a new toy

[twoeleven]

i bought a zoom eyepiece for my telescope, and tried it out last night. most fun i've had with the silly 'scope in years. i'm used to zoom lenses for my camera, and the zoom eyepiece is even more useful: my sky isn't all that dark¹, and so it's helpful to be able to zoom in and out to find objects only a little brighter than the sky: in to see if i've got it, out to navigate.

1: my sky's typical limiting magnitude is about 5. under ideal conditions -- like those i'm expecting over the next couple of nights: very cold and dry -- i can manage about 9.

even more usefully, the zoom eyepiece has threads to take a camera adapter, rather than the horribly kludged thing i've been using for astrophotography. or not using, because the silly thing is so touchy that it's been a few years since i got exposures worth working up.

but now, be wery, wery quiet, i'm hunting ice giants. :)

Comments

[randomdreams]

I may be able to make adapters: I can cut arbitrary threads in metal.

[twoeleven]

oh, i have an adapter. the kludgy thing i've been using is a lens projection photography dealie, a two-part sleeve that goes around an eyepiece and has threads for the adapter.

the way they're designed leaves much to be desired in terms of stablity. in any case, when using one, changing from one focal length to another is a lot of work, since the eyepieces need to be swapped in the telescope and the sleeve, and then the whole mess refocused. i forgot to mention that the zoom eyepiece i have is close to parfocal, so it needs very little refocusing between its long and short focal lengths.

[bluepapercup]

ahhhh fun times!! I want a camera telescope!