01-17-2014, 06:45 PM
Actually I know the space and air quality problem. I have a telescope that I don't think is performing to its potential. Fortunately they are designed to allow the user to fine tune them.
Guides say to focus on a star to perform the test, but the fine adjust requires the air to be still. It isn't happening where I live. Actually, having a clear sky is a rare enough occurrence. To get around this, I bought an artificial star off ebay. That's a fancy way of saying a 50um precision pinhole. However the angular size still needs to be below some level in order to look like a point source. I calculated I'd need a minimum distance of 20m to satisfy this condition. I don't have a point I can mount the "star" 20m away from the scope... so this is a job I might never finish, just do want to as Jupiter is nicely positioned in the sky at the moment and I want to improve on my previous attempts.
Guides say to focus on a star to perform the test, but the fine adjust requires the air to be still. It isn't happening where I live. Actually, having a clear sky is a rare enough occurrence. To get around this, I bought an artificial star off ebay. That's a fancy way of saying a 50um precision pinhole. However the angular size still needs to be below some level in order to look like a point source. I calculated I'd need a minimum distance of 20m to satisfy this condition. I don't have a point I can mount the "star" 20m away from the scope... so this is a job I might never finish, just do want to as Jupiter is nicely positioned in the sky at the moment and I want to improve on my previous attempts.
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://snowporing.deviantart.com/">dA</a> Canon 7D2, 7D, 5D2, 600D, 450D, 300D IR modified, 1D, EF-S 10-18, 15-85, EF 35/2, 85/1.8, 135/2, 70-300L, 100-400L, MP-E65, Zeiss 2/50, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300/2.8, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Olympus E-P1, Panasonic 20/1.7, Sony HX9V, Fuji X100.