Anthony B's Stats
- Review Count9
- Helpfulness Votes18
- First ReviewJanuary 7, 2010
- Last ReviewFebruary 11, 2011
- Featured Reviews5
- Average Rating4.7
Reviews Comments
- Review Comment Count0
- Helpfulness Votes0
- First Review CommentNone
- Last Review CommentNone
- Featured Review Comments0
Anthony B's Reviews
The Orion UltraBlock NB Eyepiece Filter is for deep-sky observers in highly light-polluted areas. This 1.25" filter blocks all forms of light pollution allowing you to see fainter deep-sky objects than you would with wideband filters or unfiltered.
Rating
Good for emission and planetary nebulae
PostedFebruary 11, 2011
I've used this narrowband filter with my 5 inch Schmidt Cassegrain telescope under a light-polluted urban sky. I haven't yet had a chance to take it out to a dark sky. The filter does what it says it does, enhancing the visibility and detail of emissionand planetary nebulae. I see significantly more detail in the Orion nebula and the ring nebula through this filter compared with a broadband skyglow filter. The narrowband filter doesn't make reflection nebulae or supernova remnants (e.g. the crab nebula) more visible. This is a pretty specialized filter, but worth the money if you want to observe faint emission and planetary nebulae.
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+4points
4of 4voted this as helpful.
The mirror in this 1.25" Orion Enhanced Star Diagonal has been meticulously polished and features enhanced aluminum coatings to yield excellent 97% reflectivity. It fits 1.25" focusers and accepts 1.25" eyepieces. Ideal for refractor telescopes.
Rating
mechanical problem
PostedOctober 21, 2010
After using this diagonal for a couple of months, the compression ring started losing its spring, such that it became more difficult to get an eyepiece out of the diagonal. Finally, while on a special trip to a dark sky location, with perfect observing conditions, an eyepiece and filter got stuck in the diagonal, preventing me from switching eyepieces and rendering my telescope mostly useless for the rest of the weekend. I returned it to Orion, and Ric was very prompt and helpful in replacing the diagonal. The new one seems to work fine so far. But a couple of tips if you use this diagonal: MAKE SURE THE GAP IN THE COMPRESSION RING IS OPPOSITE TO THE THUMB SCREW. STORE THE DIAGONAL WITH THE THUMBSCREW LOOSENED, SO THE COMPRESSION RING WILL MAINTAIN ITS SPRINGINESS.
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+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
This set of Orion Expanse telescope eyepieces is perfect for those that want huge views of the sky. Included are the 6mm, 9mm, 15mm, and 20mm telescope eyepieces. All are fully coated for bright high contrast images.
I added this set of eyepieces to my previous collection of plossl eyepieces of similar focal lengths, for use with a 5 inch schmidt cassegrain telescope. The wider field of view with the expanse eyepieces makes a big difference. You can see more stars in a star cluster, more of a diffuse nebula, more craters on the moon, Jupiter and all four moons in one field of view, etc. And the images are bright and crisp. I find that I mostly use the 20, 15, and 9 mm expanse eyepieces. At higher magnifications (i.e. shorter focal lengths), plossl eyepieces give slightly sharper images, albeit with a smaller field of view.
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
The mirror in this 1.25" Orion Enhanced Star Diagonal has been meticulously polished and features enhanced aluminum coatings to yield excellent 97% reflectivity. It fits 1.25" focusers and accepts 1.25" eyepieces. Ideal for refractor telescopes.
I replaced the old Celestron diagonal that came with my C5 telescope with this Orion diagonal. The view through the Orion diagonal is noticeably brighter and crisper, but the Celestron diagonal was old and a bit cruddy, so this isn't entirely a fair comparison. But I'm very happy with the Orion diagonal for three other reasons. You can screw a filter into the end of the diagonal that goes into the telescope, so you can switch eyepieces without needing to take the filter off one eyepiece and put it on the next eyepiece. The brass compression rings are easier to use and hold the eyepiece with better alignment than tiny set- screws. And the tubes are a little bit longer, so you can stack a couple of filters onto an eyepiece and it will still fit into the diagonal. Every time I use my telescope I'm glad I got this diagonal.
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+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
This ultraportable day and night telescope is perfect for on-the-go astronomers. It is very simple to set up on the tripod, and with the red dot finder scope finding an object is easy. Comes with a backpack so you can take this anywhere you want.
Rating
chromatic aberration
PostedSeptember 28, 2010
I've been using this telescope for a couple of months now, and I'm still generally happy with it. Its very small size and light weight let me to take it along on outings up to the local park, or just out to the sidewalk in front of my home for a quick view of Venus before sunset, when schlepping and setting up my bigger telescope would be too much of a hassle. But the short focal length causes pretty severe chromatic aberration -- a bright purple halo around bright objects, especially against a dark nighttime sky. This is particularly noticeable when viewing the moon and the brighter planets and stars. I got an Orion V-block anti-fringing filter, and this helps considerably, although it gives everything a yellowish cast. A Baader Planetarium semi-apo filter both reduces the violet fringe and blocks moon- and sky-glow, showing more realistic color and darkening the background sky to give better contrast. If you're using this telescope for nighttime skywatching, I would highly recommend investing in a V- Block filter.
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+3points
3of 3voted this as helpful.
This ultraportable day and night telescope is perfect for on-the-go astronomers. It is very simple to set up on the tripod, and with the red dot finder scope finding an object is easy. Comes with a backpack so you can take this anywhere you want.
Rating
a good little telescope
PostedJuly 28, 2010
I bought the goscope as a second telescope, to use while hiking and camping for both daytime birdwatching, etc. and nighttime skywatching. It's a good little telescope. Overall construction is good and solid, with good optics. The tripod folds up to a very compact size, but is fairly stable. The telescope vibrates significantly when the center extension is fully raised, but lowering the extension makes it more stable (although the lower height makes for more awkward viewing, especially for targets high in the sky). The telescope itself gives very good views, both day and night. During daylight I could see two people on a hillside two miles away and tell what color clothes they were wearing. At night I could barely make out the rings of Saturn and the gibbous phase of Venus. The lagoon and triffid nebulae showed a bit of nebulosity, and the telescope resolved the double stars Mizar and Albireo, showing nice color in Albireo. The waning gibbous moon revealed a lot of detail. The supplied eyepieces compare surprisingly well to plossl and expanse eyepieces -- I guess with this small aperture and short focal length, more expensive eyepieces don't make too much difference, except that the expanse eyepieces give a bigger field of view. My only big criticism of this telescope is the diagonal. It's all plastic, it's hard to attach to the telescope in the dark, and it's not a standard diagonal, so you can't replace it with a star diagonal, for instance. I don't understand why Orion didn't use a standard design, even for a small inexpensive telescope. All things considered, this is a fine little telescope for the price. I love the little backpack, which makes it easy to carry. I would recommend this telescope as a spotting scope for birdwatching and nature viewing, and as a starter or second telescope for skywatching. If it had a standard diagonal I would give it five stars.
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+6points
7of 8voted this as helpful.
Orion Paragon-Plus Binocular Mount and Tripod
I bought the paragon plus binocular mount and tripod for astronomical use with 15x70 Oberwerk binoculars. The whole rig is very solid, fairly easy to set up (the tiny 2mm set screws are a bit of a pain), and very easy to use. The counterweight makes it heavy and rather awkward to carry around (be sure to hold the parallelogram mount securely, otherwise it can swing around and whack you or somebody else!), but the tradeoff is that properly balanced binoculars can be easily aimed and will hold their position until you adjust them again. It's easy to track objects as they move across the sky. Binoculars show a much larger area of sky than you can see through a telescope, and looking through both eyes gives a sense of three-dimensional depth, as well as more subtle color perception. But high-magnification, large-aperture binoculars need to be mounted to give a steady view. This mount and tripod provide a good, stable, easily adjusted base. Looking directly overhead with this mount is still uncomfortable (you have to crane your head all the way back). To observe comfortably near the zenith, a reclining lounge chair still works best. The mounted binoculars were a big hit with people at a public star party. Adults and children were better able to understand what they were looking at, compared to the tiny upside-down or backwards view in a telescope eye- piece. The height of the binoculars can be changed simply by pushing up or down on the parellelogram, and the binoculars stay pointed at their target. And binoculars are so much less finicky than a telescope that I was more relaxed and in a much better mood by the end of the night! For high-power, large-aperture binoculars, I would highly recommend this mount and tripod.
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
The Black 8x40 Orion Achromatic Finder Scope is an affordable step up from your standard 6x30. You get more power and aperture, and with the fully coated achromatic optics the image is bright and sharp..
I replaced the Parks 6x30 finderscope on my C5 with this 8x40. Installation and alignment were very straightforward and easy. The finderscope has good optics, gives a clear image across the whole field. I appreciate that the crosshairs are thick enough to be seen against a dark sky -- the reticle on the Parks finderscope is very thin, and disappears in the dark, which was frustrating. The increased aperture and magnification on the 8x40 make it easier to find dimmer objects, compared to the 6x30. A 50 mm finderscope would be overkill on a 127 mm telescope, but the 40 mm is a mama-bear finderscope for me: not too big, not too small, just right.
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
Orion Flexishield for 127mm (5") Cassegrains
For reducing the formation of dew on your 5" Schmidt-Cassegrain or Maksutov telescope, the Orion Flexishield is perfect. It wraps snugly around your telescope tube and fastens with Velcro and can be stored flat or rolled up for convenient transport.
Every telescope needs a dew shield. I've been using the Orion Flexishield on my 5 inch schmidt cassegrain for about six months. The flexishield is lightweight and sturdy, it sets up and breaks down easily, it stays firmly on the telescope without any wobbling, and it provides excellent protection both from moisture and stray light. It's held up well through frequent backyard use and travelling. When observing under light polluted and/or moonlit skies, I find the flexishield greatly reduces glare, providing a darker background and better contrast. I use this shield all the time. This very modest investment will greatly improve the performance and enjoyment of any catadioptric telescope.
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+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
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