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Re: (meteorobs) alpha-Triangulid radiant.



Lew,

It is an f/5, Jaeger's lens.  I bought a tube assembly from a guy who
placed a small advertisement in "Sky & Telescope" around 1980.  There
were several for sale. and a year later the guy advertised again.  I
wish I'd not been a poor research student at that time and had bought
two and got them made up into a binocular.  I have considered
advertising on the Internet ASTROMART in case somebody bought one of
the originals and no longer wants it.

Having one eyepiece with as star diagonal does have some advantages as
it allows more adjustments to the eyepiece position for comfort.  If I
was able to obtain a second matching assembly, I'd have to find a new
mount (tall pedestal instead of tripod).  It would free up the tripod
for the video camera.  I use a British Airways eye mask (the sort to
help you sleep) angled across with the left-eye mask high and turned
up.

The eyepiece is a 32-mm Koenig from University Optics that I already
had.  The 1.25-inch barrel restricts the field to 52 degrees apparent
but that's fine for accurate plotting.  (The full field is 65
degrees.)  Also the image quality is good across the field of view.
I've noticed other favourable comments about this eyepiece in
sci.astro.amateur.  It's good value for money.

The commercial 3 to 5-inch short-focus refractors seem expensive to
me.  Certainly the Brandon's optics (to name but one) are wonderful,
but do you really need such quality for low powers?  I accept that the
image contrast will be better, hence you could see more meteors, but
is it worth the difference?  I'm quite satisfied with the Jaeger's
lens.

> I was curious to learn more about your scope, Malcolm. Is it one of the 
> commercial astronomical refractors, a high-end spotting scope, or something you 
> built yourself? How fast (f/#) is it, and what eyepieces do you prefer for doing your telescopic meteoring? 
> (Surprised I've not asked you this before, but...)

I lose some of your message on the screen because the lines are long.
Please can I humbly request that people restrict lines to 75 characters
or fewer.

I must look at my plots for any radiants in Taurus.  The sky is
clearer now than at the same time last night but it has a milky
colour, so the LM isn't likely to be as good as last night.
Increasing mist at night is forecast over the weekend as an
anticyclone sits over Britain.  I'll add an extra field or two to
cover fast meteors from Taurus better, say 120 (03h29h, +11), 76
(03h52m, +34), or even 93 (02h43m,+47) which is only 10 degrees from
the alpha-Triangulid radiant of 1994.  If there is no alpha-Triangulid
activity tonight, I'll concentrate on the Aurigid radiants from
tomorrow.

Clear skies,

Malcolm

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