 40mm, and turned out to be a great all-purpose medium power eyepiece for deep sky. I also barlowed this eyepiece successfully and found it to be a very high quality eyepiece overall. I ultimately traded it for a 16mm Nagler (below) but I would not hesitate to recommend this eyepiece.
16 mm Nagler Type II: I traded this for my 21mm Pentax XL. I liked the Pentax, but I figured I was getting about the same true FOV, but at higher magnification... and it's a Nagler :) This is now my default eyepiece. It does well on just about everything. The planets are nice, although I found the internal reflections less than ideal through my 20" newt. Deep sky objects are perfect in this eyepiece. M51 is well framed, and though a little more magnification is helpful, I still enjoy this eyepiece on the 20" on this object. Great eyepiece, recommended.
12 mm Nagler Type II: I recently purchased this eyepiece used from Phil Harrington at Stellafane. It is sharp, comfortable, and is very impressive in use. There are some internal reflections on Mars (which is near a very good opposition - so what do you expect). On the planets I found it to be extremely sharp. On deep sky you have a perfect eyepiece. These tests were all made on my 20" f5 Newtonian. This is a keeper for sure.
12 mm Orion Plossl: This eyepiece is about 10 years old. I bought it at the same time as I purchased the 25mm Kellner (while in college). For many years I rarely used the eyepiece because the apparent FOV is probably not much over 40 - 45 degrees. I have found that it is quite sharp, however, and have been using it more for planetary viewing. The eye relief is not very good, and would definatly hinder those who wear glasses.
9 mm Nagler: I bought this eyepiece while building the 8". The apparent FOV is 82 degrees, and hence the view through it is amazing. It gives about 290X through my 20", so I use it a lot for planetary viewing. The contrast is good. You get a dark background while viewing deep sky objects. I used to think the eyepiece was not that sharp, but it is actually very sharp. I have seen incredible amounts of detail on the planets. Others using this eyepiece on my 20" confirm it as a very capable planetary eyepiece. Very faint objects are tough to focus on, and with this relatively high-power you can overshoot easily. But if you focus on a brighter nearby star, then recenter the DSO, everything is fine.
Televue Powermate 5X: I bought this item mostly to do imaging. I used it several times visually as well, and found it to be of very high quality but of a limited use. It worked just fine with my 25mm Kellner in an f5.5 scope. Using a focal extender brings a tremendous advantage in that the light-cone is modified in a way that is easier on your eyepieces. For my imaging needs Jupiter was too large for my "small" frame on my CCD camera, and I didn't feel like downloading huge images just for a planet so it was less useful than the purpose I bought it for. I sold this item on Astromart a few months after purchased.
Accessories
Sky Commander DSC's: This one item made provided more "at-the-eyepiece" time than any other investment I have made. It is installed on my 20" Dob, and performs wonderfully. I have star-hopped for over 15 years. I still star-hop, but when I feel like oberving I feel like observing. The install process is easy if you're so inclined (I have been building scopes since I was 13, so I felt comfortable). Definately purchase the azimuth bearing kit. It is solid, and performs well. Once the encoders are installed, you simply turn the unit on, set your date (if you're interested in the planets), and perform a 2-star alignment. There is no levelling, or orientation of the scope required outside the 2-star alignment. Once the alignment is done, you simply punch in the item you're interested in viewing, and you turn your telescope until the pointers show zeroes in both the alt & az direction. The object should now be in the FOV. The total investment is probably a little over $400, but is well worth it. Finally, if you decide to upgrade to the ServoCat goto system, your Sky Commander can be used as the "brains" of your sky coordinate system & catalog, so it is a reusable component for sure.
Thousand Oaks OIII Filter: If you want to increase the contrast on your image by tenfold or more, then this device will do it... provided the object you're viewing gives off a lot of light in this narrow band of the spectrum. The Veil Nebula through a 20" without the filter is visible. With the filter it will knock you off the ladder. Other nebula look great as well. The Dumbell shows extended nebulosity. M8 is also very good. I was also very impressed with the view on the Swan Nebula. There was a lot more nebulosity than I ever knew existed. Anyway, you've got to get this filter if you've got a scope 8" or more. I'm not overly impressed with its use on smaller scopes unless it's a high-contrast refractor on a large object at low power. The Great American Nebula through a Televue 4" is a great match for a wide-angle eyepiece & an OIII filter, but it is not as good on smaller objects in the smaller scopes. Your mileage may vary.
Orion 1 1/4" Color Filters: Red, Yellow, Blue & Green. The Red & Yellow filter excel on Mars viewing. The red is very deep, and is useful on the 20". It knocks the light way down, and yields fantastic contrast showing the surface detail much more easily. I use the yellow in my 8", and it works well. When Jupiter comes around the blue filter will be a favorite.
Moonlite 2"/1 1/4" Laser Colimator: Reasonably priced, this unit has served me well for a couple of years. It projects a narrow red laser beam, and is good for squaring your focuser and pointing your secondary correctly. You can also get your primary really close and tweak it with the star test. Definately recommended to get a good alignment before it gets dark.
Imaging Equipment
SBIG ST7: I just picked this up used on Astromart. My initial impressions even with the free CCDOPS software is that the whole system is much easier to use than the CookBook system & separate guiding camera. The setup is the non-e ABG chip with cooling. The PC interface is a parallel interface (unlike the newer and faster USB). There are a lot fewer cables, regulated temperature control, smaller pixel size, and a much better overall quality than the standard cookbook build. I hope to have some images soon.
CookBook 245 CCD Camera: I started this camera in 2000, and got it working in 2001. It's is currently used on my 8" Newtonian. You can see images I have taken here. It's a cool camera to build. It's got more wires & cables than I like, and is noisier than the newer cameras, but it is certainly less expensive. It takes a good bit of patience to build, and it may be more work than you want. Overall, you will be pleased with the results of the images if you take time to do it right. If I had it to do all over again in today's CCD market, I would have purchased one outright. But maybe I at least have bragging rights? * I no longer own this device, as I sold it on Astromart to go to an SBIG ST7 self-guided camera that is an overall simpler setup than the Cookbook & ST4 setup.
SBIG ST4: I picked this up used on Astromart when I started doing ccd images and realized my mount had errors. The unit does what it is supposed to do flawlessly. It locks onto a guidestar and issues commands to correct guiding errors when the star drifts a little. It's extra work to auto-guide (compared to no guiding) but the images are much better. Unfortunately this device is no longer made but still shows up on the used market enough. It does take a little practice to get used to also. * I no longer own this device, as I sold it on Astromart to go to a self-guided camera that is an overall simpler setup than the Cookbook & ST4 setup.
Star Charts
Sky Atlas 2000, 2nd edition: I got this for Christmas 2000, and have had the opportunity to use it a couple of times. It's a good all-around Atlas, and is much easier to use than Uranometria for brighter objects. Star-hopping with the 20" could be difficult, however, as there are not enough stars. I also more recently purchased the laminated edition. I wouldn't use anything but laminated for outdoors. They are very durable and waterproof. White stars on black background is the best to preserve your night vision.
Uranometria Northern & Southern Sky Editions: I had these atlases for about 8 years or so, and they are very good. I did sell them eventually. They are a bit cumbersome for tracking down simpler objects, but when it comes to tracking down a good DSO, you need good charts. They fit the bill just perfectly. There's a new revised version that's been released. I think they incorporate the Hipparcos data which is considered very accurate. I never noticed accuracy problems, but with over 350,000 stars plotted I'm sure some of them are were correctly labelled or positioned. Definately recommended for true DSO observers.
Chris Marriott's - "SkyMap Pro 6": I just use the demo version (which doesn't pay Chris any money). I was able to load some SAO catalog, that I downloaded from the internet, of around 250,000 stars into it and it meets my needs. I primarily use this when I'm preparing a list of objects to observe. I'll print off the map with the object circled, and stars to about 9.0 - 9.5 magnitude listed. It's also nice to determine Jupiter events (GRS not included) and other astronomical phenomenon.
