Luna and the ED80, and some thoughts on the Nagler zoom and TMB supermono's…

Equipment: Orion ED80, 3.1 inch Double APO, Widescan III 30mm, 20mm
and 13mm, 30mm BW Optik, 24 panoptic, 13mm t6 nagler, 9mm HD ortho,
7mm HD ortho, 3-6 Nagler zoom, 4 and 5mm TMB monocentrics on Bogen
3036 / telepod mount.

Dates: November 6, 8 and 9 2003.

I spent a lot of time viewing luna over the past few days, mainly
because it's been clear and it's there. I find the moon an extremely
interesting target, although even I must admit that when it gets so
close to full, it's somewhat less interesting. Still, with the way
the skies have been for the last two weeks, I've been happy to even
get this chance.

Optically, the ED80 continues to impress me.

For those of you who aren't aware, I recently was in the market for a
small travel scope. I was considering either and FS78, TV85, Sky90,
SV80S along with other premium APO's, but wound up picking none of the
above. At a fall star party (GLSG), I had the opportunity to compare
a TV76 and an ED80 side by side (they were even on the same mount) and
optically, in the sample I saw there was very little difference.
Mechanically however, they are indeed in very different worlds – the
76 has the typical TV built like a tank quality, and the 80 – well,
it's a standard Chinese scope – I must admit the crayford is a nice
touch, but even so – it could be better. When I got home, I debated
it for another month, and finally broke down and ordered one.

Well, I don't know if I got lucky or what but optically, my sample
seems a little better than the one I looked through at GLSG. It did
need to be collimated, and the mechanics had a few issues that I
needed to pay some attention to, but hey – for $400? I don't mind.

The optic shows *very* little false color - about the same order as my
TV102, perhaps slightly less, certainly less than my Genesis SDF
(which is no slouch IMO either), and way less than my Pronto or Ranger
ever did. Now that I've collimated the optics, it shows a nearly
perfect star test, something that I must admit, I really didn't expect
in a scope in this price range. The little thing easily handles
magnifications up to 180x and beyond, and the snap test (for focus)
gives an excellent result. Images are extremely contrasty while the
field is very wide and well corrected. This scope optically is as
good as anything else in it's aperture range, regardless of price –
it's an amazing value. While I don't have access to a bench, and I
hesitate to discuss absolute figures, I can say that it's done
everything I expected of it and more – including splitting the double
double at a mere 66x. Ole luna is sheer joy to explore, as the 80
takes power with aplomb, while showing the lunar shadows as pure
black, with all the subtle hues of it's surface standing out in
relief. While you can debate it's effects on certain companies till
you are blue in the face, one thing is for su if nothing else, this
scope will introduce new people to the APO market. IMO, Orion has a
winner on their hands.

Packing it into the StellarVue C5 case that I'm using to transport it,
it's extremely easy to throw into the back of the vehicle, and takes
up awfully little room – something that in my family makes the
difference between taking a scope and not taking a scope on trips. I
was very glad I had it this last weekend, as circumstances found me in
the middle of Battle Creek visiting family during the Nov 8th lunar
eclipse. Hauling out the scope and setting it up on my parents front
lawn, I soon drew a small crowd to watch the eclipse. The widescan
and BW made for low power of 20x while yielding a TFOV over 4 degrees
in size and as the eclipse progressed revealed multiple stars
sprinkled throughout.
The family shuffled though taking peeks as the eclipse progressed, and
then the high point (for me). My wife brought out our two year old
daughter who made it very clear that she wanted to take her first look
through the telescope. I held her up to the eyepiece, while I tried to
illumine her eye, I wondered if she could actually see anything – and
then almost instantly, she reacted: "I see it! Daddy, the moon… moon
in the telescope!" She quickly glanced up at the moon in the sky as
if to verify it was the same thing, but then looked back down into the
scope, and was very disappointed when I set her down to let someone
else look. She made sure we let her look another time before we took
her in and put her to bed.

When we got home the next day, I had a package waiting. My only
complaint with the ED80 / Telepod combo is that with a 2" diagonal,
balance leaves something to be desired. It's not terrible, but it
certainly could be better. In the package, lay my answer. A day or
two before, I had purchased a pronto balance plate from astromart – I
figured that if I could throw the balance forward a bit, I'd be much
better off.

Tests this evening (after I got the car unpacked and the family
situated) showed that the balance plate did help, but still wasn't
perfect. Still, I must have spent an hour marveling at the detail
seen on the lunar limb, and not once this evening could I detect the
slightest amount of infocus color.

I spent some time comparing the TMB supermono's to the Nagler zoom,
and was somewhat surprised to find the zoom hold it's own – and quite
well, actually. The 30 deg AFOV of the supermono's was something of a
pain, but my goodness – the contrast nearly made up for it.
Initially, I'd been sure that the TMB's were a little sharper than the
Zoom – I was wrong. Both eyepieces seem to be resolving the same
amount of detail – I could never quite pick out a feature that I could
see in one, but not in the other (and I've been trying for a couple of
weeks) however, the TMB's are clearly superior in one area – contrast.
This assists in detection, and helps to explain why the TMB's seem
sharper. The TMB's are a truly impressive eyepiece, but on a
non-tracking mount, the nagler zoom with it's multiple FL settings,
it's par focality, and it's constant 50 AFOV, all conspire to make
that the better eyepiece on my non-tracking alt/az mounts. And to
make matters worse, the TMB's FOV is not entirely flat, although it
does a pretty good imitation on moderate to long focal length scopes.
Since these eyepieces are on loan from a little birdy, the question
inevitably comes up: will I be purchasing some? Well – first on my
list is a high quality GEM but after that? Well – I'll have to see
what AP has up it's sleeve, but these Supermono's are certainly a
*heck* of an eyepiece for planetary observation. I sure wish we could
get Uncle Al to think about some dedicated planetary eyepieces, using
the least amount of glass and glass to air interfaces possible in
order to maximize contrast. Something to compete with the TMB
supermono's, and the upcoming AP's. I know *I'd* be interested – even
though Mars is fast disappearing the other planets are just around the
corner.

Clear Skies

Tom T.