something I'm baffled about

Hello. I am a fairly new amateur astronomer. A year ago, I looked through
a friend's telescope and saw what he called the "ring nebula". It looked
just like the pictures, except smaller and a little green. We later looked
at the "orion nebula". This was a sight I'll never forget. It looked
nearly identical to photos, many stars visible and a bit green.

Now I have a telescope identical to the one he had me look through, but I'm
confused about something. Nothing I see even begins to look like it did
through his. Orion/ ring nebulas are faint and just barely made out. We
live 2 miles from one another and observe from our backyards. When I ask my
friend about it, he sort of laughs and says he has a "secret", but I have no
idea what this could be. I can't recall anything out of the ordinary on his
telescope except that the eyepiece looked 2-3x the length of mine. We both
have ETX-90's. When I tell others what we saw through his scope last year,
they tell me we SHOULDN'T have been able to see things in the detail I
describe. I swear I DID see the ring's central star and it stuck out like a
sore thumb.

As I sit here, I do recall something I hadn't thought about before. In my
ETX, everything looks pretty much white with a touch of green here and
there. In his ETX, everything was strongly green and a lot brighter/ more
detailed than I could ever hope for.

So, what could be his "secret"? This sort of has me annoyed because the ETX
wasn't cheap and for someone just getting into the hobby, the images I'm
seeing are quite disappointing. Of course, if he does have a "secret", he
sure isn't telling me what it is. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Jerry R.

On 10/17/2009 3:55 PM, Jerry Right wrote:
Hello. I am a fairly new amateur astronomer. A year ago, I looked
through a friend's telescope and saw what he called the "ring nebula".
It looked just like the pictures, except smaller and a little green.
We later looked at the "orion nebula". This was a sight I'll never
forget. It looked nearly identical to photos, many stars visible and a
bit green.

Now I have a telescope identical to the one he had me look through, but
I'm confused about something. Nothing I see even begins to look like it
did through his. Orion/ ring nebulas are faint and just barely made
out. We live 2 miles from one another and observe from our backyards.
When I ask my friend about it, he sort of laughs and says he has a
"secret", but I have no idea what this could be. I can't recall
anything out of the ordinary on his telescope except that the eyepiece
looked 2-3x the length of mine. We both have ETX-90's. When I tell
others what we saw through his scope last year, they tell me we
SHOULDN'T have been able to see things in the detail I describe. I
swear I DID see the ring's central star and it stuck out like a sore thumb.

As I sit here, I do recall something I hadn't thought about before. In
my ETX, everything looks pretty much white with a touch of green here
and there. In his ETX, everything was strongly green and a lot
brighter/ more detailed than I could ever hope for.

So, what could be his "secret"? This sort of has me annoyed because the
ETX wasn't cheap and for someone just getting into the hobby, the images
I'm seeing are quite disappointing. Of course, if he does have a
"secret", he sure isn't telling me what it is. Any thoughts?


Simple: photon lube (applied liberally). :-)

Seriously, the Ring's central star seems a stretch for an ETX scope. My
guess is your friend was using a Barlow.

Jerry Right wrote:

Hello. I am a fairly new amateur astronomer. A year ago, I looked through
a friend's telescope and saw what he called the "ring nebula". It looked
just like the pictures, except smaller and a little green. We later looked
at the "orion nebula". This was a sight I'll never forget. It looked
nearly identical to photos, many stars visible and a bit green.

Now I have a telescope identical to the one he had me look through, but I'm
confused about something. Nothing I see even begins to look like it did
through his. Orion/ ring nebulas are faint and just barely made out. We
live 2 miles from one another and observe from our backyards. When I ask my
friend about it, he sort of laughs and says he has a "secret", but I have no
idea what this could be. I can't recall anything out of the ordinary on his
telescope except that the eyepiece looked 2-3x the length of mine. We both
have ETX-90's. When I tell others what we saw through his scope last year,
they tell me we SHOULDN'T have been able to see things in the detail I
describe. I swear I DID see the ring's central star and it stuck out like a
sore thumb.

As I sit here, I do recall something I hadn't thought about before. In my
ETX, everything looks pretty much white with a touch of green here and
there. In his ETX, everything was strongly green and a lot brighter/ more
detailed than I could ever hope for.

So, what could be his "secret"? This sort of has me annoyed because the ETX
wasn't cheap and for someone just getting into the hobby, the images I'm
seeing are quite disappointing. Of course, if he does have a "secret", he
sure isn't telling me what it is. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Jerry R.

simple: get your friend over and figure it out..
it sounds like chromatic aberation in his scope or
a different eyepiece, something .... these things are
not mystery. There is a reason behind this and probably
a simple reason...

"Sam Wormley" wrote in message
news:MJvCm.90245$5n1.77760@attbi_s21...
Jerry Right wrote:
Hello. I am a fairly new amateur astronomer. A year ago, I looked
through a friend's telescope and saw what he called the "ring nebula".
It looked just like the pictures, except smaller and a little green. We
later looked at the "orion nebula". This was a sight I'll never forget.
It looked nearly identical to photos, many stars visible and a bit green.

Now I have a telescope identical to the one he had me look through, but
I'm confused about something. Nothing I see even begins to look like it
did through his. Orion/ ring nebulas are faint and just barely made out.
We live 2 miles from one another and observe from our backyards. When I
ask my friend about it, he sort of laughs and says he has a "secret", but
I have no idea what this could be. I can't recall anything out of the
ordinary on his telescope except that the eyepiece looked 2-3x the length
of mine. We both have ETX-90's. When I tell others what we saw through
his scope last year, they tell me we SHOULDN'T have been able to see
things in the detail I describe. I swear I DID see the ring's central
star and it stuck out like a sore thumb.

As I sit here, I do recall something I hadn't thought about before. In
my ETX, everything looks pretty much white with a touch of green here and
there. In his ETX, everything was strongly green and a lot brighter/
more detailed than I could ever hope for.

So, what could be his "secret"? This sort of has me annoyed because the
ETX wasn't cheap and for someone just getting into the hobby, the images
I'm seeing are quite disappointing. Of course, if he does have a
"secret", he sure isn't telling me what it is. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Jerry R.

Identical telescopes two miles apart.... hmmm.

Some eyepieces are better than others, and the mind does play
tricks. I've seen tremendous detail in each of those objects,
but from many many hours of looking.... building up the image
in my brain.

There wasn't any chance your friend was using one of these is their?
http://www.ceoptics.com/

Sam, thanks to you, I blew his cover this evening. After reading what you
wrote here, I called and asked him if he was using a Collins I3. To my
surpise, he said "got me". Talk about a cheater for sure! To me though, he
was misleading. I wish he had revealed the device before I bought the scope
so I would know better what to expect. BTW, how much are those devices?
Not cheap for what they do I'll bet.

Jerry

On Oct 17, 6:55*pm, "Jerry Right" wrote:
Hello. *I am a fairly new amateur astronomer. *A year ago, I looked through
a friend's telescope and saw what he called the "ring nebula". *It looked
just like the pictures, except smaller and *a little green. *We later looked
at the "orion nebula". *This was a sight I'll never forget. *It looked
nearly identical to photos, many stars visible and a bit green.

Now I have a telescope identical to the one he had me look through, but I'm
confused about something. *Nothing I see even begins to look like it did
through his. *Orion/ ring nebulas are faint and just barely made out. *We
live 2 miles from one another and observe from our backyards.

Even houses a few hundred yards apart can have skies effected
differently due to the presence of a light, or a mall or some other
cause of extra light pollution. Also, greater magnification can help
bring out nebulas owing to the darkening of the sky background that is
seen with increase magnification.

"Sam Wormley" wrote in message
news:tWwCm.96835$la3.1033@attbi_s22...

I bought mine to use with students. It is not dark enough, nor is there
enough time for good dark adaptation, so the Collins I3 lets me show the
students considerable detail under those conditions. I can't remember
what I paid, but it was a lot!

I asked Doug, my friend, what he paid and he said $2500! I don't see how he
afforded it considering what he does, but that's the subject of another
conversation. Anyway, he told me there is a digital camera that does nearly
the same thing (Stella something) for a lot less price. Any idea what he's
talking about here?

Jerry

On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:35:26 -0400, "Jerry Right"
wrote:

"Sam Wormley" wrote in message
news:tWwCm.96835$la3.1033@attbi_s22...

I bought mine to use with students. It is not dark enough, nor is there
enough time for good dark adaptation, so the Collins I3 lets me show the
students considerable detail under those conditions. I can't remember
what I paid, but it was a lot!

I asked Doug, my friend, what he paid and he said $2500! I don't see how he
afforded it considering what he does, but that's the subject of another
conversation. Anyway, he told me there is a digital camera that does nearly
the same thing (Stella something) for a lot less price. Any idea what he's
talking about here?

There's the Mallincam http://mallincam.tripod.com/ and the Stellacam
http://www.astrovid.com. A local man uses the Stellacam with a C14
for public outreach presentations
http://www.theastronomychannel.com/. I've never asked Lonnie how
much he has spent, but I would guess that it is a lot.

Bud

Sam Wormley wrote:

Identical telescopes two miles apart.... hmmm.

Some eyepieces are better than others, and the mind does play
tricks. I've seen tremendous detail in each of those objects,
but from many many hours of looking.... building up the image
in my brain.

There wasn't any chance your friend was using one of these is their?
http://www.ceoptics.com/

Well, whaddaya know! I thought radio astronomers were the only ones
who used low noise amplifiers at the telescope feed point--er, focal
point. Cool!
--
Dave

On Oct 18, 10:35 am, "Jerry Right" wrote:
"Sam Wormley" wrote in messagenews:tWwCm.96835$la3.1033@attbi_s22...



I bought mine to use with students. It is not dark enough, nor is there
enough time for good dark adaptation, so the Collins I3 lets me show the
students considerable detail under those conditions. I can't remember
what I paid, but it was a lot!

I asked Doug, my friend, what he paid and he said $2500! I don't see how he
afforded it considering what he does, but that's the subject of another
conversation.

He either saved up $2500, or he put it on a credit card. It would
only take doing without cable TV for a few years to come up with that
amount.

wrote in message
...
On Oct 18, 10:35 am, "Jerry Right" wrote:
"Sam Wormley" wrote in
messagenews:tWwCm.96835$la3.1033@attbi_s22...



I bought mine to use with students. It is not dark enough, nor is
there
enough time for good dark adaptation, so the Collins I3 lets me show
the
students considerable detail under those conditions. I can't
remember
what I paid, but it was a lot!

I asked Doug, my friend, what he paid and he said $2500! I don't see how
he
afforded it considering what he does, but that's the subject of another
conversation.

He either saved up $2500, or he put it on a credit card. It would
only take doing without cable TV for a few years to come up with that
amount.

Doug is a guy who lives in a trailer park, works at a gas station as an
attendant, and really only has a large 42" tv in his living room (a dining
room chair is his equivalent of a couch). While there's nothing wrong with
that if that is what he chooses, I had a hard time seeing how he afforded
the I3. Maybe it was a credit card as you say.

Jerry