Great eyepiece for PST

I went through a wide range of eyepieces today at Highpoint Scientific in
Montague,NJ and after much deliberation I settled on the Televue 15mm Plossl.
It gave excellent brightness and full disk view right in the sweet spot of the
scope. This yields 27X, which is plenty. the 12 mm ep that was supplied with
the PST does a decent job at 33X, but gives a dimmer image that is larger, but
is also spread too far away from the sweet spot so you have to pan to see
details.

Mark
The Catman
^..^

www.geocities.com/mark_rosengarten
Owner/Coordinator of the Neko Ultraportable Solar Observatory
Fun WITH The Sun for Everyone!

On 08 Aug 2004 19:37:28 GMT, elete (Mark
Rosengarten) wrote:

I went through a wide range of eyepieces today at Highpoint Scientific in
Montague,NJ and after much deliberation I settled on the Televue 15mm Plossl.
It gave excellent brightness and full disk view right in the sweet spot of the
scope. This yields 27X, which is plenty. the 12 mm ep that was supplied with
the PST does a decent job at 33X, but gives a dimmer image that is larger, but
is also spread too far away from the sweet spot so you have to pan to see
details.


Hi MArk,

You might also want to take a look at UO orthos, both the classic and
HD's. Both gave excellent views today (18mm, 12.5mm, 5mm Classics, and
9mm HD) in my Maxscope 40, alone and with the Cemax 2x Barlow and Tele
Vue 2.5x Powermate. They were every bit as sharp and contrasty as the
Cemax EP's.

Cheers,

- Craig

Mark Rosengarten wrote:
I went through a wide range of eyepieces today at Highpoint Scientific in
Montague,NJ and after much deliberation I settled on the Televue 15mm Plossl.
It gave excellent brightness and full disk view right in the sweet spot of the
scope. This yields 27X, which is plenty. the 12 mm ep that was supplied with
the PST does a decent job at 33X, but gives a dimmer image that is larger, but
is also spread too far away from the sweet spot so you have to pan to see
details.


I received two HD Orthos (12 mm and 18 mm) last Friday that I'm pleased
with for PST use. For night use I have Vixen Lanthanums for their long
eye relief. But that seems to be a problem with the PST.

Phil

Mark Rosengarten posted:

I went through a wide range of eyepieces today at Highpoint Scientific in
Montague,NJ and after much deliberation I settled on the Televue 15mm Plossl.
It gave excellent brightness and full disk view right in the sweet spot of the
scope. This yields 27X, which is plenty. the 12 mm ep that was supplied with
the PST does a decent job at 33X, but gives a dimmer image that is larger, but
is also spread too far away from the sweet spot so you have to pan to see
details.

I liked the 12mm CEMAX eyepiece a little better than the one which comes with
the PST, but most of my observing was done with a simple "garden variety" 10mm
Plossl, which gave a more detailed view at a little more power (40x). Going
much below 30x resulted in less fine detail visible, although I did try it at
17x just to see how well the 24mm Panoptic worked with the PST. I have taken
the PST as high as 82x (pretty dim image), but I prefer a lot lower
magnification. Mostly, I use powers in the 33x to 67x range (if I want higher
power, I go back to using my T-Scanner). Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

I do, too. The sweet spot in the PST is narrow enough that the 15mm eyepiece
gives me a decent size image of the whole disk and it all fits within the sweet
spot. With the 12mm eyepiece, I have to pan around, and I like to gulp the sun
in one go.

Yes, a lot of eye relief seems to be a problem with the PST. I would try
orthos (I had a 9mm UO ortho around here somewhere), but I wasn't thrilled with
the results of a high mag eyepiece in the doublestacked setup. Today I call
Coronado to see if they will take my PST back and fix the tuner on it...it has
grindy play when starting to turn in either direction and it is way too stiff
after that.

Mark
The Catman
^..^

www.geocities.com/mark_rosengarten
Owner/Coordinator of the Neko Ultraportable Solar Observatory
Fun WITH The Sun for Everyone!

David Knisely wrote in message .. .
Mark Rosengarten posted:

I went through a wide range of eyepieces today at Highpoint Scientific in
Montague,NJ and after much deliberation I settled on the Televue 15mm Plossl.
It gave excellent brightness and full disk view right in the sweet spot of the
scope. This yields 27X, which is plenty. the 12 mm ep that was supplied with
the PST does a decent job at 33X, but gives a dimmer image that is larger, but
is also spread too far away from the sweet spot so you have to pan to see
details.

I liked the 12mm CEMAX eyepiece a little better than the one which comes with
the PST, but most of my observing was done with a simple "garden variety" 10mm
Plossl, which gave a more detailed view at a little more power (40x). Going
much below 30x resulted in less fine detail visible, although I did try it at
17x just to see how well the 24mm Panoptic worked with the PST. I have taken
the PST as high as 82x (pretty dim image), but I prefer a lot lower
magnification. Mostly, I use powers in the 33x to 67x range (if I want higher
power, I go back to using my T-Scanner). Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

How much does draping a black cloth over you help with the image
through the PST (or any H-alpha filter)? Do the longer eye relief
oculars perform less well because of the loss of contrast in daylight?

Bill posted:

How much does draping a black cloth over you help with the image
through the PST (or any H-alpha filter)? Do the longer eye relief
oculars perform less well because of the loss of contrast in daylight?

It helps with keeping extraneous light from around you from hitting the
eyepiece eye lens, as well as for retaining the sensitivity of the eye. In a
sense, you get just a little 'dark adapted' to the dim H-alpha image while
under the cloth, allowing you to see more detail, especially in the fainter
portions of prominences. I often use a dark cloth or hood when I am using the
highest possible powers, as you need to get rid of the some of the ambient
glare, but a good rubber eyecup is almost as good (the ones that come with the
CEMAX eyepieces are fairly good at this). If you have to wear glasses, a hood
is almost manditory. Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

How much does draping a black cloth over you help with the image
through the PST (or any H-alpha filter)? Do the longer eye relief
oculars perform less well because of the loss of contrast in daylight?

I think that draping a cloth helps a lot. Also close it up around you
so you do not get any light coming in from the bottom. It allows you
to relax and you can keep both eyes open to ease eyestrain. I use one
of those Focus Cloths used for view cameras. Any dark cloth would work
though.

My favorite eyepiece is the 12mm Cemax for both the PST and for the
40mm SolarMax mounted on a ST-80.

Kruger