May10 by Astronomy Technology Today

ASTRONOMY

TECHNOLOGY TODAY Your Complete Guide to Astronomical Equipment HUTECH IDAS 31-MM REFLECTION SUPPRESSION FILTERS • NEAF 2010 ORION STARSHOOT DEEP SPACE MONOCHROME IMAGER III • OPTEC 2-1.25-INCH ADAPTER A NEWTONIAN ATM PROJECT • BRAIDING CABLE TECHNIQUES

Celestron Celebrates Its First 50 Years

Volume 4 • Issue 3 May/June 2010 $5.00 US

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Contents Cover Story: Pages 35 - 41 The images on the cover represent just a fraction of the innovations and product offerings that Celestron has introduced in the last 50 years. From the venerable orange tube C8 to the Faster to today’s CGE PRO 1400 HD, Celestron has literally introduced hundreds of products in the last half century. We suggest that you visit the 50th Anniversary Website at www.celestron.com/50 to see a full historical timeline. Also, Celestron has introduced a special line of 50th Anniversary merchandise including a Limited Edition 50th Anniversary CPC 800 GPS which can be found at www.celestron.com. We’d like to take this time to congratulate Celestron’s President Joe Lupica and all of the employees of Celestron for continuing the tradition of pushing the envelope in developing astronomy technology. And we’d also like to say thanks to all of the people in the past who have contributed to what was a simple dream by Tom Johnson to develop a telescope that his sons would enjoy.

In This Issue 12 Editor’s Note Is this the Future of Amateur Astronomy? By Gary Parkerson 35 Celestron Celebrates Its First 50 Years The Road to the C8 and Beyond By Gary Parkerson 43 Hutech IDAS 31-mm Reflection Suppression Filters I’d Been Curious About these Filters for Some Time By Craig Stark 49 Orion StarShoot Deep Space Monochrome Imager III A Nice Camera Using an Acclaimed Sensor All at a Reasonable Price, What’s Not to Like About That! By Dave Snay 56 Back to the Future A Newtonian ATM Project Anyone Can Build With a Little Time and a Home Depot Card By Norman Butler

Industry News 15 SIERRA STARS OBSERVATORY NETWORK Expands Observatory Network to Australia

16 APOGEE INSTRUMENTS Donates Camera to Support College Astronomy Program

63 NEAF 2010 The Expanded Layout Hosted more than 130 Exhibitors and in Excess of 5,300 Visitors By Gary Parkerson 70 Optec 2-1.25-inch Adapter A Simple Yet Beautiful Piece of Gear! By Erik Wilcox 72 Astro Tips, Tricks, & Novel Solutions Braiding For Neat Cables By David Ellison

17 MERRIMACK COLLEGE University Professor’s DIY Meade RCX 12 Installation 18 SKYSHED POD PODMAX 12.5+ in Development

19 GALILEOSCOPE Still Available for Education Outreach

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Contributing Writers

Contents New Products 22 TELE VUE Announces 3.7mm Ethos-SX 110°

David Snay is a retired software engineer living in central Massachusetts. He graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and has been an astronomer and astrophotographer for more than 10 years. David currently pursues fine art photography, specializing in traditional black/white images.

Craig Stark, Ph.D. is, by day, a professor whose research involves trying to pull faint signals out of noisy, moving images of people’s brains. By night, he is an amateur astrophotographer and operates Stark Labs which provides software to help users pull faint signals out of noisy, moving images of the heavens.

Erik Wilcox lives off the grid on the Big Island of Hawaii, and has been observing for over 20 years. When he’s not viewing from his dark backyard sky, he works for a natural foods chain, and spends his spare time hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, and performing music. He also runs the astronomy forum at: www.starstuffforums.com.

Norm Butler has been active in amateur Astronomy for over 50 years. He served as an Opticalman on submarine tenders in the 70’s and with AVCO in Hawaii in the early 80’s working in astronomical engineering at Haleakala Observatory on Maui, chasing satellites, space shuttles, and more. After his astronomy and engineering career ended in the early 90’s, for a complete change of pace, Norm relocated to Hong Kong, learned some Chinese mandarin and spent the last 16 years teaching and lecturing at the university and graduate level in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China before retiring this past year to enjoy his amateur astronomy and telescope building hobbies.

24 VIXEN OPTICS New 2-inch Compression Ring 25 MEADE INSTRUMENTS Introduces LT-8, Series 5000 Auxiliary Equipment Mounting System 2? STELLAR SOFTWARE Beam Four Java Edition 26 GREAT RED SPOT GRS Jupiter Series Telescopes

UPDATE ON “POWERING A DSLR” IN THE MARCH/APRIL 2010 ISSUE Several readers sent us comments on Rick Saunders’ article “Powering a DSLR” in the March/April issue. One reader who undertook the project noticed that the article contained an error which caused some confusion. On page 68 when discussing brown-out protection Rick wrote: "Both of these circuits can be modified to provide 'brown-out' protection for those highcurrent times when the shutter is snapped open. Just add a 200 ohm electrolytic capacitor on the output side." The last sentence in the selection should have read: "Just add a 200 micro-farad electrolytic capacitor on the 10

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

output side." Another reader, Randy Burdick, provided his take on powering a DSLR. His advice was “Use a Canon/Nikon AC adapter and a 12v to household plug adapter with a male DC end (see included image). Simply connect the plug from the Canon/ Nikon into the 12v to household current adapter and the adapter into the lead from the RV battery. I've used this solution in the field for years with my Nikon D100, D300 and both my Canon Rebels.” Thanks for all of those who gave us the great feedback on the article and thanks to Randy for his solution!

27 ORION TELESCOPES AND BINOCULARS Introduces Several New Products Just in Time for Summer Observing

27 THE WALTERLEE HELIFOCUS New Electronic Focuser

Industry News 15 SIERRA STARS OBSERVATORY NETWORK Expands Observatory Network to Australia

16 APOGEE INSTRUMENTS Donates Camera to Support College Astronomy Program

17 MERRIMACK COLLEGE University Professor’s DIY Meade RCX 12 Installation 18 SKYSHED POD PODMAX 12.5+ in Development

19 GALILEOSCOPE Still Available for Education Outreach

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Contributing Writers

Contents New Products 22 TELE VUE Announces 3.7mm Ethos-SX 110°

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

27 ORION TELESCOPES AND BINOCULARS Introduces Several New Products Just in Time for Summer Observing

27 THE WALTERLEE HELIFOCUS New Electronic Focuser

The Supporting

CAST

The Companies And Organizations That Have Made Our Magazine Possible!

Apogee Instruments www.ccd.com page 6

Foster Systems www.fostersystems.com page 27

Astro Hutech www.hutech.com page 27, 78

Galileoscope www.galileoscope.org page 55

Astronomik www.astronomik.com page 40

Garrett Optical www.garrettoptical.com page 30

MWAIC www.mwaic.com page 20-21

Sierra Stars Observatory Network www.sierrastars.com page 57

Obsession Telescopes www.obsessiontelescopes.com page 37

Sirius Observatories www.siriusobservatories.com page 65

Oceanside Photo and Telescope www.optcorp.com page 64

Skyhound www.skyhound.com page 39

Optec www.optecinc.com page 60

SkyShed Observatories www.skyshed.com page 46

Optical Mechanics www.opticalmechanics.com page 30

Starizona www.starizona.com page 3

Orion Telescopes and Bionoculars www.oriontelescopes.com page 77, 80

Stark Labs www.stark-labs.com page 24

Hands On Optics www.handsonoptics.com page 5

Optic-Craft Machining www.opticcraft.com page 50

Stellar Software www.stellarsoftware.com page 19

Hubble Optics www.hubbleoptics.com page 72

Ostahowski Optics www.ostahowskioptics.com page 44

Stellar Technologies International www.stellar-international.com page 48

iOptron www.ioptron.com page 7

ProtoStar www.fpi-protostar.com page 18

Tele Vue Optics www.televue.com page 8, 73

Quantum Scientific Imaging www.qsimaging.com page 4

Teeter’s Telescopes www.teeterstelescopes.com page 58

Rigel Systems www.rigelsys.com page 29

Unihedron www.unihedron.com page 45

Scope City www.scopecity.com page 17

Van Slyke Instruments www.observatory.org page 33, 52

ScopeGuard www.scopeguard.com page 71

William Optics www.williamoptics.com page 2

ScopeStuff www.scopestuff.com page 16

Wood Wonders www.wood-wonders.com page 59

Shrouds By Heather www.scopeshrouds.com page 31

Woodland Hills Telescopes www.telescopes.net page 22

Glatter Collimation www.collimator.com page 30

Astro Physics www.astro-physics.com page 13, 66

Great Red Spot Astronomy www.greatredspot.com page 36

AstroSystems www.astrosystems.biz page 23

Green Bank Star Quest www.greenbankstarquest.org page 76

Astrozap www.astrozap.com page 50

Half Hitch Telescope www.halfhitchtelescope.com page 41

ATIK USA www.atik-usa.com page 79 Bobs Knobs www.bobsknobs.com page 44 Camera Concepts www.cameraconcepts.com page 42 Catseye Collimation www.catseyecollimation.com page 59 Celestron www.celestron.com page 34

ISTAR Optical www.istar-optical.com page 27 Jack’s Astro Accessories www.waningmoonii.com page 24

Chronos www.chronosmount.com page 54

JMI Telescopes www.jmitelescopes.com page 14

Deep Sky Printing www.deepskyprinting.com page 18

We wish to thank our advertisers without whom this magazine would not be possible. When making a decision on your next purchase, we encourage you to consider these advertisers’ commitment to you by underwriting this issue of Astronomy Technology Today.

Kendrick Astro Instruments www.kendrickastro.com page 71

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ASTRONOMY

TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Volume 4 • Issue 3

Editor’s Note

May - June 2010 Publisher Stuart Parkerson

Managing Editor Gary Parkerson

Associate Editors Russ Besancon

Art Director Lance Palmer

Staff Photographer Craig Falbaum

Web Master Richard Harris

3825 Gilbert Drive Shreveport, Louisiana 71104 info@astronomytechnologytoday.com www.astronomytechnologytoday.com Astronomy Technology Today is published bi-monthly by Parkerson Publishing, LLC. Bulk rate postage paid at Dallas, Texas, and additional mailing offices. ©2010 Parkerson Publishing, LLC, all rights reserved. No part of this publication or its Web site may be reproduced without written permission of Parkerson Publishing, LLC. Astronomy Technology Today assumes no responsibility for the content of the articles, advertisements, or messages reproduced therein, and makes no representation or warranty whatsoever as to the completeness, accuracy, currency, or adequacy of any facts, views, opinions, statements, and recommendations it reproduces. Reference to any product, process, publication, or service of any third party by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply the endorsement or recommendation of Astronomy Technology Today. The publication welcomes and encourages contributions; however is not responsible for the return of manuscripts and photographs. The publication, at the sole discretion of the publisher, reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising or contributions. For more information contact the publisher at Astronomy Technology Today, 3825 Gilbert Drive, Shreveport, Louisiana 71104, or e-mail at info@astronomytechnologytoday.com.

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Gary Parkerson, Managing Editor

IS THIS THE FUTURE OF AMATEUR ASTRONOMY? With smart-phone sales reaching 40,000,000 units in 2009 and expected to quadruple to 160,000,000 in 2013, and with the current number of smart-phone applications pushing 100,000, with hundreds more added daily, we're literally inundated by choices and the exponential integration of these systems into our daily lives. Heck, this very astronomy-technology magazine has even gotten into the act! To further complicate things, the iPad hand-held tablet has now been added to the mix. Sure, it may, as some decry, be nothing more than a big-screen iPhone that can’t make phone calls, but it comes much closer to blurring the lines between smart phone and PC and, thanks to the tireless work of our webmaster, Richard Harris, this magazine looks especially spectacular on its more magazineproportioned high-resolution screen. We recently had a chance to play with an iPad and it really does make the online or app version of this magazine more enjoyable. Anyone who purchases an iPad, who is a current ATT subscriber, and who downloads the ATT app, is in for a real treat, whether reading current or back issues of the magazine. And, since a current subscription to ATT provides complete online access to every back issue, the functionality and ease-of-use of the iPad is going to make that benefit even more meaningful. But enough patting ourselves on the back! What is really important is the potential of smart phones, hand-held tablets, and astronomy-related apps to attract new blood to the our amateur astronomy ranks. As noted in this issue’s coverage of NEAF 2010, the industry appears to be finally awaking to the necessity of an organized effort to attract new enthusiasts. And don’t think growing the pool of astronomy enthusiasts benefits only the businesses whose preservation relies on astroproduct sales. We astro-product consumers

stand to benefit as much or more. As with any consumer market, the greater the number of products sold, the lower the price per item. Here’s an extreme, though concrete example: Some years ago, I drove to the local machine shop to have an adapter milled that would allow me to mate common SCTthreaded accessories to the less-common threads on the back of a 5-inch Orion MakCass. The machinist looked at my specs and priced a single adapter at $350+, then answered my outrage by explaining that he could produce 10 for the same price. Put simply, it would take him as long to tool up for and turn one adapter as it would 10. The cost of the aluminum blank was negligible compared to his cost of labor and overhead. Fast forward to 2010 and ScopeStuff now sells a similar adapter for just $22 a copy and sells a bunch of them! So we astro-product consumers have a very real stake in all of this – as the market expands, our astro-gear costs shrink and companies create ever more new stuff from which to choose. So back to iPhones, iPads, Droids and such. The way I see it, astronomy benefits from these new technologies in two ways. One results from the expanded distribution of information and software to better facilitate passive enjoyment of astronomy by literally anyone. Indeed, existing applications allow any novice to experience everything from simply viewing ever-growing libraries of astro photos to living interactive virtual journeys through the deepest recesses of our universe. But it’s the second class of applications I find truly exciting. Apps are also being perfected that ease and facilitate active participation in astronomy. And the utility of these applications is progressive in nature. Witness Carina Software’s SkyVoyager for the iPhone and iPod Touch platforms covered in the November-December 2009 issue of ATT. The planetarium program can provide a realistic

depiction of “what’s up” in the night sky, including hundreds of high-resolution images of deepsky objects, or be used by a more actively engaged enthusiast as a 21st-century telescope controller when matched to a computer-controlled telescope. I watch Tim DeBenedictis demonstrate of SkyVoyager 1.6 on the new iPad platform at NEAF this year and the ballet between Tim’s finger gestures and the go-to scope positioned nearby would have captured the imagination of even the most jaded smartphone and automation-literate techie. Orion Telescopes & Binoculars has also recently introduced the StarSeek application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. When combined with its new StarSeek WiFi Telescope Control Module, the app enables wireless, automated pointing of most go-to mounts to any of more than 31,000 celestial objects, all accomplished using the unparalleled intuitive gesture controls perfected by Apple. Internet giant, Google, recently promoted astronomy to the public at large with marketwide advertisement of its SkyMap app for Droid (I even caught a TV commercial for it while writing this – yes, I can multitask!). What a great “first step” into astronomy. Optic Wave Laboratories’ Carey Chleborad trotted up to me at NEAF holding his Droid-based phone skyward, anxious to demonstrate SkyMap’s ability to combine the phone’s compass, GPS and accelerometer functions to identify astronomical objects. Simplistic? Perhaps to a kid who literally cut his teeth on a smart phone, but not to this kid who grew up amazed by a fictional Dick Tracy wrist watch. Anyone with a smart phone can point it toward the sky and find or identify an astronomical object? That’s definitely a start and seemed cool enough to Google’s gurus to warrant spending real money on advertising the fact. Smart phones and hand-held tablets like the iPad provide an opportunity to deliver our favorite avocation into the mainstream of modern society and to a new, ever more technologyfocused generation. The question is, how do we best capitalize on this opportunity? Hopefully, as an industry, we’ll learn to work together to answer that question.

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INDUSTRYNEWS

SIERRA STARS OBSERVATORY NETWORK Expands Observatory Network to Australia Sierra Stars Observatory Network (SSON) has announced that the Grove Creek Observatory (GCO) in Australia is their newest partner in their growing observatory network. The Grove Creek Observatory is a professional research facility, run as a non-profit organization which operates a collection of remote controlled telescopes and CCD imaging systems. The facility is very remote and far from any city lights, located 255kms by road (170kms direct), due west of Sydney, in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. The nearest city is Bathurst, located 59kms North/East and the observatory is 4kms west of the tiny village of Trunkey Creek (pop. 60 and hidden in a deep valley below the observatory), at an altitude of 935 meters (3,068 feet) above sea level. Needless to say, the observatory site is very dark with exceptional seeing. The limiting visual magnitude has been determined to be 7.3, the average background magnitude for a moonless night is 23.8, and the seeing is frequently one arc second or less. The observatory's core instrument is a 0.36-meter (14-inch) Celestron C14 Schmidt-Cassegrain optical tube assembly with a focal length of 2,200-mm (F/6.18) mounted on an Astrophysics GTO 1200 mount. The C14 OTA was built in 1971 and was the second model made by the

"Celestron Pacific" telescope company. The optics are exceptionally high quality tested to a combined optical performance of greater than 1/10 wavelength rms. The Astrophysics GTO 1200 mount provides excellent mechanical pointing and tracking, which is further refined with software calibration and modeling technology. The primary imaging instrument is a SBIG ST8XME CCD camera with a Class 1 Kodak KAF-1603 chip. The unbinned pixel resolution of the GCO telescope with this camera is 0.844 arcseconds per pixel. The data for SSON are binned 2x2 to give a 1.69 arc-second per pixel resolution. The resulting field of view on this system is 14.3 arc-minutes (high) by 21.5 arc-minutes (wide). The GCO telescope currently provides seven high-quality Astronomik filters: Clear (no filter), Red, Green, Blue,

H-Alpha (Ha), Oxygen (OIII), and Sulfur (SII). GCO is one of the most pristine observatory sites on the Australian continent. The combination of extraordinary seeing, amazingly dark sky, an average of three out of four clear nights throughout the year, and a location in the Southern Hemisphere offers exciting scientific and esthetic imaging opportunities for SSON users. Rich Williams of SSON is completing the final testing for integrating GCO into SSON. The GCO telescope will be available for scheduling SSON jobs in May. A revised SSON web site enabling users to start scheduling jobs on the GCO telescope is available. The credit cost for image schedules on the SSON GCO telescope is $60USD/hour. For more information please visit www.sierrastars.com

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

INDUSTRYNEWS

APOGEE INSTRUMENTS Donates Camera to Support College Astronomy Program Merrimack College’s astronomy students will be able to observe the night sky much more clearly with the recent donation of an Apogee U16M CCD camera to the Mendel Observatory by Apogee Instruments. The camera will be used to study image detail in deep sky objects to an extent that was not possible before. “We wish to support the education of undergraduate students,” said Wayne Brown, President of Apogee Instruments. “By enhancing Merrimack’s students’ observatory experience, we hope to encourage more students to consider professional studies in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics.” The new camera was installed on the Mendel Observatory’s 20-inch OGS telescope and will allow students to gain experience on the use of a wide-field imager on a large aperture telescope.

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Students in introductory astronomy courses will use the camera, in addition to advanced astronomy classes where the telescope and CCD cameras will be used to study short period variable stars, which vary in the intensity of light that they produce due to size, color, or temperature. Dr. Ralph Pass, adjunct professor of physics at Merrimack, accepted the donation for the university. He is shown with Merrimack College students Pedrom Tand, finance; Brittany Lawless, psychology; and Justine Johnston, business. The Apogee U16M CCD camera can be seen in the background. “We are grateful to Apogee Instruments for this generous gift. The experi-

ence that our students get with our current narrow field imagers is one of the highlights of the course,” said Dr. Pass. “This new camera will only make this extraordinary experience better by extending the area that can be observed and allowing students to view short-period variable stars in globular clusters.” For more information please visit www.merrimack.edu or www.ccd.com

INDUSTRYNEWS

MERRIMACK COLLEGE University Professor’s DIY Meade RCX Installation

Image 1

Image 2

Ok, so we know this is not really a typical industry news item! We were snooping around the Mendel Observatory website after learning of the Apogee Instruments donation (see the facing page) and found that it seems like Dr. Pass has a lot in common with many of our readers. What to do with a big heavy scope? We found the following from Dr. Pass on the Mendel Observatory website and wanted to share this excerpt with you. “What do you do when get an RCX 12-

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inch, you keep it inside, you move it outside when you observe, and you do it by yourself? What I did was investigate some commercial solutions and then decided to build my own. The result is what I call my 'gallows'. The base is doubled 2x6's, wide enough to fit around my pier. They also fit under the Meade Tripod. There are 4-inch wheels underneath so I can roll it (and I have rolled it the field). The vertical pole is 2-inch pipe as is the first horizontal section. I then down convert to a 7/8-inch pipe for the top hook. I got a 2,000lb pulley from Northern Tools (I was really trying to provide a large safety margin!). The chains and hooks from the bottom of the pulley to the handles on the RCX are 400lb rated. I use a boat dock cleat to tie the pulley line off when I get the telescope to the proper height. The blue strap is there to provide some security to prevent the gallows from bending forward. The geometry is such that there is a factor of two in the restraint provided by the strap compared to the lever arm with the telescope.

Image 3

The total height is just about 8 feet from the ground to the top of the gallows. (Image 1) This is the gallows, the telescope, and the pier on which I mount the telescope. I have a hand truck/dolly to wheel the telescope from inside to this point. I have set the telescope so that the base will be correctly mounted. When I get the telescope up it can be rotated on the declination axis so the base gets to the wedge. (Image 2) This is the telescope lifted to the proper height. Note the wide spacing of the wheels to make sure that the gallows does not tip over. I have been assured by Meade that I can lift the telescope in this manner. (Image 3) This is the gallows rolled in around the pier so the telescope can be put on the wedge.” It looks to us that Dr. Pass would be equally adept at teaching shop class as well! For more information about this project please visit www.merrimack.edu. Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

INDUSTRYNEWS

SKYSHED POD PODMAX 12.5+ in Development Building upon the Image 1 success of their award winning POD, SkyShed’s Wayne and Lorelei Parker are now developing a larger version of their 8-foot original Pod model to be named the PODMAX 12.5+. The 12.5+ designation is due to the fact that the standard model will measure 12.5-feet (3.81meters) in diameter, while adding PODMAX bays will increase the wall diameter, depending on the number of bays, to almost 18-feet in diameter. The new PODMAX is designed primarily for serious astro photographers with large equipment, schools and public institutions, and for corporate research. In comparison to the original SkyShed POD model, PODMAX will have a higher, thicker wall, tall steel door with deadbolt, motorization and Internet interfacing from the ground up, and since its primary job will be for astro photography and research, the dome design will be more of a traditional dome opening. The mobility concept will be carried over from the original POD design which means that if an owner decides to move the PODMAX, it will be

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Image 2

relatively simple two-person job. For those with neighboring lights, SkyShed’s new POD Visor allows users to temporarily turn their clam shell dome POD into a slotted dome in about 3 seconds. This new accessory provides additional wind and dew protection as a fringe benefit. Image 1 shows the visor open and Image 2 shows it closed. One of the challenges that SkyShed has faced has been the fact that physically a POD is just big! Even when divided up in shipping, the boxes are really big! And since Wayne and Lorelei live in Canada and their factory is located in Canada, shipping charges were not insignificant to the U.S.. Understandably purchasers of a POD did not mind paying for the observatory, but

did not have such charitable feelings when supporting shipping companies! The good news is, after years of negotiating with a major U.S. shipping company, SkyShed has been able to negotiate new, low shipping rates. Examples of shipping prices include $280 to home deliver a POD and $195 for a dome only to anywhere in Ohio. Delivery to anywhere in New York or New Jersey is $400 for a POD and $218 for the dome only. And anywhere in California is $585 for a standard POD (about as faraway in the U.S. from SkyShed’s home offices as you can get). Shipping costs are from the POD factory to the new owner’s door delivered in a lift gate truck for easy offloading. For more information please visit www.skyshedpod.com.

INDUSTRYNEWS

GALILEOSCOPE Alive and Well and Still Available

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 has come and gone yet its impact is sure to be felt for a long time in the future. One continuing venture is the Galileoscope program which was developed for the IYA. Scopes are still in production and available to the astronomy community. Thanks to the great success of the project — more than 175,000 telescopes already have been shipped to customers in 96 countries — there is now an established user base and many examples of how Galileoscopes have had a great impact on popularizing astronomy. Those involved with the program hope that more and more Galileoscopes will be bought to promote the hobby and love of the sky. The 50-mm f/10 Galileoscope may seem ‘small’ — but it’s a well built telescope at a marvelous price. With a highquality achromatic objective, a well-baffled tube, a 1 1/4-inch focuser that can accept accessories designed for any telescope, a sharp 20-mm Plössl eyepiece, and a 2x Barlow, Galileoscopes are a great introduction to astronomy. Just add a photo tripod (the Galileoscopes comes with a standard

1/4-20 nut). The scope was designed to grow with the observer — to add and use different eyepieces and filters, for example. It’s not a use-once-and-throw-away item. Shown is an image from a Galileoscopes’ event in Africa as part of the IYA. (A comment from ATT - one scope at the eye and one in hand ready to go, now that’s a serious star party participant!) This event was one of literally hundreds of star parties held throughout the world. Galileoscope production continues and there is plenty of inventory available to satisfy orders. Though it was hard to keep up with demand during IYA2009, the scopes can be ordered now and they will be on their way in time for summer observing and summer star parties. Galileoscopes make perfect gifts for kids or others just starting in the hobby, as fundraisers or prizes for star parties or astronomy clubs, and for teaching astronomy at camps or schools. They can be bought as individual units for $30 each or at a discount by the 6-unit case: pay for 5 Galileoscopes and get the 6th free. Go to www.galileoscope.org to order and to find links to free educational materials and observing guides. Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

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Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Ever since Al Nagler began offering Tele Vue’s highly crafted amateur astronomy products in 1979, he has drawn upon his experience as professional optical designer, beginning a journey he started way back in 1958. But, it was his involvement in designing NASA lunar landing simulators (as seen in the movie "Apollo 13") that most directly influences Tele Vue products of today. Al wanted his own observing equipment to deliver that seemingly limitless vista created for the astronauts. Producing wide, full-field sharpness and high contrast images are the keys that inspired Al to encourage Ethos designer Paul Dellechiaie to extend the new 3.7-mm Ethos-SX apparent field to reach 110°, the same field as the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) Simulator optics Al designed 45-years ago to train NASA astronauts for lunar landings. Seen in Image 1 is one of the NASA Infinity Display Projectors that fit over the LEM simulator. A separate unit was required for each window of the spacecraft. You can see why the astronauts affectionately dubbed the full collection of simulators for the Apollo mission “The Great Train Wreck!” The optical design consisted of a series of sixfoot mirrors, beam splitters, and a three-foot lens. It took a televised image of the lunar surface along with a separate background star field and project-

NEWPRODUCTS ed the combined image to Image 2 infinity. With the triangular compressor lens (seen in Image 1) placed against the triangular window of the simulated LEM cabin, the astronauts saw a view as in Image 2. The Infinity Display Projectors essentially acted as giant 110º eyepieces, each with a 12-inch exit pupil and 12-inch eye-relief. So, at one-foot from the window, the astronauts saw a 110º field of view. Years after the LEM program, the memory of the 110° view of the simulated lunar surface moving through the triangular cabin window of the LEM inspired Al to develop his “Ultra Wide Angle” telescope eyepiece to approach that “simulator experience.” When the 82° Nagler eyepiece hit the observing field, it brought a new era into how amateur astronomers viewed the heavens. An early customer dubbed it a “spacewalk” view. Essentially, Al’s passion was to create an image as natural as one sees with the unaided eye. With Paul's help, Al's initial dream for amateur astronomers is now fully realized. The 3.7mm Ethos-SX is designed and crafted to combine its exceedingly wide-field of view with all the contrast, color-rendition, distortion correction and center to-edge sharpness needed to achieve that natural view. Beyond the desire to simply achieve 110°, the extended field of view gave Tele Vue the ability to produce a superb planetary eyepiece with a deep sky true field of view that logically fits within the rest of the Ethos eyepiece line. With 110°, the EthosSX has 21% more AFOV area than the 100° Ethos design. This permits a nice 62% power increase from a 6-mm Ethos, while retaining 68% of its TFOV. The 3.7mm actually has more TFOV than Tele Vue’s 8-mm Plössl, 6-mm Radian, and 5mm Nagler Type-6. The 3.7mm is a 1 1/4-inch format and is parfocal with the wide range of 1

Image 1

1/4-inch Tele Vue Plössls, Panoptics, Radians, Naglers, Nagler Zooms, and 6-mm and 8-mm Ethos eyepieces. The screw-on 2-inch adapter (included) is designed to make it parfocal with 13-mm and 10-mm Ethos when they are used in their 2inch modes. The 3.7mm Ethos-SX 110 Weighs 1.10 lbs and is projected to be available by late summer/early fall. For more information visit www.televue.com.

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include finer focus with the standard Moonlight focuser or optional Feathertouch focuser. Finer thread pitch gives precise Collimation of the secondary and primary mirrors. Optical support components have been stiffened to hold critical collimation, plus more! Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

NEWPRODUCTS

VIXEN OPTICS New 2-inch Compression Ring The New Vixen 2-inch compression ring is now standard on the complete line of Vixen’s Japanese made optical tubes. It is designed to give one of the most secure and accurate connections available for visual or photographic needs. Using the “standard” Vixen M60 threads, it will fit most Vixen optical tubes produced over the last 20 years. With 3 adjustable points, users can be sure that their optical path will be perfectly square to their mechanical attachment. The adjustable allen screw allows for adjustment of the 2-inch fitting so that it centers in the tube, providing for the ability to perfectly square the camera to the light path. The two thumbscrews that tighten a brass compression ring against

diagonal or eyepieces will ensure equipment is not marked with unsightly scratches. This also provides a larger surface to spread the load and relieve any flexure. For more information please visit www.vixenoptics.com

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Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

NEWPRODUCTS

MEADE INSTRUMENTS Introduces LT-8 and Series 5000 Auxiliary Equipment Mounting System Meade has added a new offering, the LT-8, to its LT series of scopes. The new Meade LT-8 is similar to the Meade ETX-LS 8 without the fully automated alignment feature. It offers two optics choices, Schmidt-Cassegrain optics or Meade’s Advanced Coma-Free ACF Optical System. The telescope weighs 30 pounds and the tripod weight is 9 pounds. The LT8 features precision worm gear drives, die-cast aluminum mount and solid steel tripod which extends from 25.5-inches to 43.5-inches. It utilizes the Meade AutoStar 497 system computer controller which automatically guides the telescope to any of the over 30,000 objects in the comprehensive library and is updateable with downloads from Meade’s website. The LT-8 will run for 20 hours on 8 C-cell batteries. The rigid aluminum mount supports the optical tube in all sky orientations. The precision 4.875-inch diameter worm gears in both axes provide smooth sidereal tracking of objects in the night sky. The stable, fully adjustable stainless steel tripod delivers all the rigidity required for field applications and adjusts from 23.5 to 43.5 inches in height, providing a comfortable eyepiece height for virtually everyone. Meade LT-8 telescopes use level north alignment. Provide the telescope with the appropriate city or zip code, then the date and time, and orient the OTA so that it is level and pointing north. AutoStar’s Easy Align picks two alignment stars and places them in the viewfinder. Just center them to fine tune the alignment and you are set. The LT-8 is priced at $1,599US with Advanced Coma-Free optics, and $1,399US with Schmidt-Cassegrain

optics. Also recently introduced, the new Meade Series 5000 Auxiliary Equipment Mounting System consists of dedicated dovetail plates, ring sets and counterweight sets that are designed to mount guide scopes, widefield refractors or other equipment on all LX200 and LX90 Series telescopes. These accessories allow for owners of these scopes to realize their full potential for advanced observing and astrophotography with a wide variety of auxiliary instruments. Precision milled from 6061-TB aircraft grade aluminum, all joining surfaces are either precision chamfered or filleted to eliminate sharp corners and edges. Parts are inspected, hand deburred and grained to achieve a smooth finish. Aluminum components are then anodized black, and include stainless steel mounting hardware. The system includes dovetail plates for OTA’s of 8”, 10”, 12”, 14” and 16” that attach using existing threaded holes. Mounted surfaces are machined with the corresponding OTA radius. The plates are pocket milled to decrease weight and increase rigidity and are sized to accept major brand accessories. The ring sets are offered in 90mm,

108mm, 125mm, and 160mm diameters, which accommodate a wide range of scopes. Precision, six coat mounting is designed to protect auxiliary scope’s surfaces from marring. The system’s counter weight sets attach to a dovetail plate mounted to the bottom of the OTA and include dedicated dovetail adapter and two 3 pound counter weights. For more information visit www.meade.com.

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

NEWPRODUCTS

ASTRO PHYSICS USB 2.0 Ranger 2104 Astro-Physics has added the Icron USB 2.0 Ranger 2104 to its line of computer connectivity products. This highspeed USB extender provides 4 USB ports at the mount, true high-speed USB 2.0 data transfer (up to 480 Mb/s), isochronous data transfer for CCD cameras, and a range of up to 100 meters (330 feet). Unlike many other solutions, these units will not slow down image download speeds significantly, and they will not introduce timing errors into guider software commands. The new USB Ranger 2104 doubles the extension distance of 50m/165ft of the previous generation of USB extenders. Powered by patented

ExtremeUSB technology, the USB Ranger 2104 supports four device ports via an integrated hub. This solution enables host computer and peripheral extension over standard Cat 5 UTP cable. The remote unit requires AC power for proper operation. Astro-Physics stocks units with the North American standard power adapter. UK, European and Australian adapters are available by special order and may require a small surcharge. For more information visit www.astro-physics.com.

STELLAR SOFTWARE Beam Four Java Edition Throughout the optics industry there is a continuing need to evaluate the performance of optical systems: lenses, mirror systems, imagers, microscopes, telescopes, photocopiers, laser beam managers – the list is almost endless. To deal with these requirements, Stellar Software has been providing software tools that run on popular computer platforms to perform these calculations and show the results both graphically and in tabular form. Their first products were for the IBM PC in 1985, followed by their Macintosh products in 1990. Stellar Software’s Beam Four Java Edition is the culmination of the company’s efforts to combine the most needed features of their product lines into one high value run-anywhere application.

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

It provides a way to evaluate the performance of optical systems quickly and easily Stellar Software offers a downloadable free trial package which includes a .ZIP file containing the owner’s manual B4GUIDE.PDF, the example files from the manual, and a demo version of Beam Four Java Edition. It’s fully functional on input, computational

procedures, and graphical display, lacking only the file output functions of the full product. Using the software requires that Java be installed on a computer. There is a Java tester on Stellar Software’s website that can be use to verify if there is an installed Java environment. For more information visit www.stellarsoftware.com.

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GREAT RED SPOT Introduces the GRS Jupiter Series Telescopes Great Red Spot Astronomy Products has stepped in a big way into the arena of large aperture scopes with its GRS Jupiter Series telescopes. Their first offering is a truly large telescope with a primary mirror of 40 inches in diameter. Additional models will soon be added to this premium series of telescopes. Starting with a completely blank sheet of paper for their design, they had several design goals including protecting the primary mirror, with a mirror enclosure that blocks stray light, giving higher contrast images at the eyepiece. They completely enclosed the back and sides of the secondary mirror securely to protect it from dew and damage and the UTA (Upper Tube Assembly) design allows users to set it on the ground without secondary mirror damage. Made of aluminum, the secondary mirror-holder is fully offset by design. The telescope offers protection of the ServoCat’s “brain” with its placement inside the scope incorporating a wiring design that offers minimal chances of exposure. Tucked out of harm’s way, the ServoCat has no connectors exposed or placed anywhere they may be stepped on. The scope is designed to be as portable and lightweight as a scope this size can be featuring anodized aluminum in flat black for low maintenance. The 40-inch parabolic mirror is a cast monolithic piece of SupraMax from the Schott Company in Germany. Made by master optician Mike Lockwood, the mirror is crafted to the highest standards of quality. The Jupiter’s cell is made from rigid, high quality steel. A single stainless steel cable sling supports the edge of the mirror. As proven by computer modeling and real-world use, a cable sling is a simple, light-weight, cost-effective way of supporting the edge of a mirror. The

mirror floats on spherical bearings, giving the mirror solid support at any angle, permitting no play or slop in the support system. The massive truss poles are manufactured from high strength 6061 alloy aluminum and are 2-inches in diameter, and anodized in flat black The Altitude Bearings are lightweight cast aluminum. At 52 inches in diameter, the bearings have massive staying power which allow changing from small, planetary eyepieces to heavy binoviewers without needing to add counterweights. The UTA features a 360 degree light shield that keeps stray light out of the focuser and from reaching the secondary

mirror. The controls for the ArgoNavis and ServoCat are located on the UTA. There are virtually too many other features to list here for a scope of this magnitude. For more information visit www.greatredspot.com.

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

NEWPRODUCTS

ORION TELESCOPES AND BINOCULARS Introduces Several New Products Just in Time for Summer Observing

The Orion 10-inch f/8 Ritchey-Chrétien Astrograph features virtually coma-free optics for superb imaging performance. Its precision hyperbolic primary and secondary mirrors are made of high quality quartz optical glass with enhanced reflectivity (9496%) aluminum coatings. The machined aluminum, dual-speed (10:1) 3-inch modified Crayford focuser with linear track bearing provides rigid, backlashfree support for hefty imaging accessories.

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Nine computer-positioned internal light baffles in the optical tube, primary mirror tube baffles, and a baffled secondary mirror shield ensure maximum image contrast and brightness. Three 1.5-inch DC cooling fans built into the rear cell help to reduce cool down time for the telescope to reach thermal equilibrium. Two wide “Losmandy-style” dovetail mounting plates are attached to both the top and bottom of the tube for easy mount attachment and use of optional guide scope for guided CCD imaging pursuits. The Orion 10inch f/8 Ritchey-Chrétien Astrograph is priced at $2,694.95US. Orion’s “Narrow-to-Wide’ Dovetail Adapter Plate provides the convenience and versatility of attaching other

brands of telescopes or tube ring systems that use wide male mounting bars to an Orion mount. The new narrow to wide adapter plate will attach to the saddle of a mount that uses the narrow-style dovetail system (such as the SVP/Sirius/Atlas mounts) and convert it to the wide saddle, which accepts the wide dovetail bars. The adapters are spring loaded, with a splitclamp design with two large hand knobs. This design allows the saddle to be opened wide for easy drop-in attachment of the dovetail bar. The adapters are CNC machined

NEWPRODUCTS throughout. No tools are need for installation. The adapters are priced at $89.95US. Orion’s new Wide Universal Dovetail Plate is a perfect accessory for an optical tube with rings that may not fit the hole spacing of standard dovetail bars. This plate gives all the options you need. The wide universal plate has many holes spaced along its length so any ring spacing is possible. There’s also a slot that adds extra versatility in the spacing. Cameras and other accessories with tripod sockets can easily attach to this dovetail plate, wherever users need to place them. If your optical tube is too short to fit the spacing of a users rings, simply move the rings closer together using this handy plate resulting in a secure connection and lots of choices for perfect placement. Accommodating use of wide Losmandystyle male dovetail bars (note: does not fit Orion Sirius or SkyView Pro mounts, they will work with Atlas mount with conversion using the Orion 7950/51 collar), the plate is black anodized, machined aluminum construction for added rigidity and features no tools installation. The plate is $44.95US. Orion continues to expand its Dobsonian offerings with the introduction of the SkyQuest XTg series of fully motorized GoTo Dobsonians. A complete GoTo package, the new Orion XT8g, XT10g, and XT12g make it easier than ever to view even the most elu-

sive of NGC curiosities by pushing a button or two on the XTg Dobsonians’ illuminated hand controller. High-torque servo motors guided by two pairs of high-resolution encoders then slew the telescope right to an observer’s object of interest – any of over 42,000 objects in the GoTo controller’s database. And no more nudging the telescope tube continuously to keep the object from drifting out of the field of view. The XTg automatically tracks the object’s motion, keeping it centered in the eyepiece. What’s more, the closed-loop electronics of the XTg let users move the telescope manually – or endure the accidental bump without losing orientation for accurate, automated GoTo pointing. The new Dobs combine GoTo pointing convenience with excellent portability and an affordable price. The XT8g features a 203mm (8-inch) aperture, 1200-mm focal-length parabolic mirror (f/5.9), the XT10g a 254mm (10-inch) aperture, 1200-mm focallength parabolic mirror (f/4.7), and the XT12g offers 305-mm (12-inch) aperture, 1500-mm focal-length parabolic mirror (f/4.9). All three feature mirrors made from low-thermal-expansion optical glass, with enhanced reflectivity (94%) aluminum coatings for high-definition images. The mirrors are center marked to make alignment of the optics (collimation) easier and more precise. The optical tube comes

equipped with a dual-speed 2-inch Crayford focuser (with 1.25-inch adapter). The 11:1 fine focus knob ensures that owners will quickly find that ultra-sharp focus point. The telescopes offer open mirror cell design facilitating efficient cooling of the mirror to ambient temperature. The cell also has threaded holes for mounting an optional cooling accelerator fan. Each GoTo base comes with all optical encoders, drive motors, and gears preinstalled, facilitating quick assembly. The optical tube drops into the base on a dovetail trunnion and locks in place with a single hand knob. A simple two-star alignment is all it takes to orient the scopes to the sky for GoTo operation. And when its time to call it a night, just loosen the knob and pop the tube off the base for easy transport or storage. Handles on the base’s front and side panels make it easy to lift and carry. Standard accessories include an EZ Finder II reflex sight, eyepiece rack with holes for one 2-inch and three 1.25-inch eyepieces, hand controller mounting bracket, quick collimation cap, a wide-field 28-mm DeepView 2-inch eyepiece, and a 12.5-mm illuminatedcrosshair Plossl eyepiece (1.25-inch), which enables ultra-precise GoTo system alignment. The SkyQuest XTg series scopes requires power from a 12-volt DC field battery or AC adapter, sold separately. A DC cable is included that has a car lighter style plug on one end for connecting to a 12-volt DC power source, and a coaxial plug on the other end that fits the power jack installed on the base. The GoTo hand controller’s softly red-

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

NEWPRODUCTS

ORION TELESCOPES AND BINOCULARS (Continued) illuminated keypad lets users select an object from a variety of intuitive menus, or take a tour of the “best” objects in the sky at any time. The time saved by not having to manually search for targets will allow users to spend more time enjoying the magnificent views through the eyepiece. The XT8g is priced at $849.95US, the XT10g at $1,099.95US, and the XT12g at $1,599.95US. Orion’s new Premium UltraPortable Truss Dobsonian Telescope line is their newest offering to marry huge light-gathering capability, ultra portability and affordable pricing. Available in a UP16, UP18, and UP20, the series is designed to be light and compact, making the task of transport to that favorite dark-sky site as easy as possible. Featuring fast optics the scopes offer focal ratios of f/4.5 for the UP16 and f/4.2 for the UP18 and UP20. The heaviest component of the scopes are the mirrors. For example, the Orion UP16 primary mirror weighs in at 27 pounds, and the entire telescope tips the scales at about 60 pounds, which is remarkably light for a 16inch scope. Most people will find this a pretty easy telescope to take to a star party, set up, and explore the sky. In addition, with its fast

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

focal ratio mirror, the UP16 telescope has an eyepiece location that can almost always be reached when you are standing with both feet on the ground (67-inches from the ground when the UP16 is pointed at zenith). The UP18 weighs in at 68 pounds and the UP20 at 96 pounds. Each scope features enhanced optical coatings to assure it collects as many photons as possible to focus it into a bright and contrast-rich image. The primary mirrors have an enhanced, 96% aluminized coating with a protective over-coating of Silicon Dioxide (quartz) to protect the reflective aluminum coatings from oxidation caused by contaminants in the air and to help prevent surface protection from scratches. Likewise, the same high-efficiency coatings are on the precision, flat secondary mirror. Careful consideration was placed on collimation. Each scope has a secondary mirror that is supported by a rigid three-arm secondary support structure that is attached to the back of the secondary mirror with three adjustment screws that allow the tilt to be adjusted for collimation. The primary mirror can be centered within the telescope by eccentric cams and locked in position. The primary mirror also has a three-point collimation sys-

NEWPRODUCTS tem that adjusts the entire mirror and steel mirror cell. The primary collimation system also features locking set screws to assure collimation is not lost once users align the mirrors. Each scope features an extensively modeled 9-point suspension system. The frame of the mirror support is fabricated from steel and has lateral locking screws (for use on an equatorial mount) in addition to the locking screws on the collimation adjustments. Orion has incorporated an advanced mirror technology - what they call “sandwich mirrors.” The sandwich mirror technology has been used to manufacture research-grade optical elements and proven by over a half dozen years of successful applications at research facilities including NASA. The Orion UP telescopes have lightweight sandwich mirrors that feature two solid glass plates separated by a thermally optimized “open core” - pillars of fused glass between the plates. The open core allows air to circulate freely in between the layers of the mirror. This design allows the mirrors to reach thermal equilibrium up to 10 times faster than a traditional solid 18-inch mirror and means that the mirror can deliver great views even as the air around the telescope is changing. Even faster equilibrium can be reached by adding optional cooling fans to accelerate thermal acclimation. Fabricated from steel and aluminum, these telescopes have been engineered to perform using 3D AutoCAD and FEA software. The mechanical structures have been extensively modeled to provide optimal

thermal performance and stability. They are machined with Numerical Control (NC) technology and hand fitted to assure proper fit and finish. The Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) of the UP telescopes is a double truss design, with a lower and upper set of truss tubes joined amidships by a welded aluminum frame. This design is not only extremely compact, strong and light, but also allows the use of an optional dovetail adapter bar to mount the OTA to a sturdy EQ mount (the dovetail adapter bar and equatorial mount are available as options). In addition to the dual-truss design, Orion has gone to the extra engineering effort and expense to optimize an 8-pole truss design for added stability. Having 8 thinner poles optimizes rigidity, and minimizes weight.

The scopes feature a huge azimuth ball bearing which is adjustable to suit the personal preference of each observer with a simple tension adjustment knob. The friction on the altitude bearings has been carefully optimized to allow easy altitude motion yet it is sufficiently stiff to allow the interchange of various visual accessories on the focuser and not (usually) require re-balancing of the OTA with counterweights. Using sufficient resistance on the altitude bearing also assures that critical focus can be achieved at high power without the telescope moving off-target. The Orion UP16 is priced at $5,199.95US, the UP18 at $6,499.95US, and the UP20 is $8,299.95US. For more information visit www.oriontelescopes.com.

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

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THE WALTERLEE HELIFOCUS New Electronic Focuser One of the great things about amateur astronomy is that enthusiasts can transfer their enjoyment of astronomy to introducing a new product to the market. Walt Davis has done just that and has jumped into the astronomy products arena with his new WalterLee heliFocus. Designed for precise astronomical focusing for visual and photographic use, the WalterLee heliFocus is an electronic focuser designed specifically for helical focused optics including telephoto lenses, Coronado Solar Scopes, Borg Astrographs, and DSLR lenses.

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Shown is a Deluxe heliFocus mounted on a Vixen dovetail to drive a Nikon Nikkor 300-mm f/2.8 telephoto lens. Each motor is hand machined and assembled with rugged industrial parts

including aluminum housing, LED direction indicator, planetary DC motor, timing belt, mounting bracket, and hot powder coat finish. Specifications include a rugged die cast aluminum enclosure, heavy duty 6061 aluminum bracket which is 1/8-inch thick by 1-inch wide and 5-inches long. It is precision machined with several choices of color and it is Vibra finished for a smooth surface. It features a 0.080-inch pitch (MXL) timing belt & pulley, 1/8-inch mono phone jack power connector, 55 rpm high torque planetary motor, and 6v-12v DC power. The basic focuser package includes a WalterLee Deluxe heliFocus, timing belt of specified size, adjustable 5-inch mounting bracket, mounting bolts, and 6 foot power cord. Several controller options are available. The productâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website offers a wealth of additional information including how to determine the belt length, using the heliFocus for multiple lenses, and running more than one heliFocus. Pricing varies on the package and accessories ordered. Each heliFocus is custom built after the order is placed. For more informaton please visit http://focus.waltdavis.net.

CELESTRON Celebrates Its First 50 Years Celestron, the Early Years, and Beyond By Gary Parkerson

What is a telescope? No, bear with me for a few more lines – this may be important! Think back. Long before you fell to focusing ad infinitum on telescope specification minutia, your mind’s eye embraced a basic form that captured what was then, to you, the essence of a telescope. I’m now passed middle age and long ago adopted the sad rationalization that an automobile is simply something that gets you from point “A” to point “B,” but it wasn’t always so. If you’d asked what a sports car was when I really cared about things like style and automobiles, I would have described a 1963 Chevy Corvette – the Sting Ray! For many of us, the Celestron orange-tube C8 holds a similarly cherished status: it represents the essence of what we accepted as the standard of form and function of a telescope when we first started to really care about

Image 1 - Tom Johnson pictured with a classic orange-tube C8.

such things. I eventually bought that bythen-vintage ‘63 Sting Ray, and yes, also eventually got around to investing in a then-classic orange-tube C8 as well. But, while the old Corvette suffered noticeably by comparison to the performance capabilities of more modern designs by the time I could afford one, that 30+-year-old C8 still holds its own, even in company of the most refined products of our modern

telescope industry. So, why am I praising old C8s and Sting Rays in a 2010 issue of ATT? Because so many of us who value astronomy equipment are of that age, and because this year marks a remarkable milestone: the 50th anniversary of the enterprise that would become Celestron. Almost three years ago now, Robert Piekiel submitted his CDROM e-book, Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

CELESTRON CELEBRATES ITS FIRST 50 YEARS

Image 2 - Tom Johnson (left), Lew Chilton and Dave Balogh are pictured with Johnson’s 18.75 Dall-Kirkham in 1962. The photograph was provided to Robert Piekiel by Balogh.

GRS Jupiter Series 40-inch Dob

Celestron, the Early Years, to ATT for review and, because I was particularly interested in learning more about the company that produced my C8, I asked at that time that I be permitted to undertake the project myself, thinking I’d produce a short finished article within a month or two. But, that was before I realized that Mr. Piekiel had amassed an astrounding 1600+ pages of text, images and diagrams! My schedule being what it was back then, the CD sat on my desk until December of 2009 when I was invited to attend a celebration honoring Celestron’s first 50

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Seriously large aperture for the seriously avid astronomer! Our first offering of the GRS Jupiter Series of large aperture telescopes is a truly mammoth scope with a primary mirror of 40 inches in diameter! Additional models will soon be added to this premium series of telescopes.

years. Figuring there was no better way to dazzle my hosts than with a complete knowledge of all things Celestron gained from Piekiel’s labors, I began working my way through those 1600 pages. Only, as it turned out, “work” isn’t the right label. Studying Celestron, The Early Years (hereafter, “Celestron”) was thoroughly enjoyable and is a resource I recommend highly to anyone who cares enough about astrotechnology to read this magazine. And for once, procrastination worked in my favor as increasing exposure to the anniversaryinduced excitement of the current Celestron team animated my appreciation of the accomplishments of those who’d designed and crafted its products in earlier decades. The result is this combination of book review, history lesson, technical report, and unabashed celebration of an extraordinary astro-industry success story. The Road to the C8 The classic orange-tube C8 was introduced by Celestron in 1970, about a

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CELESTRON CELEBRATES ITS FIRST 50 YEARS decade after Tom Johnson started Valor Electronics, the aerospace electronics firm that would soon include a “Celestronic Division,” and that would, in turn, eventually become “Celestron.” Johnson’s introduction to telescope making was much like that experienced by many of you – a search for a telescope for his sons soon lead to his building a simple reflector – only in Johnson’s case, his projects evolved to far more sophisticated designs and hobby quickly advanced to career. The results achieved from mere love of telescopes are often remarkable. In Tom Johnson’s case, it transformed a simple desire to produce a suitable telescope for his boys into an innovation that revolutionized the hobby of astronomy. For Robert Piekiel, it expanded a simple desire to produce a shop manual for “vintage, bluewhite Celestron Telescopes” into the comprehensive resource I describe here and that is of value to all who enjoy telescopes. Johnson’s most significant technical innovation was that of devising a method

by which Schmidt corrector lenses could be repeatedly and accurately produced in a small fraction of the time required of a master optician attempting the complex figure using what were then conventional hand-figuring methods. As Johnson notes in the forward he penned for Piekiel’s tome in 2003, “The tremendous work necessary to make a Schmidt corrector lens using known techniques accounts for the fact that up to 1963 there were less than five Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes of visual quality.” Tom Johnson’s innovation may seem obvious now, but was not so much so in the early 1960s that anyone else had thought of it. Johnson created a master reverse mold and “sucked” a precision glass flat to the form of the mold by a vacuum. The back of the glass was then ground into a flat while still deformed. When released from the vacuum, the lens would “spring back to the shape of a Schmidt corrector,” as Johnson described the process in an April 2003 interview

with Piekiel that is included in Celestron. Of course, crafting the master mold remained a painstaking and time-consuming process. These were originally ground and figured by Johnson himself and, as he reports in the 2003 interview, “It originally took about six weeks. Now it can be done in three days. There are a number of steps involved in the process. The first step is to rough in the curve using a traveling micrometer. The total deviation from flat for an 8-inch f/2 master is only 0.0056 inch. You can get it to within 0.001 inch in the roughing step. You partially polish the master and suck down a test plate. You observe the Newtonian ring fringe pattern and work down the highs until you have a smooth curve of close to the desired finish figure. Next you pull down a test plate, grind and polish the exposed surface flat, then test it against a standard primary and secondary mirror against an optical flat. The deviations of the test plate are read with the shadow-gram technique and noting the

UC 22 22” f/4.2

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CELESTRON CELEBRATES ITS FIRST 50 YEARS

Celestron’s Limited Edition 50th Anniversary CPC 800 GPS Computerized Telescope.

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deviation from straight lines of a Ronchi grating. You then rework the master and repeat the whole process until you have a perfect inverse curve on the master.” The Johnson interview extends to 30 pages and is worth the price of admission alone. It’s a surprisingly frank and detailed discussion of his early experiences that produced the techniques and resulting telescopes for which his company would become famous, as well as of those of the companies that sought to emulate his successful designs. Piekiel proved an exceptional interviewer, anticipating all questions we would still have for Johnson in 2010, and skillfully guiding the discussion without getting in Johnson’s way. As for the fork mount that defined Celestron’s early Schmidt-Cassegrains, Johnson describes it as based upon that of his 18.75-inch Cassegrain (see Image 2) that was the subject of the cover story for the March 1963 issue of Sky & Telescope. “My idea of a fork mount was to make it portable like the 18-inch in the article in

Sky & Tel. It had to have a folded optical path. That unit [the Cassegrain featured in Sky & Telescope] was a Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain.” And as Piekiel notes in Chapter 4 of Celestron, “The scope [18.75-inch D-K C] had many novel ideas, such as the focus being directed out the Declination axis to keep the eyepiece at a comfortable viewing height no matter where the scope was positioned. The Right-Ascension axis sported a 10-inch bearing at the north end, and both axes had electric motors. The tube was constructed out of lightweight, aluminum tubes in a skeleton fashion, making a very rigid structure.” Although Celestron’s earliest products included similarly large observatoryclass instruments and sported white tubes with blue accents [including the Celestron (or “C”) 20, a C22, then the C10, followed by a C4, a C6, a C8, a C16, and then a C12], its most prolific early model was the popularly-priced orange-tube Classic (or “C”) 8. The C8 was smaller

CELESTRON CELEBRATES ITS FIRST 50 YEARS

Schematic of Celestron EdgeHD Optical System.

and lighter than its corresponding predecessors. As Johnson describes it in the interview by Piekiel, “We had a minor recession back in the 60s. There was a period when we went through a whole month without getting a single order. That was the 10s and the 6s – all of the blue models. So, on a crash program I redesigned the whole line starting with the 8, the orange-tube model. The idea was to offer a less expensive popular model. We would offer a complete 8-inch telescope for under $1000…our entire first production was sold out in one day. Thereafter, each production run was 25 C8s. It was almost five years before we finally caught up with orders.” As Piekiel reports in Chapter 12 of Celestron, “Thousands and thousands of C8s have been built and sold. Most of

this success started when Celestron introduced their orange-tube “Classic” model 8 in 1970. It lasted for 13 years, then was upgraded with an improved mount, extra features, and a black paint-scheme. It continues to evolve today, still being the most popular-size amateur scope in the world. Nearly all astronomers today, young and old, have either owned or used a C8, mostly going back to the orangetube Classic model. What hardly anyone knows is that before the orange-tube C8 was introduced, Celestron had blue-white Vintage C8s available during the 1960s.” Of course, Celestron didn’t exist in a market vacuum. As Piekiel observes in Chapter 50 of Celestron, “Celestron’s biggest competitor in recent times was Meade Instruments Corporation, which introduced its own 8-inch Schmidt-

Cassegrain telescope in 1980. It was the same basic layout as the Celestron 8, that is, fork-mounted, equipped with a wedge and tripod, main focusing by a movable primary mirror, etc. There were differences in features of convenience, however and Celestron found itself needing to think of a way to revamp the orange-tube line, which had virtually remained unchanged for almost 13 years. Meade’s new telescope was painted an exquisite dark blue with black trim, something that was supposed to convey a ‘state of the art’ technology. Suddenly orange and brown seemed to be a step out of time. The ‘new’ 8 was painted all black, with a lighter fork assembly, more streamlined declination setting circles, and a new worm-gear drive in the base manufactured by Edward Byers. Other features of the ‘Super C8+,’

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CELESTRON CELEBRATES ITS FIRST 50 YEARS as it was called, included enhanced ‘starbright’ coatings on the mirrors and corrector as standard equipment… The Super C8+ became Celestron’s next generation of Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes.” Further C8-based milestones include the Ultima 2000 and Nexstars, with each adding significant refinement to the popular platform.

Celestron CGE Pro 1400 HD featuring its 14-inch EdgeHD carried by the massive CGE PRO German Equatorial mount.

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The Modern Celestrons In 2005 Celestron introduced its CPC series of telescopes and, although Celestron of 2010 produces and markets a full range of astronomical and sporting optical products, including German Equatorial-mounted telescopes featuring its new EdgeHD Optics in apertures to 14 inches, it is fitting that the company chose the renowned C8 as the basis for the limited-edition scope that carries its 50th Anniversary badge. And while that CPC 800 GPS clearly represents a far more technically sophisticated astronom-

ical observing and imaging system than my “Classic” orange-tube C8, its corrector lens is still produced using the basic technique Tom Johnson perfected almost five decades ago. The LE CPC 800’s fully computerized DC servo-motor drive, encoders, and NexRemote control software obviate the need for the equatorial wedge with which many Classic 8s were equipped, and replaces its most notable element with a high-tech carbon fiber tube, but it still presents what is arguably the most popular production optical system of all time. As for Celestron’s more recent offerings, I had the opportunity to see its new CGEM and CGE Pro mounted EdgeHD optical systems in person at NEAF 2010 and was duly impressed. The all-new aplanatic optical system is specifically designed to produce an aberration-free, flat photographic field of view and is also Fastar compatible for enhanced photographic speeds of an ultra-fast f/2, while the massive German Equatorial mounts

CELESTRON CELEBRATES ITS FIRST 50 YEARS provide the stable platforms and photographic-friendly features such as precision worm-drive systems, permanent programmable period error correction, and auto-guiding and PC communication ports, demanded by today’s growing ranks of astrophotography specialists. The improved “aplanatic” optical performance is achieved via a permanently-mounted dualelement corrector lens system positioned in the system’s baffle tube, well within the telescope’s optical train. Its new focus on a full line of highlycapable German Equatorial mounts represents another well-timed departure from Celestron historic reliance on dual-fork mounting systems. German Equatorial mounts have been the preferred platforms of imaging specialists and eliminate some of the imaging train clearance issues presented by fork mounts. The addition of the new CGEM and CGE Pro mounts positions Celestron with four refined German Equatorials, the largest of which is designed for a payload capacity of an impressive 90 pounds. A Remarkable Milestone As I mentioned earlier, Celestron began this year with a celebration of its golden-anniversary. When I asked Celestron Marketing Manager, Michelle Meskill, for her thoughts on the event and milestone, she offered, “What better way of starting the new year than by kicking off the celebration at the largest and most wellknown gathering of the latest in electronic gadgets and technology breakthroughs – the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). During CES 2010, Celestron hosted a dinner party for dealers, distributors and media. It was a festive atmosphere with everyone having a great time catching up on the latest news in the industry, while making new acquaintances or reestablishing old ties. President, Joe Lupica, led off the evening with a motivational speech and a toast for a successful 2009. He noted, “Although the economy was harsh for many industries, Celestron continued to pull through and keep growing, while taking a

more aggressive approach to all facets of its business, making 2009 our second-best year in the company’s history. What a great way to start off the anniversary celebration!” And we concur. Entering its 51st year as a dynamic, thriving, industry-leading enterprise is a truly remarkable achievement. How remarkable? Well, try naming all others that have matched or exceeded that accomplishment. I can think of but a few. Yes, it’s that remarkable!

clusion of enlargeable schematics of all major Celestron telescopes through the Nexstars, as well as detailed instruction for disassembling, servicing and maintaining each and every model, making it truly a must-have resource for all who use and love Celestron telescopes, and an enjoyable, enlightening read for all who simply enjoy telescopes in general. If you would like a copy of the Piekiel’s CDROM you can email him at piekielrl@netzero.com

A Remarkable Resource Although when compared to this space, it will appear that I have quoted extensively from Robert Piekiel’s Celestron, the Early Years, remember that that work comprises more than 1600 pages. What appears here is the barest outline and scantest sample of the substantive content of that extensive resource. I’ve touched on a relative few of Celestron’s highlight products, while all are accorded the fullest detail in Celestron. Its CDROM format also allows in-

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HUTECH IDAS 31-MM REFLECTION SUPPRESSION FILTERS By Craig Stark

For those of you who have read my previous reviews or my series on SNR on Cloudy Nights, it should come as no surprise that I’m a fan of fast f-ratio scopes (like my Borg 101 ED f/4) and that I’m very happy with my QSI 540 camera. The QSI 500 series has an optional built-in filter wheel that allows you to use up to five 1.25-inch mounted or 31-mm unmounted filters in its 4.45-inch case. The 31-mm unmounted setup lets the 540 and 583 cameras go down to much lower f-ratios without vignetting. At f/4, a good set of 1.25-inch filters works fine on my 540, but you’d be starting to get into issues there on the 583 camera. Start getting any faster and you’re asking more of your flats (and lowering the SNR in the corners). The 31-mm format packs as much filter as you can get into this small area, letting those SLR lenses, Hyperstars, and Borg, ASA, and Tak Astrographs stretch their legs. A few months back, Ted Ishikawa of Hutech asked if I might be interested in reviewing the Hutech/IDAS Reflection Suppression (RS) filter set in the 31-mm format (they also come in a 50-mm round format). I’d been curious about the filters for some time and had given them serious thought when I swapped out my old LRGB set for my current set. At the time, I ended up buying a nice new set of another brand of wellrespected filters instead. In part, this was

because there was little out there on the Hutech RS filters. There are some test shots up on the Hutech site that show a clear difference in star halos, but there weren’t any in-depth reviews. There certainly weren’t any direct comparisons to other performers. Given the dearth of information on the Hutechs and the wealth of good reports on

the filters I ended up purchasing, I opted to go with them and save a few bucks in the process (as the QSI filter wheel I own is not the one for the unmounted 31-mm filters). So, I agreed to do the review in part to see what kind of decision I’d made. They won’t really control reflections better than the filters I purchased, will they?

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HUTECH IDAS 31-MM REFLECTION SUPPRESSION FILTERS

Image 1

Features The filters have a number of solid features. First, of course, the ones I’m testing here are 31-mm in diameter and unmounted, to allow for lower f/ratios to be used (steeper light cones) before vignetting starts to become a problem. Second, the filters are billed as having Ultra Fine Polish (UFP) Finishing with no scratches, bubbles, or other defects visible

even under microscopic examination. For grins, I hauled out my trusty microscope. Indeed, all seemed clean. Third, they’re built using their Ion Gun Assisted Deposition technology. This is reported to lead to very stable, robust coatings that will last a long time. I have no way of evaluating this unless Ted wants me to keep them for 25 years and report back then. Finally, they are touted as having ex-

ceptional reflection suppression, cutting the surface reflection down to only 4% of that of typical dichroic filters. More on this later. There’s one more thing worth noting here before we move on and that is the transmission curve for the filter set. The Luminance filter is a near square wave running from about 400 nm to about 680 nm with a transmission up in the “close enough to 100% to not worry about” range. The red filter’s response is also about what one might expect with a very sharp profile and a very high transmission. The green and blue filters, however, show a clear fall-off with transmissions peaking out around 88% and 80% respectively. To see how this works with various sensors, I estimated the response profile for each of the curves from the filters’ published specifications and from Kodak’s KAI-04022 and KAF-8300 sensors. By multiplying these two rates (known as convolving the curves) and summing up the amount of signal, we can determine how well balanced the resulting images will be. For my KAI-04022, they get closer to an even balance, but we’re still a bit hot in the blue and a bit weak in the red channel despite the skewed response of the filters. But, for the KAF-8300, we’ve got a very nice balance across the channels. This means you can easily use equal exposure times for the three filters and there shouldn’t be a need to scale the colors separately (which can lead to things like the improper color for O-III regions).

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HUTECH IDAS 31-MM REFLECTION SUPPRESSION FILTERS

Image 2

Image 3

Unpacking and Assembly The filters arrived neatly packed in individual cases and with an instruction manual. Instruction manual? Well, yes, an instruction manual and no, this isn’t just something that shows the transmission curve and gives you general advice on caring for the filters. This is an honest to goodness instruc-

tion and assembly manual. You’re going to spend a few minutes putting the system together, so take your time to do it right. Two of the filters, the red and the luminance, are what you’d probably expect. You’ve got a piece of colored glass for each (these aren’t reflective like dichroic filters) and, apart from being a relatively hefty 4-

mm thick, all seems normal. You place these into the filter wheel, put a spacer ring on top, and tighten the screws that hold the edges securely in place (don’t clamp down too hard here). The green and the blue are actually composed of two filters each. The green filter, for example, is composed of a yellow el-

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HUTECH IDAS 31-MM REFLECTION SUPPRESSION FILTERS

Image 4

ement and a cyan element separated by a thin spacer (the blue filter is composed of two shades of blue). So, for these, you’ll have a small assembly of filter, spacer, filter, spacer to put in place before you secure things. When assembling, keep an eye out for dust as you’d really rather not have it caught between filters here. While it may sound odd, the whole process took just a few minutes to complete. I wore some nitrile gloves when doing it to make sure I didn’t get finger prints on any of the elements. If you get confused, the instructions list the stacking order they came out in and that will serve as a good reference. Also, it’s worth noting that all the spacers are the same, so you needn’t worry about getting them mixed up. But, the 31 mm QSI filter wheel loaned to me for the review fit them like a glove and the screws to hold the filters in place did so snugly without fear of

damaging the filters. Tests So, do the filters live up to the claims of excellent reflection suppression? I decided to put the Hutech filters up against the two other filter sets I own. The first is a dichroic LRGB astrophotography filter set (Set A) from a popular retailer that currently sells for just over $200 in the 1.25-inch format. The second (Set B) is my current filter set, the LRGB anti-reflection set I purchased recently for about $350 (purchased in part for their anti-reflective coatings and for the fact that their 1.25-inch lens cell vignettes less than many others). Having already seen the difference in informal tests between Set B and both Set A and my previous LRGB filters, I didn’t know if the Hutech filters could do any better. Set B has done a very good job at cleaning up the halos I’d previously battled.

I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw (or rather, unpleasantly surprised since I own Set B and not the Hutech). To be as tough as possible within some reasonable limit, I setup on Sirius for 3minute shots through each filter set’s green filter on my Borg 101 ED f/4 and QSI 540. I chose the green filter to not only reduce any effects of chromatic aberration in my telescope, but also as this is one of the “dual element” filters in the Hutech set, opening up more surfaces for reflections. Histograms were matched and images stretched equally for the results shown in Image 2. I’ve labeled each reflection in the images with a different colored arrow. The innermost reflection, indicated by the yellow arrow, is present in all images. Sirius itself isn’t that big and the camera resolves a central star surrounded by a very bright halo (which, as stretched here, becomes all-white). This re-

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HUTECH IDAS 31-MM REFLECTION SUPPRESSION FILTERS flection is present even when no filter is in place and it comes from the light bouncing off of the CCD, hitting its coverslip, and reflecting back. There’s no way around this no matter how good the filters’ anti-reflection coating is (as it doesn’t come from the filter at all). The next one up, indicated by the green arrow is very bright in the Set A, clearly present in Set B, and just barely visible in the Hutech. Next out from the center we hit the red arrow’s reflection, which comes through a little brighter in Set A than in the Set B, but is absent in the Hutech. Near the edge of the frame, we have the reflection indicated by the blue arrow that is just barely visible in the Set B, but readily visible in Set A. It, too, is absent in the Hutech. Finally, one more faint reflection is present in the Set A filter (orange arrow) that is absent in the other two. To help you see this, I’ve zoomed in on the central portion for Image 3. So, if we ignore the one central reflection (yellow) that no filter could possibly

suppress (as it has nothing to do with the filter), we have the Hutech performing the best (one faint reflection), followed by Set B (one clear reflection, one moderate, and one faint), and then Set A (one distracting reflection, two moderate, and one faint). The Hutech is certainly living up to the hype! Rarely are we going to image areas with stars like Sirius in there to contend with. But, there’s nothing special about Sirius. These halos will be present to some extent on every star in the image. For the brightest stars, the halos can stand out and be truly annoying. For the dimmest stars, the halos will be lost in the noise. For stars in between, small halos may be observed or the star may appear a touch larger or less sharp. Of course, the longer the exposure, the larger the effect as the more chance your sensor has of picking up those reflected photons and recording them. Given the above results, I had no reason to suspect I’d see halos around stars under more normal conditions with the Hutech IDAS filters. But, I wanted to give things as

good a run as I could and I wanted to see what happens when all four filters were used. So, I turned the rig to a nice bright cluster, M44. I took 30 frames of Luminance and 10-14 frames of RGB data with each frame at 3 minute exposures. The data were processed in Nebulosity using its rigid-body automatic alignment to align the color channels and its auto color balance to equalize them. Final work was done in Photoshop CS3. What is shown in Image 4 is a crop of the central portion to give readers a good view of the star field. To show that yes, this is stretched enough to show any halos that might exist, about a quarter of the way from the left side of the image in the middle is little UGC4526 (mag 14.75) and near the middle/top is NGC 2637 (mag 15.71). I can also just pick out IC 2388 (mag 15.85) in the image. I love picking out small galaxies in these images, especially when they’re taken under less than ideal conditions (here, a 4-inch scope under urban skies). These little guys are coming through nicely and if halos existed, they’d be present here. Conclusions Put simply, the Hutech filters are living up to their name and suppressing any hint of a reflection here. If halos are something you want to abolish, you could hardly do better than the Hutech/IDAS RS filters. It’s just not an issue with them and they out-performed both the more entry-level Set A and the well-respected Set B filters in this regard. In addition, the 31-mm format allows my QSI 540 to go down into the sub f/4 range now with a good bit less vignetting (and would allow the 583 to go to f/4 with less vignetting). The only apparent downside to the filters is the weaker transmission for the blue and green filters (most likely owing to the fact that these are made of two elements each). For the Kodak sensors these are typically going to be in front of, though, this can actually be a benefit as it complements the sensor’s own sensitivity profile, leading to a smooth overall balance.

48 Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Orion StarShoot Deep Space Monochrome Imager III A Nice Camera Using an Acclaimed Sensor All at a Reasonable Price, What’s Not to Like About That! By Dave Snay

The Sony ICX285AL CCD sensor has been receiving accolades since it was first introduced to astro photography. Orion Telescopes and Binoculars recently introduced the SharShoot Deep Space Monochrome Imager III based on this sensor and they have graciously provided a sample for me to evaluate and share with you. What’s In the Box? My StarShoot Deep Space Monochrome Imager III (SSDSMI-3) came in its own carry case which was then protectively packed in an outer box. This packaging lived up to Orion’s usual standards and the contents arrived unmarked by the delivery guys, which is not ever a guarantee in my neighborhood for some reason. The carry case looks similar to an old steamer trunk, only much smaller. It’s made of wood and the corners are reinforced with metal. I’m not sure how well

this would hold up to water, but that shouldn’t matter unless you’re imaging in some very strange conditions. There is custom cut foam inside the case with two pockets, one for the camera and one for the cables. There are two cables, a power cable and USB cable. The power cable that came with mine has a cigarette lighter plug on it to support use in the field with a battery pack. There is also an AC adapter available for use in an observatory as well as a carry strap for the case so you can sling it over your shoulder. I imagine this would be useful if you’re setting up in the field and have to lug all your gear more than a few yards from vehicle to telescope. Since I’m in an “observatory” I left the strap in its protective plastic wrap. First Light/Dark While I awaited clear skies, I took the opportunity to do some comparison of

dark frames with the TEC enabled vs. TEC disabled. I performed the following test on a night when the ambient temperature was 70 degrees Fahrenheit and relative humidity was approximately 50%. Image 1 is a 5 minute exposure with the TEC disabled. Notice all the hot spots in the image. If there were no heat in the chip, this image would be completely black. Image 2 is taken with the same camera on the same night using the same exposure duration. However, this time TEC is enabled and has been allowed to cool the camera for 5 minutes. Notice how much less noise there is in this image. TEC is doing a nice job of eliminating the noise from the data. It might be difficult to see the noise in the news print rendition, but if you look at the online version, you’ll see the difference quite easily. I had an extended period of cloudy nights so I decided to do some matheAstronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

ORION STARSHOOT DEEP SPACE MONOCHROME IMAGER III

Image 1

matical measurements on this unit. I recently read an excellent article on how to evaluate the characteristics of your camera written by Craig Stark and decided to give his method a try. The article is quite long, so I won’t repeat the mechanics here. However, the article can be found on his web site, www.stark-labs.com, if you want to know the gory details. The evaluation yields values for system gain and read noise. To quote Craig, “The system gain of your camera is the conversion rate between the raw numbers you get out of the camera (ADU or Ana-

50 Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

log Digital Units) and actual electrons.” Knowing that value is helpful in making best use of other measurements as well as calculating the full well capacity of your camera, which helps identify the maximum exposure you should attempt. Think of full well capacity as the maximum number of electrons that can be recorded before a pixel is saturated. For example, if you have a system gain of .5, then you should theoretically never have ADU values above 32767 – which I calculated by multiplying the system gain value by 65535, a typical maximum

brightness value. Measuring the dark current over time by subtracting the mean value of a bias frame from a dark frame provided a value of less than 4, meaning there really is no added value to taking dark frames with this camera. The rest of the values I calculated are: System Gain - 0.4144, Full Well Capacity - 27157.70 and Read Noise (inADU) - 20.92. The net result of those values is that there really isn’t any point in using exposures any longer than it takes to have the histogram in your capture software register anything above 27,000 ADU’s unless you’re willing to lose some high values to clipping. You also should use bias frames to eliminate the read noise generated by the camera. This value will change depending on how quickly you have MaximDL Essentials set to transfer the data from the camera to your PC, so make sure you take your bias and flat frames at the same settings as your light frames. Do that and the only noise you should find in your images is from lack of signal in your data, in theory. Play Time With the bench tests out of the way, it was time for some imaging. I decided to use this camera with two different refractors and possibly my 8-inch SCT, but after a few frustrating nights with the big scope I decided to stick with the wide field images I like best. The frustrations had nothing to do with the camera, it’s just that I typically don’t have the patience re-

ORION STARSHOOT DEEP SPACE MONOCHROME IMAGER III quired to locate a deep space object in the narrow field of view provided by the SCT. I’ll probably get around to it someday, but today is not that day. My first target was Messier 31. Image 3 shows the results of 115 minutes RGB data 40 minutes of red, 35 minutes of green, and 40 minutes of blue data using 4-minute sub-exposures. I was unable to collect luminance data on the first night do to clouds and never got back to it due to weather, time and the fact that I’m not sure it needed it. If you look at this image closely you’ll see the telltale field curvature inherent in refractors. The right flattener would reduce and possibly remove that entirely, but I’m okay with it the way it is for now. My next object was another bright one. I decided to see how the small pixels of this imager hold up to the excessively bright stars in M45, most notably Merope (Image 4). Would it be able to control the bright star values while still revealing the fine details of the nebulosity surrounding

Image 2

them? This one is an LRGB composite. I chose to include luminance data to help reveal the nebulosity. This one was a little

bit of a challenge to process, but it turned out reasonably well. Trying to bring out the faint bits near the central star of this

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ORION STARSHOOT DEEP SPACE MONOCHROME IMAGER III

Image 3

image while controlling the rest of the nebula and still separate everything from the background required very gentle pro-

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52 Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

cessing. In the end, I’d say the camera did a nice job here. I could have used more exposures to help increase the signal/noise ratio in the background but, as usual, I ran out of clear skies. This has been a terrible weather year for New England. Clear skies have been pretty rare and the majority of them have been accompanied by high winds and/or a big bright moon. Okay, so this camera is good on bright objects. But everyone can do that, right? How about an open cluster to see how it really can perform? I chose M38, to see how it does. I used 30 second exposures for this to see if the little pixels could grab enough light to show the colors of the stars. Image 5 shows the result of 15 minutes each of red green and blue combined with 30 minutes of luminance data. In this case the data was relatively easy to process. I simply performed my usual LRGB merger, a little bit of curves and levels adjustments and couple of other tricks and it was done. In my opinion the colors would be a little more vibrant if I were using a camera with larger pixels, but the trade-off there is resolution. These stars are all very nice, tight, round

points of light and there is zero background noise in this image. Okay, now let’s try something a little more challenging. While M42 is an easy object on which to achieve reasonable success, it is not easy to make an image in which all areas are clean and smooth. I used the well known technique of combining long and short exposures so that I could show the details of the nebula while controlling the brightness of the trapezium. I think this is a case where the small pixels really work in my favor. The resolution here is very good. There is no part of the nebula that is blown out. Even the brightest stars are well controlled. The merge of long and short exposures was very easy, much easier than I have experienced with other versions of this that I’ve made in the past. In the interest of full disclosure, the image shown in Image 6 is not the full frame. I’ve cropped out about 10 percent of the image due to my error in composition. The last object I chose to test is NGC 2237, also known as the Rosette (Image 7). This is one big object and I still captured nearly the entire thing in my 80mm f/6 refractor with no focal reducer in place. This camera really does produce a nice field of view while still providing pretty significant magnification. If you want to go wider than this, your choices really come down to using a much bigger sensor or adding a focal reducer to your optical path. For my money, I would think adding a reducer would be the way to go. It’s kind of like doubling your eyepiece count by adding a Barlow lens, only in reverse. If you look at this image online, you’ll see some weakness in the signal to noise ratio from where I stretched it pretty hard. Even so, it holds up well. One final note on the images I’ve shared. Not one of them was calibrated with dark, flat or bias frames. Flat frames would have taken care of the slight vignettes in some of the images, but dark frames seem totally unnecessary to my

ORION STARSHOOT DEEP SPACE MONOCHROME IMAGER III

Image 4

eye. Bias frames would improve the overall smoothness a little bit and they really don’t take much time. I chose not to use them so that I could show you the camera’s raw capability. Software MaximDL Essentials is provided for data capture and basic image processing. It installs quickly and cleanly. For me all roads lead to Photoshop, so the data processing portion of MaximDL Essentials is of limited value to me. The included software does a very nice job of pre-processing tasks. It provides all the calibration tools necessary to allow me to import to Photoshop and get down to business. I took the time to perform all the pre-processing steps in both MaximDL Essentials and my normal tools and I found that MaximDL Essentials compared very nicely in most respects. It functions easily – once you read the instructions – and does a very nice job of generating clean data files. I was not as comfortable using the software to generate a color image from those data sets, so I moved on to my usual tools. I could be accused of laziness for not taking the time to learn the rest of the processing tools provided by MaximDL Essentials, but I felt that went beyond the scope of this article. MaximDL Essentials does provide a

Image 5

very nice interface for data capture. You easily turn cooling on and off (I’m not sure why you would turn it off ) as well as the speed of the fan on the back of the camera housing. The best feature of the software is the ability to tell it how many exposures you want, how long they should be and where Image 6 it should place the files. That’s a great tool for my setup where my warm room is actually my house. So when it’s cold out there, I can set it up and go back inside until it’s done and know that it will have all the exposures I want ready and waiting for me. I do a little math and go out when it’s time to change filters. MaximDL Essentials does a very nice job of controlling the imaging camera during image capture. Controls are easy to understand and the documentation provided by Orion does a very nice job of thoroughly describing the process of capturing data. All controls required for the current task are present on one screen, no

menu hunting required, and are easy to understand. The pull down menu in the Camera Control window can be set to Single, Autosave or Focus with appropriate options becoming available within that window as necessary. The Screen Stretch window presents the histogram of the current exposure with various options for setting the black and white point levels available in a pull down menu. The image shown on your monitor is affected by the Screen Stretch function, but not the data captured and saved. It only affects how the image is presented on the screen during capture.

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ORION STARSHOOT DEEP SPACE MONOCHROME IMAGER III

Image 7

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www.chronosmount.com • 800-483-6287 54 Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Conclusions The one that jumps out at me is the pixel size. At 6.45 microns square, those are some very small pixels. Generally, small pixels are less sensitive than large pixels and that holds true here. I compared the amount of data collected by this camera with one of my cameras which uses 8.3 micron pixels. I measured that I need roughly 10 percent more time with the small pixels than the large pixels to generate equal exposures. To come up with this number I simply took equal length exposures of M42 with each camera on the same night. Then I imported them into Photoshop and measured the values in the same area of the image and found the values to be approximately 10 percent higher in the image taken with the larger pixels. Now if the pixels in both cameras are equally sensitive per square micron, I would expect the small ones to require nearly 65 percent more exposure time based on the area covered by each pixel. Therefore, I’d say the ICX285AL contains more sensitive pixels. Let’s do another bit of math to show the advantage of this sensor. I used a popular online tool to calculate the resolution provided by this sensor and compared it with my existing sensor. The data from the small pixels produced significantly better resolution at 2.77 arc seconds per pixel versus 3.63 arc seconds per pixel. So even if I need to increase my exposure time, I’m going to acquire much better data which will allow me to bring out finer details than I could with my own camera. I had the good fortune to play with the Orion SSDSMI III for a few months before writing this article. That gave me the chance to use this camera in a variety of conditions. I used it in everything from relatively warm, 60-degrees (F), down to a very cold 5-degrees (F). I used it when it was humid enough to hear water dripping off my car and dry enough to crack your lips in minutes. I had frost on my mount and I had dew all over everything. The camera delivered nearly identical noise characteristics in all conditions. The only condition I was not able to test was the heat of summer. It would be interesting to

ORION STARSHOOT DEEP SPACE MONOCHROME IMAGER III see if I could still go without dark frames when the temperature rises above 70-degrees (F) or if there would be too much noise. Since the camera specifications indicate the cooling can achieve 30-degrees (C) below ambient, it might be possible. I’ve been pretty positive on this camera so far. There has to be something to complain about, right? There are a couple of performance aspects I think could be more robust and they both relate to read noise. If you don’t slow the read speed down you will encounter significant read noise, which shows up as dark “holes” in your data. I know that fast downloads tend to yield “noisier” data, but I think there is room for improvement here. Granted, if you’re using exposures greater than 1 minute (which everybody does, right?), then the read delay doesn’t really matter. Speed the read time up when composing and focusing and then slow it down when you’re ready to go. (I forgot that last step a few times.) I don’t know any of the details about the algorithm used in the camera, but I believe it could be modified so that the data is transferred faster without loss of quality. I would like also to see the addition of a temperature sensor in the body and have that information included in the file header. That would allow you to guarantee you are using the correct dark frames when necessary. Remember, I’m assuming the need for dark frames during hot summer months – which could be an invalid assumption. If there were a temperature sensor present, then the next feature I would also like to see is the addition

SPECIFICATIONS Imaging sensor Imaging sensor size Pixel array Pixel size Imaging chip Autoguider capability Exposure range A/D conversion Thermoelectric cooling IR filter Mounting USB connection Software compatibility Binning Max cooling Back focus distance (from T-threads) Weight of controlled cooling. Then you could set a temperature and know that the camera would stay close to that value for the entire evening, which would enable you to generate a library of dark frames for later use. You would just need to match the dark frame temperature to the temperature of each evening’s light frames. Controlled cooling would also generate even more consistent data characteristics for any given imaging session. I would like to have the chance to use this camera during the heat of summer, but that would be asking too much from an already patient vendor. However, the noise

Sony ICX285AL CCD 10.2mm x 8.3mm 1392 x 1040 (1,447,680 total) 6.45 x 6.45 Monochrome Yes .002 sec to 100 min 16 bit Yes No 2” nozzle or t-thread High-speed 2.0 Windows XP/Vista 1x1, 2x2 -30C from ambient 20.10 mm 28 ounces characteristics shown in Image 1 were generated on the table in my house, which was a comfortable 70-degress (F). Given that, I have good reason to believe this camera will generate high quality data without the need for dark frames on all but the hottest summer nights. All in all, I think Orion has done a nice job of providing us with a camera that utilizes the acclaimed Sony ICX285AL at a reasonable price, $1,499.95. It takes advantage of the strengths of the sensor and comes in a package that is both light weight and rugged enough for use with virtually any astrophotography setup.

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Back to the Future A Newtonian ATM Project Anyone Can Build With a Little Time and a Home Depot Card By Norman Butler

About two years ago, I decided to build a telescope for observing that “wasn’t” a Dobsonian. I wanted to build a telescope that was a Newtonian with a 10-inch f/4 focal ratio so that I could enjoy a wide field of view while sweeping the sky for comets and nebula. The 10-inch f/4 seemed ideal for this type of observing adventure. However, most of the Dobsonians in the 6, 8 and 10 inch f/4 to f/5 range I’ve ever seen or used seemed to have one real unfavorable characteristic, an uncomfortable eyepiece observing height. So I decided against the Dobsonian design in favor of the one I built and discussed here.

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I didn’t want to spend a whole night of observing into my eyepiece in a stoopedover position, especially at the zenith. Such as would be the case with a typical 10-inch f/4 or f/5 Dobsonian. That would have worn out my 6 foot frame after a few hours of observing. So I decided to build a userfriendly Newtonian telescope that had a comfortable eyepiece observing height, was lightweight and could be easily transported and quickly setup for observing. I wanted to build this Newtonian telescope in the same tradition and way as the famous early ATM telescope makers of the 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, including

Russell W. Porter, Albert Engalls and Sam Brown in particular. They used simple hand tools, construction methods and cheap materials to build good telescopes back in their day. I wanted to be able to do the same building this particular telescope. In Preparation: Thanks to Sir Isaac Newton To give me some incentive and inspiration with this project, I decided to take a look at pictures of Sir Isaac Newton’s original reflector. His original telescope was probably one of the simplest designs I could find and use for inspiration and maybe get some new ideas from it too. I especially liked Newton’s primary mirror lead screw “rear” focusing mechanism and the ball sphere mounting system. Because of its simplicity, I decided I would somehow incorporate his simple focusing system and ball sphere mounting into my design. I also wanted to do away with having to collimate the primary mirror from the rear of the telescope. I felt collimating it from the front would be the best way to go if I could somehow make it mechanically simple to do it. My Personal Specifications or “What I Wanted” The telescope would be a Newtonian with a 10-inch f/4 optical system. I had considered using a high quality commercial primary mirror, but I had ground and polished a 10-inch f/4 primary mirror out of Pyrex several years earlier thinking

someday I would use it. This was my fourth mirror I’ve made and it had a decent figure at 1/10 wave. I felt it would produce some pleasing images. The focuser would be a Horizontal Single Stalk “Lead Screw” design having 28 threads per inch (sort of a micro-focus). The primary mirror would be mounted in a wooden box approximately 4 inches above the Dec axis. The collimation system consists of four brass knobs (The 4th knob would be a mirror lock). The brass collimation knobs would be located in front of the primary mirror (on top of the box) and not at the rear of the telescope. The mounting would be an altazimuth with a low center of gravity, 19.5inches from the ground to the yoke center

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of the Dec axis. The entire 1/4-inch plywood telescope optical tube assembly would be lightweight and counter-balanced with a 16 plus pound bowling ball on the alt-azimuth mounting. The zenith observing height from the center of the 2inch eyepiece would be approximately 5 feet to the ground. The Horizontal Single Stalk Focuser Assembly The horizontal single stalk sled/slide type focuser is hardly common on amateur telescopes and it’s rarely seen on the big professional telescopes. However, I felt that a “Lead Screw” focusing system used to focus a big 2-inch eyepiece would be a good choice and possibly have an even smoother travel than a traditional and standard rack and pinion focuser system. I just needed to prove it out. So I decided to design a horizontal single stalk focuser entirely out of 1/4-inch and 1/2-inch plywood (1.5-inches high x 8.5-inche long x 6-inches wide). The slide base has a 6-inch long, 2-inch diameter elongated slot that runs parallel to the horizontal base. The slide that holds the 2inch eyepiece holder was made out of 1/2 -inch plywood with a small 1/4-28 TPI internally threaded insert that I embedded Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

BACK TO THE FUTURE A NEWTONIAN ATM PROJECT slide's forward/backward movement during focusing. The 2-inch eyepiece holder was made from a 2 1/4-inch PVC pipe coupling cut to length and I sanded the inside diameter just a little to accommodate for a 2-inch eyepiece.

with epoxy along with a small 1/4-inch I.D. copper bushing within the slide. The left side of the slide has two 3/4inch long 3/8 diameter springs that are embedded in two 7/16–inch diameter holes, five inches apart, that push the two

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3/8 diameter steel ball bearings outward against the walls of the inner slide base, providing just a little friction and cushion for the slide’s horizontal movement. The spring-loaded ball bearings also remove any slop that may be apparent from the

Using the “Lead Screw” I felt the lead screw design would have certain advantages over the rack and pinion focuser. One important advantage is its horizontal focusing movement. No lock screw is needed to secure the eyepiece focuser in place (which is made out of a 2 1/4 -inch PVC coupling); no matter what the mass of the 2-inch eyepiece or the position of the telescope (vertical or horizontal) is in. And there are some pretty big 2-inch eyepieces out there. Some of them even resemble a large beer mug. The very smooth action of a lead screw when turning the focus knob makes for a nice smooth focus. Others who attempt making a similar horizontal single stalk focuser of this type might want to

BACK TO THE FUTURE A NEWTONIAN ATM PROJECT consider using an 18 to 20 TPI lead screw as a faster compromise for the focusing speed. I prefer the 28 TPI because it is like micro-focusing. The Single Stalk Secondary and Holder I also found that one of the spring steel ribs from a paint roller after bending it in a right-angle configuration and attaching a 1/24 threaded bolt to it (drilling a hole in the head of a 1/4 -inch24 bolt and epoxying the rod inside the drilled hole), makes for a strong and relatively rigid single stalk attached to the bottom of the slide to hold the 3.14-inch Parks secondary mirror and its secondary mounting system, which itself I made out of a plastic pipe normally used for yard sprinkler systems. The Alt-Azimuth Mounting Next came the alt-azimuth mounting. For its construction, I used exclusively 1/2

-inch plywood. For the round base section, I double stacked, glued and wood screwed together two pieces of 1/2-inch thick plywood and used a 12-inch diameter swivel bearing that is approximately 3/8-inches

thick, plus three 3/8-inch thick, 2-inch diameter Teflon pads placed 120 degrees apart on a 19-inch diameter bottom base for a full 360 degree rotation. I designed the alt-azimuth mounting

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BACK TO THE FUTURE A NEWTONIAN ATM PROJECT at 19.5-inches. After I finished the mounting, I glued a set of four 1/8-inch thick plastic furniture gliders (two) on each side of the yoke. This provided an excellent way to keep the sides of the telescope box from rubbing against the mounting. Keeping a consistent 1/8-inch gap on both sides of the telescope box when observing, they worked out great for this purpose.

to have the lowest possible center of gravity as I could, which is approximately 18inches lower than a traditional alt-azimuth mounting holding a similar Dobsonian scope size with the center of the yoke axis

The Box The Box that contains the 10-inch f/4 primary mirror is made out of 1/4-inch plywood with four sides (12.5-inches Long x 12.5-inches Wide x 12.5-inches High) with the bottom section having a 10-inch diameter access hole for attaching the bowling ball counterweight copper shaft to the pipe connector. I used a couple pieces of 5-inch O.D. aluminum pipe for the Dec bearings. I cut them off and sanded them down to 1.5inches in height. I then cut and glued together a plywood block insert (two 1/2-

inch layers) and press-fitted them both into each of the aluminum pipe Dec bearings. Likewise, I cut the same diameter/thickness plywood block, glued and attached each (glued and woodscrews) on the inside of the box, directly opposite and centered behind each aluminum Dec bearing that was on the outside of the Box. After that, I attached (with 3-inch long wood screws) the pipe flanges, 1-inch pipe (threaded on each end) and the center pipe T-connector that would hold and center the position of the copper shaft of the 16 pound bowling ball counterweight. It all worked out quite well for this type of counterweight system. It made it very easy to install & remove the bowling ball counter-weight shaft by simply screwing it into the brass threaded pipe T-connector. Plus, I still had easy access to the interior of the box to adjust, if needed, the pulley/ORing collimation system. There are four brass knobs located at the top of the box. They are the collima-

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BACK TO THE FUTURE A NEWTONIAN ATM PROJECT tion knobs attached to four 1/4-inch diameter, 12-inch long stainless steel shafts that have small 3/4-inch diameter, 1/2inch thick wooden pulleys attached to them. The wooden pulleys with 1/8-inch diameter, black O-Rings wrapped around them that in turn rotate three larger 2-inch diameter wooden pulleys that move the 3/8-inch diameter threaded mirror mount collimation shafts that protrude through the back of the mirror cell support wall. Looking into the secondary mirror through the eyepiece holder, and a few simple twists of each of the three brass collimation knobs on top of the box really simplifies the collimation process. Plus a few simple turns of the fourth brass knob locks the primary mirror in place. Collimation is now a very simple process to accomplish. The Wooden Optical Tube The wooden 1/4-inch plywood optical tube system is eight sided (6-inch and 4-inch wide), glued together in a hexago-

nal pattern. I wanted to make the plywood optical tube assembly lightweight as possible and be able to remove it from the top of the box when needed (cleaning the mirror, recoating etc.). I used a total of eight equally spaced 1/4-20 bolts with four bolts protruding from the top of the box and four protruding from the bottom of the plywood optical tube assembly base. The four bolts protruding from the top of the box would act as the alignment bolts aligning through four 1/4-inch diameter holes in the bottom of the optical tube base. The four bolts protruding from the bottom of the wooden plywood optical tube assembly would used for securing and aligning the

wooden optical tube assembly to the top of the box. Access to the Primary Mirror Access to these securing bolts are through the two air vent holes frame assemblies located on each of the bottom

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BACK TO THE FUTURE A NEWTONIAN ATM PROJECT

side of the wooden optical tube assembly. Each plywood vent frame and plywood plug assembly on each side of the wooden optical tube assembly can be easily removed by unscrewing its four screws that hold it in place. By removing the four 1/420 lock nuts from the inside of the wooden base of optical tube assembly, the entire lightweight plywood optical tube system can be easily lifted of the top of box to have easy access to the 10-inch primary mirror. Collimation: Anxious to Try and Collimate! After completion, I mounted my primary mirror on its 10-inch diameter, 1/2inch thick plywood mirror mounting and secured it in place with three steel mirror hold down clips. I then placed the wooden optical tube assembly back into position and secured it in place on top of the box. Next, collimation! After looking into the 2-inch eyepiece holder with the telescope pointed at zenith, and after few twists, I found it very easy to turn each of the brass collimation knobs and move the primary mirror via the 2-inch eyepiece holder and secondary mirror into a collimated primary mirror aligned and centered position and finally locking it into place with two or three

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twists of the fourth brass collimation knob. Success at last! Mechanically it works like a champ. About the Offset Finder My periscope style 30-mm off-set finder has a right angle first surface mirror at the opposite end that is aligned to the main scope with three adjustment screws. It is used by looking into the 1 1/4-inch cross-hair eyepiece via a 30-mm objective that is positioned halfway into the finder tube assembly. This makes for a very convenient position for me to move my eye approximately three inches over to the offset finder’s eyepiece to find the object I am looking for. It has a magnetic base using two very strong Neodymium magnets that attach to two opposing Neodymium magnets secured directly under the two in the off-set finder's base. Easy to setup and remove and it always locates in the same position every time. Once it magnetically locks into place, it will not fall off. It is a very user-friendly finder and somewhat unique too. The Results The horizontal single stalk lead screw focuser provides a very smooth platform to focus just about any 2-inch eyepiece, no

matter what its size, mass or configuration. It works as well as the traditional rack & pinion focusers that I have used. Thanks to the two spring loaded steel ball bearings, there is no slide side play, no focusing slope or binding. It’s a very smooth focusing system. This type of focuser is fun to use, and most important, turns out to be very user friendly and it pleasantly exceeded my expectations. The 16 pound bowling ball counterweight was great for this kind of Newtonian telescope design. I even added some more weight to it, adding two or three extra pounds of copper coated BBs (the kind used in pellet guns). I simply poured them down into the 1-inch diameter copper water pipe and through the threaded brass connector now embedded into what was the original thumb hole that was drilled into the bowling ball. After pouring a little super glue and epoxy at the top to secure the BBs in place, the three extra pounds or so helped to balance out the entire wooden optical tube system in perfect fashion. Almost the entire telescope project in terms of materials including plywood, PVC, aluminum tubing and plastic water pipe, can be found in your local hardware store. Then its hand sand, saber saw, electric drill a little and use some wood glue and toss in some wood screws for good measure. Last but not least, I even added a big brass door handle attached at the balance point on the box to lift and carry the telescope, making it very simple to handle, transport and setup. A little brass trim was added to give it some old fashion appeal. I even gave it a name. I call it my “Dob-Buster.” The wide field views with my 10-inch f/4 primary mirror are exciting and if I might add, it is every bit the userfriendly Newtonian telescope I could ever want. It's a lot fun to use and I think Albert Engalls, Russel W. Porter and Sam Brown would probably agree with me once they had a chance to see and use it too.

NEAF 2010 Photos By Craig Falbaum

A Record-Setting Year By Gary Parkerson

NEAF 2010 will be remembered for many achievements, but the most obvious was that it was BIG – as in the biggest yet! The expanded layout hosted more than 130 exhibitors and in excess of 5300 visitors, a ten percent increase over 2009’s attendance. And, as we’ve come to expect of what many would argue is the planet’s premier astro-products expo, numerous new products and services were introduced there – too many, in fact, to recount completely here. So, the following covers but a few of the highlights that struck a chord with this attendee and ATT will provide more comprehensive coverage of new products and industry news introduced there in corresponding sections of this and future issues. 110 Degrees? Now that’s Hot! Before leaving the subject of “big,” those of us who thought that a 100-degree apparent field of view defined the acme of

optical achievement will have to think again. Al Nagler is not the only optical magician in residence at Tele Vue Optics as was again evidenced by Ethos designer Paul Dellechiaie’s latest marvel, the Tele Vue 3.7-mm Ethos-SX – as in “Simulator eXperience” – the world’s first astronomical eyepiece to provide the astounding experience of a 110-degree apparent field. The 110-degree field is not only huge, but is historically significant as well. It represents the same field as that of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) simulator optics Al Nagler designed 45 years ago to train NASA astronauts for lunar landings. While visiting with him at NEAF, I had a chance to study schematics of the remarkable optical system Nagler created for the LEM simulator and hope to provide a detailed report of that unique tool in a future issue. How huge is the 110-field of view? I revisited my attempts to describe the ex-

perience of first viewing through the 8mm Ethos’ 100-degree field and can’t think of what to add other than that the experience provided by the Ethos-SX is noticeably more, as hard as that may be to imagine. For those of us whose primary sense is vision, the experience may be one of total immersion in an initially disorienting and seemingly endless expanse of pinpoint detail. Be prepared to spend hours studying the previously unseen and underappreciated context of favorite deepspace objects. Even More Big Stuff! Positioned directly in front of the ATT booth was the first sample of Great Red Spot’s new 40-inch Jupiter Series Dobsonian. The f/3.6 focal ratio of the Mike Lockwood crafted, Schott Glass SuperMax primary makes for a surprisingly reachable eyepiece height and the 218pound mirror is fully enclosed to protect Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

NEAF 2010 A RECORD SETTING YEAR

Hands On Optics’ new Astro Telescopes line of refractors

it from in-field hazards and stray light. The secondary mirror obstructs just 18 percent of the primary by diameter and the UTA is supported by robust 2-inch,

64 Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

seamless aluminum tubes. Among the most noticeable features of the scope are its two 52-inch, cast-aluminum altitude bearings. Best yet, the monster Dob’s

$59,000 price tag includes a ServoCat telescope drive system as well as an Argo Navis computer. But Great Red Spot’s wasn’t the only big Dob in attendance. Orion Telescopes & Binoculars created a lot of buzz in recent months with the announcement of its new line of large Dobsonians, and by large I mean apertures to 50 inches! Dubbed appropriately the Orion Monster Dobsonians, these huge instruments are crafted by famed optician, “Telescopes” Normand Fullum. Orion displayed the 36-inch version at NEAF, complete with f/4 primary formed from low-expansion borosilicate glass molded into a honeycomb blank to ensure maximum strength and yet the least possible weight. The entire scope weighs less than 400 pounds and is surprisingly transportable. But the Orion’s 36-inch Monster Dob is not only big; it’s also well equipped, with premium components throughout and tracking and go-to capability built in. Speaking of big stuff, I don’t recall a

NEAF 2010 A RECORD SETTING YEAR recent NEAF that had as many truly large exhibits. Both Celestron and Orion, whose presentations have often seemed modest in the past given their significant statures within the industry, were out in full force this year, covering huge sections of floor space with their latest offerings. Orion’s Monster and UltraPortable (available in 16-, 18-, and 20-inch configurations) truss-Dobsonians may have gotten the most attention from the crowds, but it was its new SkyQuest GoTo solid-tube Dobs that made the most lasting impression with me. Think back just 10 years ago. A 12-inch Dob with full goto capability, 2-inch 2-speed focuser – even a 2-inch eyepiece! – would have cost you what? You would have had to build it yourself and it still would have cost you much more than the $1600 at which Orion has priced its surprisingly refined SkyQuest XT12g. The high-torque servos which drive the scope are independently guided by twin pairs of high-resolution encoders, resulting in a closed-loop system

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NEAF 2010 A RECORD SETTING YEAR phy enthusiasts, with many having preordered the production models that are due for first delivery this summer. And there’s little wonder why, with Fastar compatibility combining with the flat-field optical characteristics for an amazingly versatile imaging platform. Among the largest exhibits at NEAF 2010 was again that assembled by Astronomics and the famed online resource that it sponsors, CloudyNights.com. CN documents NEAF like no other resource through the annual webcasts by which thousands follow the event online each year. If you can’t attend NEAF 2011 in person, make sure to catch the next CN webcast. Jeff Dickerman of Optec demonstrates one of that company’s massive focusing systems.

I was anxious to study Celestron’s new CGEM and CGE Pro mounted EdgeHD scopes in person again and wasn’t disappointed as its expansive display

featured most of its extensive CGE, CPC, NexStar, Advanced Series and Omni lines. The observatory-quality EdgeHD systems are already a big hit with astrophotogra-

The Long and Short of Refractors It’s not every day that I get to study an image through a vintage Clark refractor, but NEAF provided that opportunity at the Tele Vue exhibit where Al Nagler’s 1882 Alvin Clark was positioned to com-

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NEAF 2010 A RECORD SETTING YEAR pare with images produced by a far more diminutive brass TV85. Yes, the TV85 is truly an amazing instrument and produced a significantly chroma-free image by comparison to the historic refractor, but I left the display still very impressed with the capabilities of Clark’s now-ancient creation. I confess to having an irrational affinity for long-focus refractors and it was fitting that Hands On Optics’ new Astro Telescopes line of refractors was located just across the aisle. Included there was Gary Hand’s new 4-inch, f/11 “Planet Killer” by Kunming United Optics and I know of no other longer-than-f/10, commercial 4-inch achro on the market today. Anxious to compare it to my vintage 102mm Vixen achro, I brought one of Hand’s new Planet Killers home and will report on it in full in a subsequent issue. Meanwhile, I haven’t had a chance to aim it at a planet as yet, but the solar images it produces are definitely “killer.” Observatories Galore! The selection of observatories demonstrated at NEAF seems to increase with each new edition, with ever more choices appropriate for personal systems. I always marvel at the refinement of Sirius Observatories’ products – its domes are simply gorgeous! – and the 2.3-meter Home Model that it displayed at NEAF 2010 was no exception. The affordable observatory is fully automated – perfect for remote imaging – with motorized dome rotation and shutter functions controlled via Diffraction Limited’s fully-automatic MaxDome II Control System. As for observatory automation, attendees were treated to Stan Ralph’s demonstration of Foster Systems’ comprehensive master observatory control suit integrated with Explora-Dome’s novel observatory rotation system. This integration brings all functionality that Foster Systems has designed for roll-off roof observatory control to Explora-Dome’s conventional domed-observatory platform. As with Sirius Observatory products, Explora-Dome

Starlight Instruments new Feather Touch FTF2015BCR focuser with integrated Tele Vue Paracorr II.

observatories are also compatible with Diffraction Limited’s MaxDome II Observatory Control system, making for a truly versatile platform. Astro Haven’s clamshell observatories provide another approach to housing astronomical equipment, and company owners, Priscilla and David Brotherston, were on hand to discuss their new 18foot, 5-shutter dome, the components of which are constructed using closed-mold vacuum infusion for maximum strengthto-weight ratio. The 5-shutter configuration maximizes the height between the dome base and top yielding minimal lowelevation obstruction and can therefore accommodate telescopes that have heretofore been relegated to storage in low-wall roll-off roof observatories, such as medium- to large-aperture Dobsonians. SkyShed’s POD continues to grown in popularity and SkyShed’s Wayne and Lorelei Parker are developing a new PODMAX 12.5+ that increases the size of the original 8-foot POD to 12.5-feet. While they did not have a prototype at NEAF, the upcoming increase in size and functionality of the PODMAX generated a lot of buzz at the event.

Observatory Instruments The growing popularity of astroimaging has increased private demand for what many formerly thought of as unob-

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NEAF 2010 A RECORD SETTING YEAR

Planewave Optics’ CDK-24 atop a Mathis Instruments MI-1000 Equatorial Fork Mount.

Rob Teeter presents some of his most recent projects.

tainable observatory-quality instruments. The result is a growing selection of premium astrographs of significant aperture and focal length. Of these, three stood out to me, although each for a very different reason. Indeed, each solves common challenges with novel solutions and is, despite exquisite craftsmanship and optimum performance, surprisingly affordable.

68 Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

DeepSky Instruments introduced its new RC14C 14.25-inch Ritchey-Chrétien. The scope operates at a native f/7, yielding a versatile nominal focal length of 2534 mm, and its primary optical components are produced by Star Instruments’ famed R-C optician, Paul Jones, assuring unsurpassed quality. The system produces a fully-corrected image circle

greater than 52 mm and of 1.2 degrees, and is housed in a rigid carbon-fiber tube assembly with precision 6-point, floating mirror cell and fully integrated mounting rings and dovetail plates. Focus is accomplished electronically via the secondary, yielding and absolutely stable platform at the rear of the scope for connection of precision-aligned imaging components. The previous issue of ATT featured Starizona’s new 12.5-inch f/8 Hyperion and I was, of course, anxious to see it in person at NEAF. As expected, execution of the scope was as impressive as its specifications. The Hyperion utilizes unique Harmer-Wynne optics to achieve a remarkably flat, aberration-free 70-mm field of view. The standard scope provides, as equipped, a fully-integrated imaging system with built-in wireless control of its temperature-compensating auto focuser, high-precision instrument rotator, cooling fans and dew heaters. PlaneWave Optics expanded its CDK line with the introduction of 24-inch version. The astrograph features a focal ratio of f/6.8, yielding a focal length of 4145 mm, and its Corrected Dall-Kirkham optical design produces a flat 70-mm field free of off-axis coma or astigmatism. The scope is surprisingly light given its extraordinary aperture and well within the load capacity of the massive Mathis Instruments’ MI-1000 Equatorial Fork Mount upon which it was presented. A Theoretical Workshop Bears Concrete Fruit In 2007, I attended a workshop organized to explore the optimum characteristics of a model alt-azimuth telescope. As with similar meetings I’ve experienced, I never expected the “what if we could…?” nature of the discussion to lead to tangible results – at least not in my lifetime. For example, the discussion included, “What if we used direct-drive motors with huge bearing surfaces so there’d be zero backlash and zero periodic

NEAF 2010 A RECORD SETTING YEAR error?” The only problem was that such direct-drive motors didn’t then exist on anyone’s shelf. Even worse was, “What if we use a Nasmyth focus so that eyepiece height remained fixed and even handicap accessible?” Yeah sure. How about, “We could even include a rotating tertiary mirror so you could have an eyepiece on one side and a camera on the other and could switch between the two automatically?” Say what? Well, I failed to factor the previous concrete accomplishments of others in attendance, such as Dave Rowe, Dan Gray, Rick Hedrick, and Allan Keller, and have lived long enough after all to see a tangible version of the scope envisioned there – even a commercially available one! It is the PlaneWave CDK700, a 0.7-meter (27.56inch) f/6.6 marvel that relies on directdrive motors of ridiculous diameter to move its massive alt-azimuth forks with zero backlash and zero periodic error. And, yes, it features a Nasmyth focus with rotating tertiary mirror to facilitate use of visual or photographic instruments through either fork, while maintaining a central obstruction of only 42 percent! The scope relies on state-of-the-art Sidereal Technology systems to control everything from the altitude and azimuth motors to the built-in field rotator/de-rotator. Small Things/Big Results Howier Glatter makes laser tools of unsurpassed accuracy, so when he tells me he’s working on something new, I listen – and Howie is an inveterate tinkerer. In the works is a slap-yourself-on-the-forehead, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that secondary holder that is destined to make Newtonian collimation far easier, more accurate, and more stable. Details to follow. And while on the subject of collimation, David Ho of Hotech Corporation demonstrated the new Advanced CT Laser Collimator announced in the previous issue of ATT. It works! Finally, NEAF provided a chance to

meet Wood Wonders master craftsman, Ron Burrows, in person, and his Catsperch observing chairs and eyepiece cases were in huge demand. I reported on the extra-tall Catsperch Summit chair in a previous issue of ATT, but had not previously seen the latest versions of his show-stopping eyepiece cases, including those with the built-in dewheater option. So Much More It would literally take all of the pages in this entire issue to cover every company’s offerings that were on display NEAF, and thus there is much Presented to Alan Traino’s son by Takahashi USA in appreciation of that I have not indad’s tireless efforts on behalf of NEAF, this custom telescope may cluded here. The be the only Tak Dob in existence. only way to get the speakers as well as workshops tailored for true experience is to see it for yourself, and beginners to the most advanced amateur if you were not able to attend this year, astronomers. And leading the charge was then my suggestion is that you circle next Alan Traino, who every year seems to top April on your calendar and plan on atthe efforts from the year before. A record tending. attendance of over 5,000 attendees is a testament to these efforts. We offer our conFinally, Great Job Alan and gratulations on a superb job! Thank You! Finally, I was surprised and gratified As we have written before, an event as that so many of you stopped by the ATT large as NEAF is a huge undertaking and booth to thank us for the publication. Your its success is a direct result of the Rockland kind words were sincerely appreciated and Astronomy Club volunteers who make it I’ve tried to relay them all to the rest of the happen. In addition to hosting more than ATT team. I look forward to seeing you in 130 companies and their offerings, the person again at NEAF 2011. event had a who’s who of world renowned

Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Optec 2-1.25 Inch Adapter A Simple Yet Beautiful Piece of Gear By Erik Wilcox

I remember getting my first expensive wide-field eyepiece. It was the venerable 24-mm Tele Vue Panoptic (which I still own after all these years), and I was thrilled with its high level of performance and well-corrected field of view. But one thing I wasn’t thrilled with were the setscrew marks that my focuser left on the brand new chrome barrel of my prized eyepiece. When shopping through the classified sections on my favorite astronomy sites, I always noticed the term “Has some setscrew marks, but otherwise in good condition” when describing used eyepieces. As someone who appreciates gear for form and function, I wondered why there wasn’t a better solution for this problem. Some manufacturers tried

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nylon screws on their focusers and adapters, which helped; but the screws sometimes stripped out and often didn’t hold the eyepiece in place very well. Finally, a couple of companies began offering adapters with compression ring features, which didn’t leave setscrew marks. This was an improvement, but there were still issues. Many of these

adapters were crudely designed, with thin compression rings and flimsy overall quality. Not exactly the sort of gear that you’d want on your expensive 2-inch focuser! Enter Optec and their new 21.25-inch adapters. Optec is a well-known manufacturer of quality astronomical parts and has recently come out with some exciting

new products, both for visual and astrophotography use. For details on all their products, their website can be found at www.optecinc.com. For this article, I’d like to focus on their brandnew 2-1.25-inch adapter. Unlike many other aftermarket compression ring adapters I’ve used, the Optec unit is all quality. It has a beautiful brushed aluminum finish (in your choice of color) with knurled edges to aid in gripping. I found the unit comfortable to use and easy to grip even with thick gloves. It also has a built-in brass compression ring that measures 5/-inch long and a full millimeter thick. What this means is that eyepieces with a safety cutout won’t catch or hang up on the compression ring like they tend to do with thin compression rings. The unit is low-profile (measuring just 1.6 inches from top to bottom), so you won’t lose any outward focus. And there are also filter threads for both 1.25 inch and 2 inch as well, a nice feature. The Optec adapter is a beautiful piece of gear. I found that the red finish matched well with my red Moonlite focuser, and it also went nicely with my black refractor focuser. Best of all, the Optec adapter fit nicely in each focuser; not too snug, and not too loose. In the field, I found using the Optec was a breeze. When tightened, the eyepiece felt much more secure than using a setscrew or an adapter with a thinner compression ring. This makes sense since

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the thicker gauge of the compression ring in the Optec leads to a more even tightening of the eyepiece. And of course there was no marring of the finish on the barrels of eyepieces. The machining and tolerances on the Optec are exquisite. The threads have a very nice feel to them; filters from different manufacturers each went on smoothly and securely, and there’s a nice, smooth motion when tightening an eyepiece in the adapter. The entire bottom portion of the Optec adapter is nicely blackened (inside and out) to prevent stray light from reaching the eyepiece. Overall, I’m extremely impressed with the new Optec 2-1.25-inch adapter. It’s the first compression ring adapter I’ve used that I feel is a worthy replacement to the standard adapters found on many 2-inch focusers. And it’s a noticeable improvement for those focusers that already come with a stock compression ring adapter. An inexpensive upgrade for any telescope with a 2-inch focuser!

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ASTRO TIPS tips, tricks and novel solutions

Braiding for Neat Cables By David Ellison We’ve all experienced the frustrations and hazards of tangled cables. Neatening them can be a challenge. My suggestions for cabling include: 1. For flexible bundles of cables and wires, braid them (learned from Steve Walters, author of CCDNavigator). 2. For cables that are too stiff to braid, cabletie them. 3. For ribbon cables that need to change direction, fold them. 4. For sets of ribbon cables, stack them. 5. For pairs of + and – wires, twist them. Long runs of wire pairs can be twisted by chucking the two wires in a drill. Have one person hold the drill, the other the two wires. As the wires are twisted together, the second person should hold them taut and feed the individual wires into the forming spiral. Twist them tightly. You’ll end up with a neat and flexible pair of tightly bound wires. 6. For A/C and signal (or sound) wires, separate them. 7. When adding a new cable to an existing group of cables, tuck it underneath, not on top of the existing cables. For a forum dedicated to astro tips and tricks, visit: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/astronomyhacks

Submit Your Astro Tip! Astronomy Technology Today regularly features tips, tricks, and other novel solutions. To submit your tip, trick, or novel solution, email the following information: • A Microsoft Word document detailing your tip, trick or novel solution. • A hi-resolution digital image in jpeg format (if available). Please send your information to tips@astronomytechnologytoday.com

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