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OpticsBlog – Thoughts and reviews of binoculars, telescopes, scopes, sights, and much more - birdwatching, astronomy, target shooting - pretty much anything related to optics, nature, and life!Monday, February 13, 2012Great little telescope Wonder or wonders! We had a clear sky, Sunday evening, Even though the temperature was in the single digits, the stars were calling to me. Cold or no cold, when you get a clear night in our area, you don’t pass up a chance to setup & use a telescope. How do you choose the right telescope for a cold winter’s evening? If you’re an old gal like me who seems to have less resistance to the cold with each passing year, you choose the telescope that can be setup and ready to go the fastest. If I have to spend a half hour in the cold assembling a telescope, my hands are already too cold to work the focuser on the telescope, even when I wear gloves. Out came my little Apogee/LOMO 80 mm APO refractor. It did not disappoint. The Orion nebula was so beautiful in the telescope eyepiece that I just had to share the view with my husband, Bill. At 80x, compliments of my Televue Nagler 12.0 mm eyepiece and Televue Big Barlow, I could easily see the cluster of stars embedded in the nebula known as the Trapezium. Adding a Televue Bandmate OIII filter showed even more detail in the nebula. Wow! My half hour was up - my hands were cold. It was a great thirty minutes, though. I went to sleep with a smile on my face, thanks to the sight of the Orion Nebula in that great little telescope. Friday, February 10, 2012Astronomy class Curious, enthusiastic and eager are words we typically use to describe the young, but how about curious, enthusiastic and eager seniors? Let me tell you, right now, that if you don’t think of seniors this way, you are guilty of stereotyping and you do this group an injustice. The seniors I am teaching, right now, for instance, are as eager and enthusiastic to learn about astronomy, telescopes and binoculars as any youngsters I have taught and I am a former middle school science teacher. It’s been an absolute teacher’s dream to share my knowledge of astronomy with this local group of very eager and curious seniors, this past week. Wonderful students! In my experience, all of us, young and old, have a natural curiosity of the night sky and I have yet to meet a single person who would pass up an opportunity to look in a telescope eyepiece to gaze upon some of the wonders of the universe. It’s our birthright, after all. As long as humans have been humans, we’ve looked and wondered at a night sky filled with stars. Our knowledge continues to grow and we now have a media that keeps us informed of the latest discoveries on an almost daily basis, but the need to see what’s out there with our own two eyes remains. Fortunately, this easily done thanks to telescopes, telescope accessories and astronomy binoculars that anyone can afford. There’s never been a better time to pursue an interest in astronomy right from your own backyard. Amateur astronomy is alive and doing well and my class of seniors bears it out. About the pic: M64, a galaxy in the constellation Leo, courtesy of the Hubble.
Thursday, February 09, 2012Computer or no computer on my telescope?Astronomers tend to either love the idea of computers on their telescopes to help them find objects in the sky or they tend to hold their nose at the idea of relying on a computer to find objects for them. There are, however, a few old pro astronomers like me who take the middle ground and see computers on telescopes as just another tool that may be helpful in certain situations. I personally prefer to do without a computer on my telescopes because I regard finding objects in the sky the old-fashioned way – with a star atlas - instead of a computer to be part of the fun. Being able to work your way through hundreds of stars to center a tiny galaxy in the telescope eyepiece with nothing more than a star atlas as your guide is a thrill for me. It keeps me sharp and my telescope skills at their peak. Using a computer to help me find objects never even crossed my mind for many years because I had always had a sky filled with many stars to guide the way. Then I found myself under Chicago’s badly light-polluted skies. The old familiar method of hopping from star to star to find objects I wanted to see in the telescopes and astronomy binoculars became more of a nightmare than a challenge. When light pollution robs you of your ability to detect a lot of those stars that you need to guide the way to your favorite objects, the old methods don’t work so well at all, even for an old pro like me. Meanwhile, as I struggled and sweated, my astronomy pals with their computerized telescopes were happily moving from one object to the next at an enviable pace. Computer or no computer is one of those telescope first questions you should ask when trying to choose the right telescope, because it's always cheaper and more practical to buy a telescope with a computer, up front, than it is is to add a computer, later. My advice for urban dwellers that have to contend with some serious light pollution is to go with a computerized telescope, especially if you are new to astronomy. On the other hand, I do strongly believe that everyone who takes the time to setup & use a telescope owes it to themselves to become thoroughly familiar with the night sky at least to the point of knowing and recognizing basic constellations and brighter stars without relying on a computer. That kind of knowledge makes for a better astronomer, with or without a computer on the telescope. Wednesday, February 08, 2012Red dot sights and rifle scopes As my eyes get older, I more and more appreciate the effectiveness of optics on firearms. No doubt about it, red dot sights, rifle scopes and pistol scopes make you a better shooter and bring out more of the accuracy any firearm has to offer. Next to ammo, optics are easily the most important gun accessories you can buy. I’m primarily a pistol shooter and have always leaned toward shooting pistols because of the challenge. I bought my first pistol when I was eighteen. I was helping my younger brother on his trap line. We had enough gear to carry as it was and neither of us wanted to mess with a rifle. He couldn’t legally carry a pistol because of his age, but I could, so we bought a Ruger Single Six 22. Little did I know that I would be the one to get the shooting bug, but I did, and I have been shooting pistols off and on, ever since. Yes, there were years when there were no guns and no shooting, either because we couldn’t afford to shoot or because we lacked a place to safe shoot, but sooner or later, I always managed to find my way back to the shooting range to do some target shooting. My husband and I are definitely in the shooting mode, these days. We make almost weekly trips to the range, even in the dead of winter. I’ve been doing the teaching, which is kind of a switch from the typical husband and wife shooting team, but my Bill has proven to be an excellent student, but those darn iron sights have been giving him fits. That brings me back to red dot sights and pistol scopes. What a difference they have made in his shooting! From a rest, he is now punching almost quarter-sized holes in the bull at 50 feet with our scoped 22 target pistols, shown in the pic, above. Time to move him off the bench rest position into more challenging shooting positions. As for me, I still love to shoot iron sights, so I tend to spend most of my time with our iron-sighted handguns. Shooting pistols and handguns will always mean iron sights to me, maybe because of that first pistol I bought and shot when I was eighteen. Tuesday, February 07, 2012Telescope work of art Dobsonian telescopes were invented in the spirit of keeping things cheap so that everyone who wanted a good-sized telescope could afford one rather than having to settle for a small telescope. In that respect, Dobsonian telescopes have been a rousing success. To this day, a “Dob” remains the best value in terms of dollars spent per inch of telescope size, meaning you can often buy a telescope twice the size with a Dob with the same dollars you would spend on another design. Who would have thought, then, that these simple telescopes would evolve to a point of becoming telescope works of art and, in some cases, expensive works of art? I am the proud owner of one of these in my Obsession 12.5” Classic. All wooden parts are made of cabinet-grade wood of a type specifically designed for use in telescopes. All metal parts are of the highest quality. Optics? Well let’s just say that the primary mirror alone costs more than a good telescope. Using cheap telescope accessories, then, would be a sacrilege with this telescope. Now, why would anyone pay for this kind of quality in such a simple telescope design when cheaper materials and more reasonably priced optical components could very nearly get you the same performance? I’ve owned much cheaper Dobs and fell in love with the design many years ago, but I've always wondered what it would be like to build one of these telescopes with the very best of everything. Now I know and I have not been disappointed. It’s a thrill to use a telescope work of art. Monday, February 06, 2012telescopes as spotting scopes High grade, small, short focal length APO refractor telescopes that serve double duty as astronomy telescopes by night and spotting scopes by day are well-respected tools in both the astronomy community and the birdwatching community. I especially like these telescopes for bird watching. If you’ve never looked through a TV-85, Stellarvue SV80ED or my LOMO/Apogee 80 mm APO setup on a tripod to view distant and/or small birds at a lake or marsh, you are missing something. When conditions allow, you can easily exceed the 60x that is all you can squeeze out of a typical birding spotting scope. It’s quite a kick to make a positive ID on a bird at 80x or even 100x when everyone else is still guessing at 60x. Views at more conventional magnifications when using premium telescope eyepieces are just plain breathtaking with these telescopes, too. It ain’t all roses with these telescopes as spotting scopes, though. They’re heavy - far too heavy to throw over your shoulder and hike a couple miles. Use these telescopes when you do your birding from a parking lot or viewing area near a parking lot, as many of us do. Weight is not a factor, then. You’ll also be using 90-degree diagonals in these telescopes turned spotting scopes, so viewing will not be at a more comfortable 45 degrees as with conventional angled spotting scopes. Images will also be reversed, right-to-left, though still upright, but that issue is easily accommodated with a little practice. Yes, you can get imaging erecting, 45-degree prisms to use with these telescopes, but I do not recommend them because they noticeably degrade image quality. Stick with high-grade 90-degree mirror diagonals and you’ll get all the amazing image quality these telescopes have to offer. Don't forget astronomy with these telescopes when you're done birding for the day. About the pic: my LOMO/Apogee with Televue Nagler eyepiece and Stellarvue Enhanced 2 " diagonal. Awesome viewing up and down the lake! Friday, February 03, 2012Choosing telescope eyepieces It must be a little daunting for someone new to astronomy and telescopes to discover just how crazy some of us old pros get about telescope eyepieces. Here you are, an eager beginner and you’ve gone to all the trouble to choose the right telescope and then you find that there is even more to ponder about telescope eyepieces. What is the best telescope eyepiece? Oh, if it were only that simple. Your choices in this all-important of telescope accessories is as personal and subjective as your choice of a telescope, perhaps even more so. Simply put, we astronomers tend to choose eyepieces based on the quality of the images they produce and quality is very much in the eye of the beholder. Some of us want crisp images, some of us want bright images and some of us want big, wide fields of view and some of us want all of those in a single telescope eyepiece and we'll pay whatever it takes to get it. It can be done, but it doesn’t come cheap. Ignorance is bliss, and definitely cheaper when it comes to telescope eyepieces. If you’ve never used a great telescope eyepiece, you don’t know what you are missing and you’ll likely wonder who in their right mind would pay almost as much for a single telescope eyepiece as a decent telescope. Once you’ve had a chance to experience the view in a great telescope, though, you’ll understand. You’ll find yourself dreaming of magnificent views of the sky you saw and you’ll be hooked. Welcome to the club! Thursday, February 02, 2012Quarter moonBeautiful quarter moon, last night, when I stepped out the door to do my usual after-dinner check of the sky, so I grabbed one of my small refractor telescopes for a closer look. I wasn’t expecting too see much as far as detail, though, because there was a classic ring of light around the moon that indicated a lot of ice and moisture in the air and that always makes it tough to see a lot of detail in the telescope eyepiece. That proved to be the case, but I can’t say I was terribly disappointed. The moon peering through that icy shroud was truly beautiful and I didn’t need a telescope to enjoy it. I’m as die-hard as any amateur astronomer, but I love a good view of the sight sky with or without my telescopes or astronomy binoculars. If the day ever comes when I turn my back on such a lovely sight because I can’t use a telescope or my astronomy binoculars, then I might as well just stay indoors and watch TV. Not a chance! ☺ Wednesday, February 01, 2012Telescope portability, the traveling astronomer As much as we love living in northern Wisconsin, I can’t say much for its potential for amateur astronomy. Clear nights without clouds are especially rare in the winter and when we do get clear nights in any season of the year, sky transparency is typically only fair due to the high humidity. Okay, what does a die-hard astronomer do when she needs better skies for her telescopes and astronomy binoculars? She goes on an astronomy trip to a location that does have better skies, that’s what. Time to load up a telescope and the binoculars in car, then, and travel west to a drier climate. Traveling is not an unusual remedy for an astronomer who suffers poor skies, by the way. A lot of city-bound astronomers under light-polluted skies travel to better locations on a regular basis. Some astronomers even make a yearly pilgrimage to distant regions famous for their pristine skies. That might seem like a lot of effort to get better images in a telescope, but only if you don't happen to be an astronomer. When it comes time to setup & use a telescope, experienced astronomers know that the quality of skies at your location is often more important than the telescope you use. A good sky makes all the difference when it comes to what you see in the telescope eyepiece. This approach is where it makes sense to choose the right telescope, carefully. Portability is all-important in a telescope that will travel, as is a measure of ruggedness. My favorite telescopes for astronomy on wheels has always been short-focal length, high-grade APO refractor telescopes (see the pic), but this is also where Schmidt-Cassegrains and Maksutov telescopes really shine because they pack their optics into short, compact optical assemblies. Time to break out the road map and plan my trip. Tuesday, January 31, 2012Dobsonian telescopes The best laid plans of mice and astronomy gals often goes astray. Okay, kind of corny, I know, but it is true when it comes to my big Obsession12.5” Dobsonian telescope. I love this telescope. It is a superb telescope. It leaves all my other telescopes in the dust when it comes to finding hard to detect, faint objects and everything it shows in the telescope eyepiece, it shows beautifully. It’s just that it is, well, a pain in the butt to use in the snow. It's my baby. If you are not familiar with Dobsonian telescopes, what makes a Dobsonian (or Dob) a Dob is the mount, not the optics. This type of telescope does not use a tripod as part of the mount as with all other types of telescopes. Rather, the telescope sits on a flat box, or cradle. Right now we have nearly a foot of accumulated snow in the yard and that is a fairly normal state of affairs for us in a northern Wisconsin winter. With my other telescopes, it is no big deal to setup & use a telescope in the yard because they sit on tripods. Just stick the tripod legs in the snow and away we go. Not so with my Dob. No matter where I place it, I have to shovel some snow and do it, carefully, too, because part of the optical system on a Dob is very close to the ground. Allowing the very expensive primary mirror to encounter snow and ice is a big no-no. There is a solution, though it is one I’ve tried to avoid for the sake of cost. This telescope needs an observatory with a roll off or removable roof. That’s about the only way my precious Dob will see much use in the winter. Looks like my husband, Bill, will have another project on his hands this summer. :) |
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