Is someone sending me a message?

Small? Check out the Astro-Tech AT66 on the left on one of the mounts I rejected. Big? How about the 15-inch Obsession with its currently non-functional Argo-Navis computer control. Just right?Or maybe the 80ED on its ultra-simple, ultra functional UniStar mount from Universal Astronomics.

OK, I admit that I've been on a techy tear of late - moving in the general direction of remote, computerized observing with large telescopes. But consider these events:

• In December my much-used 8-inch LX90 had to be removed from the observatory and put under the bench because the computer hand controller simply stopped functioning. Meade promised me a new one, but said they were on backorder and it would take six-to-eight weeks. Hasn't arrived yet.
• So I simply replaced the LX90 with the very similar (in performance) 8-inch NexStar. But then the hand controller on it started to act up. Sometimes it worked fine. Sometimes it didn't work at all. I spent several hours trying to fix it, consulted with folks online, and gave up. It's sitting on my bench and appears to work, but I can't trust it. I suspect it may have been objecting to the below-freezing temperatures, but I'm not sure.
• Ok, so that got me down to putting the 5-inch NexStar in the Observatory and its computer worked fine. The hand controller display is cockeyed - crawls at a sharp angle across the screen, but it function. And I learned something. You can see a helluva a lot with a 5-inch telescope, as I detailed in earlier posts. That's when I first decided there might be a message here - and the message was about the value of small scopes - maybe!
• Well, if that's the message I wonder how the Orion 80mm ED performs on the NexStar mount. Answer - quite good, but it's risky to try to point it much above about 55 degrees because the diagonal hits the base of the telescope and, of course, that could really s rew up the gears as the telescope worked against itself. But smaller seemed better, so . . .
• I decided to put an Orion ShortTube 80 onto the NexStar mount. It's faster than the 80ED and thus shorter and the problem with the base wasn't there, but of course it's a fast focal ratio achromatic and that means lots of false color on bright stars, planets, and the moon and the 80ED had already spoiled me for more pristine star images, so why not get one of these 66mm scopes and really see if small is as good as some people make it sound. I mean, what the heck could you see with a 66mm scope?






• So I read up on them and settled on a Williams Optics model that had a reasonable price of $400 with a good diagonal in the bargain - but all the online sales places that said they had it, didn't. So I went for a look-alike from Astronomical Technologies, the AT66 - and I found one used on AstroMart for $250 - which meant I could buy a good diagonal for it and still be well ahead of the $400 price. So that's what I did and as I've said in other posts, the little guy has blown me away. Just amazing what you can see with just 66mm of light grasp. (I calculated that was a paltry 3% of the light gathering area of the 15-inch! Yet in some instances, the AT66 gives more pleasing views.) But there was a problem - how to mount it? This brought something else into the equation - high tech vs low tech.
• I could mount it on the 5-inch NexStar mount - but hell, if I'm going to do that, why not use the 5-inch NexStar? Roughly same weight and size, though image quality isn't quite the same. More contrast with the AT66, but a significant light gain with the 5-inch. No, I wanted a low tech mount so that among other things I have a truly grab-and-go scope. I want something that remains set-up. That all I have to do is pick it up - mount, scope and eyepieces all in one hand - and walk outside and start using it. So I tried a a couple of mounts I had handy. The first was a no name and didn't work. The second was the traditional AZ-3, which, when modified with a counterweight can function pretty well. But the slow motion controls on it, while very useful, do run out of travel quickly and can screw up an observing session when they do. Oh my. . . it's here I began to suspect that the message was more than just "small is beautiful" - but I wasn't sure until last night - or maybe this morning.
• last night I had a visitor and when I hooked up the ArgoNavis control box to the 15-inch Obsession, it wouldn't turn on - just simply dead. I put in fresh batteries and tried it on its own. It wouldn't turn on. I used the power pack I usually use - it wouldn't turn on. Oh boy - I now have three dysfunctional computerized scope. Even I can read that writing on the wall! Maybe the message wasn't just about big and small. Maybe the gods were angry. Maybe I was messing around with too many of their electrons. maybe they were trying to tell me to cool it on the high tech approach. Simplify. Spend more time observing and less time screwing with equipment?

I've been having a ball during my last few observing sessions without computer control, or even tracking motors. And my visitors have enjoyed themselves as well. Hmmmm. Last night I was using three scopes - the AT66 on the AZ-3 mount - and it performed fine; the 80ED on a UniStar mount to which I've added a handle for better leverage - and it worked fine; and the 15-inch Obsession in search (with a Telrad) and push mode and it worked fine.

Then early this morning I did a quick grab-and-go routine with the AT66 and I ran into the lack of travel issue with the slow motion controls and now I'm wondering whether or not an Orion Versago mount, or another UniStar on a surveyor tripod might be the best approach for the AT66? The Unistar is a tad lower tech - very simple, very smooth, as long as you pay attention to scope balance when you set it up. Not cheap. Or I could get one of these new, fully goto functional "Cube" mounts from Ioptron for less. But do I really want another computer that doesn't always work? Or needs batteries? This little mount looks nice and got a positive review in the latest issue of Sky and Telescope. But when I reread the review carefully all sorts of warning signs popped up. I mean the reviewer casually mentions that some of the databases in the computer are useless, yet he doesn't seem to find that a serious handicap. I do. I downloaded the manual and saw there was no way to directly enter celestial coordinates - something I like to do with these type of mounts. So i wrote the company. Oh there is, they replied. It's just not in the manual. Oops. Ohhhh . . . so tempting. I relate to techy stuff. I relate to bargain techy solutions and expensive techy solutions. I keep telling myself , though, to go low tech. It's about time - time under the stars. It's about involvement. Push the darned scope. Understand you're on a big ball that's spinning at 800 miles an hour. Maybe it's not so bad to get that reminder from time to time? Find stuff on your own. You know the sky. Get plugged into reality, not black boxes. And you don't need to jump from one thing to another - spend time on target. Go the Stephen J. O'Meara route. you think he's the best observer living. Hey - he uses a small scope - 4-inches. High quality. (Televue) and it's on a simple, solid mount. And most importantly, he observes. That's how he spends his time. Looking. drawing. interacting with the universe. not reading ads, reading review, and fiddling with equipment.

Hey - i think I'm convincing myself ;-) Now the only question is, which low tech mount do I throw too much cash at? And oh yes - for you fans of video. I do still have a scope that will take the video camera and that tracks. But oh my - how much time do I want to spend looking at the video screen and how much time do I want to spend under the dark skies with dark-adapted eyes, letting ancient photons that have been journeying for eons ping my brain?

So that's the issue of the day. The message seems clear. Go low tech. Maybe. But first Ineed to review allthe low tech options - the alt-z mount choices. Oh my.

Posted by Greg Stone at January 26, 2008 06:41 AM Comments? Please email me: gstone@umassd.edu