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CLEAR NIGHTS ASTRONOMY FORUM
THE ARCHENHOLD OBSERVATORY, Berlin Germany
STEP INSIDE AN ONL-LINE OBSERVATORY
BECOME A TELESCOPE JUNKIE (forum)
http://www.myspace.com/loronsastronomymall
LEARN ABOUT THE 3 VANE CURVED SPIDER FOR REFLECTORS by ALBERTO MONTALVO, Burbank, California
WELCOME TO MY MALL
WELCOME TO MY PHOTO ALBUM
(CLICK HERE)
GET THE LATEST SPACE NEWS (enterprisemission.com)
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| CELESTRON C-14 SCT TELESCOPE |
Welcome to my on-line "Astronomy Mall". I hopt the information contained here at my website
will be most helpful to you in your selection of a telescope or other accessory related to astronomy.
These items seen here at this on-line mall can be most expensive which is why you should do
as much research as you can. I have set up links here that represent long-standing individuals along with well-known firms
that have been in business for many years. They are all very fine products. I know because I use some myself.
TELESCOPES, BINOCULARS, and their related accessories along with STAR CHARTS, BOOKS,
and much more...
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| JOHNNY CARSON WITH HIS CELESTRON C-14 SCT. HE ALSO HAD A UNITRON REFRACTOR & QUESTAR 3.5 |
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| ARTHUR C. CLARCK WITH HIS CELESTRON C-14 TELESCOPE. |
Leonard Rosenman (September
7, 1924 – March 4, 2008) was an American film, television and concert composer who won two Academy Awards. He also owned
a Celestron Compustar C-14 which I saw at his home in the Hollywood Hills. He knew my step-grandfather who was concert master
of MGM in the 1940's-50's |
LEARN ABOUT TELESCOPES
TESTING THE OPTICS
OF YOUR TELESCOPEYou will gain experience in using your telescope especially if you direct your
attention to the main points of quality. You will find in time that you will become critical of imperfections of your telescope,
casual or inherent. When you test your telescope's optics, you should be careful and pay close attention to your own eyesight
and be guided by proper directions and only then will you have a good idea of the quality of your telescope. Remember that
no telescope will give the most perfect image. Your telescope is good when you can see fine definition and not to worry about
the out of focus star image. If there seems to be a problem with the telescope because of the star image, you can not say
what the problem is until you make an examination of the out-of-focus image on a night fine enough to allow you to make a
star test at high power, unless the fault is because of a astigmatism, maladjustment, or centering of the optics and on a
good night these can be seen at focus.
ON-LINE OBSERVATORY
| WE WILL NEVER FORGRET SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 |
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| GOD BLESS AMERICA |
WAKE UP AMERICA
(CLICK HERE)re: 9/11
MT. WILSON OBSERVATORY ASSOCIATION
LORON'S
ASTRONOMY
MALL
OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
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| MEADE 8-inch F/10 SCT TELESCOPE SYSTEM |
WATCH FOR MY VIDEOCAST
SOON TO BE AT
YOU TUBE
On-line Observatory Lectures
Product Demonstrations & Reviews
and lots of other fun stuff too.....
YOU! HAVE MADE IT HAPPEN, THIS BLOG IS ABOUT TO REACH 10,000 HITS THANK YOU ALL
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| Loron, On-line Mall Administrator |
The G.H. Lutz observatory is named in honor of George H. Lutz who was involved
in the early stages of design of the Ritchey Chretien telescope system which is widely used today. We engage in Lunar and
Planetary study.More about our observatory an it's activities may be found at our website: http://www.geocities.com/lutzobservatory/org.html
Currently our observatory has plans for the building of our new facility in Mountain Gate, California which can be found at
our website. For purchasing a telescope you may visit The Astronomy Yellow Pages on-line. A note about our resident astronomer
Loron Knowlen: His background comes from his experience in astronomy for over 35 years. He was involved with the L.A.V.C.
astronomy club as president. For a number of years was a sales associate with both L.A. Optical Company and California Telescope
Company. In 1990 he was involved in the early stages of design and construction a 10" refracting telescope designed by John
Pons.In 1991 he started his own refracting telescope company called Fraunhofer Systems Company along with writing for the
astronomy publication Observatory Techniques. In 1999 became the managing director and resident astronomer for our observatory
along with managing an on-line mall "Loron's Astronomy Mall" FAQ's GEORGE H. LUTZ (1.) What is the most famous thing that
Lutz did? Along with professor Ritchey of Cal-Tech, Lutz was involved in the early stateges and developement of the Ritchey
Chretien telescope system which is widely used in observatories today all over the world. The telescope maker Meade now sells
a 20" RC telescope. (2.) Any other famous tihngs did he do? Lutz had an exhibit of his telescope systems at the 1939 Worlds
Fair. (3.) Did he ever work in a famous observatory? Yes. Mt. Wilson an at the time of his death in 1957 he was working on
the 40" mirror for the Mt. Palomar observatory near San Diego, California. (4.) What other work did Lutz do? He had worked
for the Eddison telephone company along with being an inventor. (5.) Is George Lutz in any books? Yes he is discussed in the
1993 Osterbrook book entitled "Pauper & Prince along with the classic telescope making books Vol. 1-3 of 1940. (6.) Any
relatives? Several relatives currently live in the Southern California area. (7.) Does his telescope making company still
exhist? No which is why this observatory project is so important to us in honoring him. (8.) How is astronomer Loron Knowlen
related to George Lutz? Loron is the step son of Lutz's niece along with being the trustee/operator of the observatory. The
Lutz family is well aware of Loron's actvities Visit "Loron's Astronomy Mall" on-line. (9.) Is the George H. Lutz Observatory
a profit making organization? No but there may be a science & astronomy cash award given to students at sometime in Lutz's
name. (10.) Any plans for a bigger project or observatory? The Lutz family members will decide if there is ever to be any
further projects in addition to the already exhisitng observatory. Maby in the future over the internet there will be an inter-active
on-line observatory. One way or the other George Lutz will be known in the community of astronomers, you have our word on
that. (11.) Loron Knowlen does have a idea for later being involved in the creation of an astronomy & science center that
may incorporate a public library or become apart of a community center. (11.) How can one learn more about George H. Lutz?
GEORGE H. LUTZ OBSERVATORY C/O 14007 Ventura Boulevard Sherman Oaks, California 91423 Telephone: 818-267-0735 (Calls Screened
w/Voicemail) E-Mail: lutzobservatory@yahoo.com
I KNOW WHERE TO GET ZEISS!!!
http://www.myspace.com/loronsastronomymall
UFO NEAR WORLD TRADE CENTER, N.Y., NY. PRE 9/11 (Los Angeles Iroquois Theatre)
CHECK OUT THE NAVIGATION BAR FOR OTHER LINKS
Well yes
we have used them all. At first we would refer you to both Zeiss & Clave but they are very rare. For planetary,lunar,
and solar observing we enjoy the Brandons which we use on our 6" refractor at the observatory. However what we like the most
is the Lumicon 2" diag., Filters from William optics but the best eyepieces to use on a large aperture Celestron/Mead SCT.
are the 2" Meade 40mm SWA, Televue 2" 20mm Nagler, and either the Meade 8.8 SWA or the Televue 2" 9mm Nagler. We also enjoy
the classic 26mm Plossl from Celestron. For the Bino-viewer we enjoy the views through the classic Tuthill. Hope the information
will help one in the selection of fine accessories for their telescope. Remember however the Brandons are the best! Happy
skies everyone.
TEXAS NAUTICAL REPAIR (Telescopes)
| RELEASED IN 1989 |
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| THE 9-INCH F/12 TAKAHASHI SCT SYSTEM |
BRANDON EYEPIECES
Brandon is a brand name of VernonScope,
and is applied to a variety of products, including a well-established line of eyepieces. Several of the short- to medium focal-length
Brandon eyepieces are advertised as orthoscopics, yet they appear upon disassembly to resemble Plossls. They use four lenses
in an unsymmetrical duplet formulation designed by Chester Brandon, one of the designers of the top-secret Norden bombsight,
which played an important role in World War II.
Brandon eyepieces are a popular choice of professional astronomers
worldwide. VernonScope estimates that over one million Brandons in various incarnations and focal lengths have been produced
since their introduction in the early 1940s. Designed for medium to high power use with any telescope at focal ratios down
to f/4, they are very sharp at the center (although somewhat less so at the edges) and ideally suited to lunar, planetary,
star cluster, and binary star observing. They have excellent color correction and very low astigmatism, with very minor field
curvature and ghosting. They are fully coated, but not multicoated, in order to reduce a phenomenon known as "narrow angle
light scatter" that is sometimes seen in multicoated optics. This scatter shows as a loss of contrast and subtle details within
bright objects such as Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. It also shows as a significant difference in the background darkness immediately
surrounding a bright object, which is especially important for double-star observing. Brandons are accordingly noted for their
exceptional contrast and extremely dark background, two reasons why Questar has been using them in their ultra-premium Maksutov-Cassegrain
scopes since 1971. They have moderately wide apparent fields of view, of about 45°.
Brandons are threaded for
Vernonscope filters only. The use of standard eyepiece color or nebula filters requires adapter 3405. They have rubber eyecups
that roll down for eyeglass use, although their eye relief is quite short in the shorter focal lengths. Brandons are the sharpest
design currently available in a 1.25" barrel size for eyepiece projection photography
Encyclopedia of Science
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| CURVED SPIDER VANE BY ALBERTO MONTALVO |
The f/number
(focal ratio) of any telescope tells two things about the telescope and that is it's intended purpose and it's photographic
performance. The brightness of a star depends on the telescope's aperture not the telescope's f/number. All telescopes of
the same aperture at any magnification will show the same visual brightness. There are many that insist their long focal ratio
telescope gets higher contrast, this is not correct. A refracting telescope does have more contrast than any other because
of it's optical system not because of the f/ratio. You can see that when you are comparing very well made and very well corrected
refractors, you will see there is no gain in contrast regardless of the f/ratio of each telescope. Even if a reflecting telescope
is well made and has the same size secondary mirror obstruction as another, it will have the same contrast regardless of the
f/number of each telescope. All of the confusion and there is much on this issue, is because of the photographic use of the
f/number. A faster f/ratio does mean brighter images on film but not in a telescope. Aperture not f/ratio is the important
factor with a telescope. Some photographers have a great deal of trouble with this concept. The f/number of any objective
lens or a mirror of a telescope has nothing to do with the visual brightness of an image, the bigger the aperture the better.
| THE MAONTALVO 12-INCH F/17 DOBSONIAN CONCEPT |
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| BURBANK OPTICAL COMPANY |
GREAT READINGS FROM DANIEL MOUNSEY (CLICK HERE)
VISIT THE GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY
WHY A 6 INCH
F/15 REFRACTOR?Why a 6-inch F/15 Refractor? From my years of experience as an astronomer who
has used a variety of telescopes of different types along with using very rare large apertures of 8-12 inches. I have found
the 6 inch F/15 refracting telescope is the optimum design for lunar, planetary, and solar observing. The telescope's size
makes it the best instrument in my opinion for advanced observers to use and simple enough for elementary observers to use
for their viewing. An observer can master the telescope system with relatively few instructions, and yet the system is large
enough to provide optimum viewing in city astmospheric conditions. Furthermore for more advanced observing the 6" F/15 refractor
with it's accessories provides opportunities for photographic and spectroscopic work as well. Observatories and educational
institutions usually have found the 6-inch F/15 refractor to be the finest instrument for lunar, planetary, and solar observing.
For those wanting to build a 6" F/15 refracting telescope system for their observing should obtain a copy of "Telescope Making#44"
and read the article entitled "Constructing a Large Brass Refractor" by Larry Myers. Telescope Making was a publication of
Kalmbach Publishing Company (Astronomy Magazine)
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