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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

- Chicago Astronomer Member Equipment –

Revised: 19 August 2007

Binoviewer called the human eye is really amazing. Some specs:

Aperture : 5mm(variable)
Magnification: 1X
Apparent Field of view ~150
resolving power ~1 arcminute
pixel density (B/W) 2.7 per square arcminute
pixel density(color) 0.1 per square arcminute
(Courtesy of Sarwat)

1. Joe - (Chicago Astronomer)

• 8" ATM SewerPipe Dobsonian
  4.5; Meade reflector
  8" Green Sewerpipe Handmade Dobsonian
  60mm Meade Finderscope
  Rigel Zero-Mag Star finder ( Great tool!)
  3 x 60mm refractors (various)
  10x50 Bausch Binoculars w/ tripod
  50mmX7 Finder Scope

2. (millergenuineshaft)

• 8” Meade LX200 GPS Schmidt - Cassagrain
  

3. Jim - (jaybee)

• 10” Antares Newtonian – Dob Mount
  4.5" Orion Skyview Eq mount
  80mm Refractor Orion ST-80
  

4. Tom - (manofthesea60118)

• 8” Meade LX90 Schmidt - Cassagrain
  ETX70AT 70mm refractor w/goto
  Baytronix 80mm guide scope

5.Sarwat

• 5" Maksutov Cassegrain on equatorial mount.
  
• 9X63 Binoculars

6.Steve - (BigTenInch)

• 120 mm F8 refractor - Orion Astroview
• 120 F5 short tube refractor - Orion Astroview
• 4.5" Meade reflector
• 10" F5 Dobsonian - Orion Skyquest
• 12-20x35 zoom
• 2 -7x50
• 30 and 60 mm finder scopes - 180° & 45°
• red dot finders
• laser collimator
• clock drive
• 2 barlows - 2x shorty/3x
• Wide assortment of filters
• In the 1.25 size:
  6.3 Sirius Plossl
  Several cheaper 10's (supplied with scopes)
  10 Sirius Plossl
  17 Sirius Plossl
  20 Sirius Plossl
  Several cheap no name 25's (supplied with scopes)
  26 Sirius Plossl
  32 Sirius Plossl
  40 Sirius Plossl
  
• .965 Orthos (Explorer II):
  6mm
  10m
  17mm
  20mm
  25mm
  
  
• EQ mount and Homemade Oak mount

7.Becky - (Stargazer)

• 10" - F/4.8 Dobsonian - Homemade
• Orion Epic ED 2 eyepieces
• 20x70 Binoculars
• 35mm Pentex Camera
• 35mm Hennimex Camera
• StellaCam Ex B/W CCD Camera
• 20" TV/VCR Combo
• All the Color Filters and Light Pollution Filters

8.Dewayne - (dewayne)

• Bushnell Voyager 4.5" reflector
• Meade Telestar 60mm NGC
• Orion XT8 reflector
• Barlow
• Telrad

9.Dennis - (Ripps1)

• 102mm APO
• 8" SCT
• 18" Dob
• 15x70 Binos

10.Starbux -

Scopes:
*8" Discovery DHQ dob (2000 vintage, 1.25" focuser)
*5" Intes Micro Alter (Russian) Mak-Cass (will probably sell at some point)
*Celestron C102-WA 4" f/5 Refractor
*Orion 80ED Apo refractor

Mounts (I use the 1/4-20 mounting adapters so all my scopes except the dob can be mounted on whichever one I feel like:
*EQ-2 (CG-3) Equatorial mount with motor drive (lightweight, adaquate for visual use)
*AZ-3 Altazmuth mount (more lightweight, works great for high-mag viewing --- sucky for low-power casual sweeping and overhead viewing)
*Orion Paragon XHD Tripod (very solid, heavier than one would expect)
*Simmons 70" Monopod (For binoculars. cheap - about $35 - and taller than all but the high-priced ones. A good deal)
*EQ-1 mount (slightly cannibalized, lack of central hinge is suckiest feature)

Binoculars (can anyone really have too many?):
*Meade 11x80 binos (1985 vintage, purchased for viewing Halley's comet, my oldest equipment still in my possession
*Oberwerk 15x70's (my most recent aquisition). Nice Messier glasses
*Orion Scenix 10x50 (nice all-around not too expensive)
*Celestron 10x50 LPR (if it used BAK-4 prisms instead of BK-7 could have been perfect. Built-in toggleable nebula filters)
*Kronos (Russian) 7x35 (not great mechanics but 11* fov)

Eyepieces, etc:
*2" 50mm Plossl (good low-power for the Mak)
*1.25" 32mm Plossl
*20mm and 10mm Plossls (seldom used, actually 2 sets of each that came with 2 different scopes)
*12.5mm (Bushnell?) Orthoscopic (my main workhorse for moon/planets. I like it)
*11mm Surplus Shed Ortho
*9mm Antares Ortho
*7mm (Bushnell?) Ortho (for those rare good seeing nights)
*3x Antares Barlow (a good match for my 80ED)
*2.4x Intes barlow (came with the Mak, will be sold with the Mak - good barlow)
*2x GTO (generic Chinese) barlow (didn't realize what I was missing until I used the Intes. If you buy a barlow, don't settle for so-so quality. Paying a little more is better)
*Orion 1.25" and 2" mirror diagonals
*Orion 1.25" 90* erect-image prism diagonal (much better than the 45* prisms which I also have that came as an accessory)
*Celestron LPR filter (underrated)
*Sirius Optics minus-violet filter (one of the last from their beta-run)
*Baader Moon & Skyglow (Neodymium) filter (best planet filter imo)
*#80A Blue filter
*#21 Orange filter
*GTO Moon filter

Other stuff:
*Red-lensed goggles and red-lensed glasses (I've already sung their praises elsewhere)
*2 9x50 finders (one permanent and the other removable)
*8x50 finder (never used, would not fit standard brackets)
*7x50 finder (bought for dob, poor for cities, replaced by 9x50)
*6x30 finder (not currently used)
*Red dot finders, generic, Telrad, Rigel Quickfinder (all good Telrad for the dob, Quickfinder for the Mak, generic for the refractors)
*The Cambridge Star Atlas
*Sky Atlas 2000.0 deluxe ed.
*Orion's The Sky software
*Touring the Universe thru Binoculars Atlas cd-rom


11. Ed (Katodog)

Meade 12" LX200R w/UHTC Coatings
Meade LXD75 AR6-AT
Astro Tech AT80 w/dual speed Crayford
Orion 100mm Achro w/dual speed Crayford
Denkmeier 2" PowerXSwitch #S1 Diagonal
William Optics Binoviewer package w/twin 20mm 60° fov
TMB Paragon 40mm, 69° fov
20x80mm Binos
Meade Series 5000 20mm & 26mm Plossls
25mm & 14mm Epic EDII clones & 5.1mm Orion Epic EDII
Meade Series 5000 2" Dielectric Diagonal
GSO RACI Finder / GSO 2" Diagonal
7" LCD Flatscreen Monitor
Meade Electronic Eyepiece - Black & White
50mm Homemade Refractor

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