What do you think?

Have any of you any knowledge of the Celestron Firstscope 102 AZ
refractor? I'm fairly new at this, and most of the places that I've lived
have had such washed out skies from light pollution that I have rarely even
tried to use my little 60 mm refractor. Also, Orion offers a 6 layer
eyepiece with 2 layers being ED glass, and one can also purchase
apochromatic barlows. My question is, how much will either of these
actually improve the view, hopefully cutting back on chromatic aberrations
and such, without actually purchasing one of those more expensive scopes
with an apochromatic objective lens? When I do upgrade it may be to a good
reflector instead, but I am curious. Thanks for any input any of you can
give me.
Sincerely,
Bill Kelly.

On Thu, 12 May 2005 10:44:26 -0500, "Bill Kelly"
wrote:

Have any of you any knowledge of the Celestron Firstscope 102 AZ
refractor? I'm fairly new at this, and most of the places that I've lived
have had such washed out skies from light pollution that I have rarely even
tried to use my little 60 mm refractor.

I've never looked through one but it looks like the same telecope as
the Skywatcher 102mm F5 which display a lot of false colour on many
examples; some are better than others it seems.

Also, Orion offers a 6 layer
eyepiece with 2 layers being ED glass, and one can also purchase
apochromatic barlows.

Orion UK? or Orion in the USA?

My question is, how much will either of these
actually improve the view, hopefully cutting back on chromatic aberrations
and such, without actually purchasing one of those more expensive scopes
with an apochromatic objective lens?

Neither will improve the colour fringing.

When I do upgrade it may be to a good
reflector instead, but I am curious.

If you want a 'scope with no false colour then either a reflector or a
Maksutov would be the ones to look at.

Regards

- Mike

"Mike Murphy" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 May 2005 10:44:26 -0500, "Bill Kelly"
wrote:

Have any of you any knowledge of the Celestron Firstscope 102 AZ
refractor? I'm fairly new at this, and most of the places that I've lived
have had such washed out skies from light pollution that I have rarely
even
tried to use my little 60 mm refractor.

I've never looked through one but it looks like the same telecope as
the Skywatcher 102mm F5 which display a lot of false colour on many
examples; some are better than others it seems.

Also, Orion offers a 6 layer
eyepiece with 2 layers being ED glass, and one can also purchase
apochromatic barlows.

Orion UK? or Orion in the USA?

My question is, how much will either of these
actually improve the view, hopefully cutting back on chromatic aberrations
and such, without actually purchasing one of those more expensive scopes
with an apochromatic objective lens?

Neither will improve the colour fringing.

When I do upgrade it may be to a good
reflector instead, but I am curious.

If you want a 'scope with no false colour then either a reflector or a
Maksutov would be the ones to look at.

Regards

- Mike
Thank you Mike,
I was referring to Orion USA, but I am wondering, is the same scope,
but in the 1000mm focal length, (the AZis 500 mm), which Celestron offers,
or other similar models with the longer focal length, do they fair better in
the area of false color? Or do you really need to have an ED or fluorite
objective lens to bring much improvement? Orion USA used to offer a 6 inch
Maksutov -Newtonian with a very small secondary mirror obstruction, which
they claimed gave views comparable to apo's of similar size, but I have not
seen it on their website, or in their catalogue for some time, Thanks for
the information Yours,
Bill.

Bill Kelly wrote:
"Mike Murphy" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 May 2005 10:44:26 -0500, "Bill Kelly"
wrote:
Have any of you any knowledge of the Celestron Firstscope 102 AZ
refractor? I'm fairly new at this, and most of the places that I've lived
have had such washed out skies from light pollution that I have rarely
even tried to use my little 60 mm refractor.
I've never looked through one but it looks like the same telecope as
the Skywatcher 102mm F5 which display a lot of false colour on many
examples; some are better than others it seems.
Also, Orion offers a 6 layer
eyepiece with 2 layers being ED glass, and one can also purchase
apochromatic barlows.
Orion UK? or Orion in the USA?
My question is, how much will either of these
actually improve the view, hopefully cutting back on chromatic aberrations
and such, without actually purchasing one of those more expensive scopes
with an apochromatic objective lens?
Neither will improve the colour fringing.
When I do upgrade it may be to a good
reflector instead, but I am curious.
If you want a 'scope with no false colour then either a reflector or a
Maksutov would be the ones to look at.
Regards
- Mike
Thank you Mike,

I was referring to Orion USA, but I am wondering, is the same scope,
but in the 1000mm focal length, (the AZis 500 mm), which Celestron offers,
or other similar models with the longer focal length, do they fair better in
the area of false color? Or do you really need to have an ED or fluorite
objective lens to bring much improvement? Orion USA used to offer a 6 inch
Maksutov -Newtonian with a very small secondary mirror obstruction, which
they claimed gave views comparable to apo's of similar size, but I have not
seen it on their website, or in their catalogue for some time, Thanks for
the information Yours,
Bill.

I have a Mak 127mm which is excellent on colour fringing (it just doesn't show it,
well, nowhere near as much as the 102mm ST does, or any non apo refractor come to
that), but I am also just in the process of buying another 102mm ST for DSO work. A
minus violet filter or a light pollution filter may help photographically, but there
isnt much you can do visually I suspect.

Best Regards,

David Harris
Please remove NOSPAM & demunge address to reply :-
g8ina((at))NOSPAMblueyonder(dot)co(dot)uk

On Thu, 12 May 2005 14:18:16 -0500, "Bill Kelly"
wrote:
I was referring to Orion USA, but I am wondering, is the same scope,
but in the 1000mm focal length, (the AZis 500 mm), which Celestron offers,
or other similar models with the longer focal length, do they fair better in
the area of false color? Or do you really need to have an ED or fluorite
objective lens to bring much improvement? Orion USA used to offer a 6 inch
Maksutov -Newtonian with a very small secondary mirror obstruction, which
they claimed gave views comparable to apo's of similar size, but I have not
seen it on their website, or in their catalogue for some time, Thanks for
the information Yours,
Bill.

Hi again Bill,
can't comment of the Orion USA eyepieces but I can say that, yes,
false colour is less of an issue with a longer focal *ratio* but it's
still there in an achromat. To determine what is acceptable to you you
really have to have a look through the refracter you intend buying at
the sort of object/s you intend viewing. There are after market
filters that claim to reduce the false colour but I'm a bit against an
accessory that takes away some of the precious light.

I don't know much about Mak-Newts and have never used one but I have
seen some impressive results from such instruments, particularly web
cam images of planets. I can say, however, that Mak-Cassegrains are
very good, no false colour unless it is caused by atmospheric
refraction. I have one of the Skywatcher 127mm Mak-Cass and it's a
very nice little telescope if the focal ratio is suitable for what you
want. (It is a bit tricky to collimate, though). I see that there is a
150mm version about to hit the shelves soon. I expect that there will
be an Orion (USA) badged version of that too soon.

Regards

- Mike

Thanks for the info, Mike, I was just looking at the Mak -Cassegrains's
online by several companies. They seem to have some good advantages, in
addition to their clear views.
Yours,
Bill.


"Mike Murphy" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 May 2005 14:18:16 -0500, "Bill Kelly"
wrote:
I was referring to Orion USA, but I am wondering, is the same scope,
but in the 1000mm focal length, (the AZis 500 mm), which Celestron offers,
or other similar models with the longer focal length, do they fair better
in
the area of false color? Or do you really need to have an ED or fluorite
objective lens to bring much improvement? Orion USA used to offer a 6 inch
Maksutov -Newtonian with a very small secondary mirror obstruction, which
they claimed gave views comparable to apo's of similar size, but I have
not
seen it on their website, or in their catalogue for some time, Thanks for
the information Yours,
Bill.

Hi again Bill,
can't comment of the Orion USA eyepieces but I can say that, yes,
false colour is less of an issue with a longer focal *ratio* but it's
still there in an achromat. To determine what is acceptable to you you
really have to have a look through the refracter you intend buying at
the sort of object/s you intend viewing. There are after market
filters that claim to reduce the false colour but I'm a bit against an
accessory that takes away some of the precious light.

I don't know much about Mak-Newts and have never used one but I have
seen some impressive results from such instruments, particularly web
cam images of planets. I can say, however, that Mak-Cassegrains are
very good, no false colour unless it is caused by atmospheric
refraction. I have one of the Skywatcher 127mm Mak-Cass and it's a
very nice little telescope if the focal ratio is suitable for what you
want. (It is a bit tricky to collimate, though). I see that there is a
150mm version about to hit the shelves soon. I expect that there will
be an Orion (USA) badged version of that too soon.

Regards

- Mike