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Post by jamesling1000 on Mar 29, 2012 21:46:30 GMT -5
Hey. I'd be happy at this point if they would get my scope done first. I can worry about the Raycorr later. ;D Hi Joe.... I , as well as the rest of the forum members would very much like to know your 6" F5 R30 performance.......(once you received it) As I know many one like myself still prefer to have one of such size , to move around more easily....., and even using a small mount.... And its performance against the std version must be a great jump, in order to convince those who are interested to acquire them... Hi All. BTW, this coming weekend Saturday, is Earth Hour, and a few of my members, will be staging the sidewalk event at the local library open area..... Hope this 4th attempt will not end up like our previous 3 attempts, due to bad weather... Of course, we are going to plan our 5th attempt, next week, on Good Friday as well at the same place, if possible.... Will update all of you on this weekend special event.... Regards James Ling |
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Post by Watcher3 on Mar 29, 2012 22:06:44 GMT -5
I'm sure my 6" F/5 is going to be the perfect scope for me at this time. Very portable, tremendous field of view, and good enough color correction to take a peak at the planets without setting up a second scope. It will also give me a way to gauge the performance of my next scope. I'm hoping to be able to go with a 9" F/7.7, maybe in R30 guise. If I can't squeeze that into my garage, fully assembled on wheels, I will have to settle for an F/6 8" and I think that would have to be an R30 to make me happy. The short 6 incher's performance will tell me a lot!
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Post by jamesling1000 on Mar 30, 2012 2:03:04 GMT -5
Hi Joe...
Yes, I also wanted to go for a 2nd ISTAR scope which is shorter like the 150 F5 R30 version.
But I just wanted to wait until both the 150 F5 R30 and Raycorr 6 (for F5) is out in the market, and perhaps someone like you , testing it out , and provide a positive field report.....
Regards
James Ling
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Post by Watcher3 on Mar 30, 2012 18:08:03 GMT -5
Well, I'm pretty sure I got dibs on the first one James, so I will definitely get the word out on it's performance!  |
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Post by jamesling1000 on Apr 1, 2012 8:02:25 GMT -5
Hi All..... After one month of attempts to stage the sidewalk with the 8" ISTAR at Mars Opposition..., yesterday we managed to stage successfully in our 4th attempts...... In fact , during the day time, the weather is still very cloudy, but a sudden change towards the evening, with clouds starting to disperse, we proceed to inform our members in the very last minute, around 6.30pm.... Is a very last minute rushing to pack the stuff into my car, and when I reached the local library area, is almost 8pm.... After unloading , and parked my car at the nearby car park, I started to assemble mythe 8" ISTAR OTA and setup the losamndy G11 G2 mount. Following photo shows another 3 of my friends helping me to mount the BIG ACHRO onto the mount.... REgards James Ling continue.....Attachments:
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Post by jamesling1000 on Apr 1, 2012 8:05:50 GMT -5
Hi All..... The following photo shows the 8" ISTAR mounted onto the losmandy G11 G2 mount.......
continue.....Attachments:
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Post by jamesling1000 on Apr 1, 2012 8:09:26 GMT -5
Hi All. Photo showing me using the Losmandy G2 to input the location setting....
after setting up the scope and mount....
Continue......Attachments:
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Post by jamesling1000 on Apr 1, 2012 8:13:30 GMT -5
Hi All. This photo shows how low I must kneel down in order to do the first alignment for the losmandy G11 G2....
As this is city area, and the whole area is heavily light polluted, I can only do the planet alignment to Mars....., and is quite high at 9pm....
continue...Attachments:
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Post by jamesling1000 on Apr 1, 2012 8:26:21 GMT -5
Hi ALL. This photo shows the crowds gathering , and queuing up for their turn to take a look into one of our telescopes......
3 telescopes are deployed for this EARTH HOUR sidewalk, 5" MAK pointing to the crescent 10th day old moon, C8 edge HD at Mars, and my 8" ISTAR....., first hour at Mars, and then the next one and a half hour at Saturn. Plus the rest of our members, we have a total of 8 persons, participating in this last minute sidewalk..... And all these photos are shot by one of our members, Ken......., who also posted some of them in our Singapore local astronomy forum, Singastro.org.... continue....Attachments:
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Post by jamesling1000 on Apr 1, 2012 9:27:05 GMT -5
Hi All.
And following a short review on what I have seen in this 8" ISTAR , in last night EARTH HOUR side walk event.......
At 9pm, Saturn is still not visible, as a block of building is just in front of our Eastern view....
I use goto and slew the scope to my 1st object, Mars , which is already very high, and I planet aligned it, so that the long queue of crowds that are waiting can start to take a look through the BIG ACHRO...
I only use around 200X for Mars, so that the image is sharp.......
Mars is still very glaring 3 weeks after opposition.....
At this power, although is small, the ISTAR is able to pick up the dark surface marking, as well as the small whitish polar cap.....
I only pointed the ISTAR to Mars for around an hour.
And since there are 2 queues that gathered in front of the C8 and ISTAR , for the same object, Mars,
as such I slew the ISTAR to Saturn , once it is visible above the building....
Saturn is definitely the planet that most people are shocked to see , when they viewed it through a telescope...., especially the 8" ISTAR....,
Is exactly what they've seen through pictures, the ring planet......, as many people starts to say to their friends, families and even to me., after viewing through the ISTAR.....
The contrast of Saturn, at 200X, when is still quite low, is already very sharp, and you can see the casini division, clouds bands and titan very clearly...
In fact, 1 more moon is also easily seen near to the giant gas planet...., and I also seen another faint one. ( My Ultima C8 cannot see what the ISTAR is seeing )
But my friends, after 11.30pm, when we end the session, start to increase the power of the ISTAR, as now the planet is very high, seen the fourth moon......
I would say last night, Saturn is the better view I have seen through this ISTAR, as compared to last year, when the tilt of the rings is small....
If you are not taking any photo, you will not really bothered by the slight CA, when you are visually looking at Saturn, coz the details are there and plenty.., just like Mars.....
Although last night is only 3hrs of Mars , Moon and Saturn telescopic viewing for the public, but this is another successful side walk we have organized.
My invited 4 friends, with their families, really enjoyed the side walk event although they also join the queue......
They also send messages to tell me the the public are very grateful that we are there showing them things that they are not aware of.....
And all these positive comments definitely encouraged us to come back for more side walk again.......
Regards
James Ling
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Post by Watcher3 on Apr 1, 2012 11:21:02 GMT -5
Tremendous job James! It looks as though you helped expose quite a crowd of people to the joy of astronomy. I'm proud that you're a member of the ISTAR Scope Club. Thanks for the great report, and Keep up the good work!
Joe
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Post by jamesling1000 on Apr 2, 2012 0:18:03 GMT -5
Hi Joe....
I seldom do my own observation, simply I am working oversea, and only back home every weekend.....
And I only reserved my weekend time , for side walk and group star gazing events..., as that would take up almost all my weekends time.....
And as a member of ISTARSCOPECLUB, and also being equipped with the 8" ISTAR achro, I would very much like other members or even someone who happens to visit this website, to know more about ISTAR products.....
In fact the name ISTAR is already known in our local astronomy, as this is also the biggest refractor in Singapore, and is owned by individual, not even by astronomy clubs......
And recently during my recent Punggai trip, I asked the university lecturer which scope he prefer , for me to bring along on this coming Venus Transit, whereby we will do a night obs, prior to the transit , which will be the next day morning ....
The answer is very obvious, 8" ISTAR.......
And that is why I will bring the 8" ISTAR for the side walk.....as many people do not realized that such a big scope is able to be shown to the public......
And is free ...................
REgards
James Ling
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Post by jamesling1000 on Apr 2, 2012 6:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on Apr 2, 2012 8:53:07 GMT -5
Dear James,
I just wanted to THANK YOU on behalf of all of us with Istar Optical. You are doing a such tremendous job promoting our products. I really can not thank you enough. Keep up a great job introducing astronomy to general public and showing your 8" Istar refractor and what is capable of when directly compared with any 8 to 10" Newtonian or catadioptric systems.
Respectfully,
Ales
ISTAR Optical, owner
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Post by jamesling1000 on Apr 3, 2012 6:04:46 GMT -5
Hi Ales....
I don't think I have done so much to receive your compliment......
Joe, has done a lot , to keep this ISTARSCOPECLUB moving.....and now our members numbers has hit 139 as of today......And he has the highest number of post, haha.....
I hope to see the members numbers hitting 200 before end of this year.....
Hi All.....
This coming Good Friday is another good opportunity to conduct side walk again, and this time I will make sure I am there earlier , and have the setup ready before 8pm....
And hope the good weather will give us another successful side walk event......
Will keep everybody updated.......
REgards
james Ling
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