Equipment Review: Orion 80Mm ED Refractor by Lawrence Carlino
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Volume 5 Issue 6 Late Fall / Winter November / December 2003 Equipment Review: Orion 80mm ED Refractor by Lawrence Carlino Amateur astronomers have long realized the virtues of the classic refracting telescope - an instrument capable of superb definition, high-contrast imaging, and exceptional versatility. With no central obstruc- tion in the optical path, the refractor has the potential of yielding the finest definition of any telescope type - if it were not for the demons of chromatic aberration. The classic 2-element Fraunhofer objective lens can reduce this spurious color to manageable levels, but only in cumbersome long focal ratios of f/15 or above. The use of special ED (extra low dispersion) glass or calcium fluorite in one of the lens ele- ments, or a three or four-element design, solves the problem and allows much more convenient focal ra- tios. But the cost of such a system ranges from pricey to prohibitive, even in the smaller apertures. Happily, this situation may have changed with the introduction of Orion's new 80mm ED refractor tube assembly. Utilizing one element crafted from FPL-53 fluorite glass, the scope sports a clear aperture of 80mm and a focal ratio of f/7.5, yielding a focal length of 600mm. Made by Synta in China and imported by Orion, this instrument is by far the lowest -priced apochromatic (false-color-free) refractor available in its aperture range. At $429 + shipping, the ED 80 comes with a 2-inch Crayford focuser , 1.25" adapter, a Table Of Contents nicely finished dark gray metallic aluminum tube, a detachable dew cap, plastic dust cap, and a mounting block with 1/4-20 female threads for attachment to a variety of mounts and tripods. Tube mounting rings, President’s Message star diagonal, and eyepieces are all optional extras. A built-in dovetail "shoe," however, will accommo- Page 2 date any of Orion's finder scopes ranging from 6x26 to 9x50mm. Overall, the telescope's fit and finish appears to be very good with no glaring defects or evidence of sloppy workmanship. Weighing in at a Meeting Notices svelte 5.7 pounds, the whole OTA is 24 inches long, but it can be truncated to 19" with the dew cap re- Page 3 moved in order to allow airline "carry on" portability. Member News Clearly, the ED 80 has the potential of being a real bargain - if it performs! The main question here lies in Page 3 the scope's optical quality and degree of color correction. Is it really an APOCHROMAT? That is, is false color reduced to levels where it is essentially absent, even at high magnification on objects that are notori- Observatory News ous for exhibiting purple fringing with less-than-perfect optics? Does the definition and image sharpness Page 3 even begin to approach the standards of excellence set by the superb instruments of Takahashi, Astro- Physics, and TeleVue? Fortunately, I was able to do some comparisons with telescopes of comparable Editor’s Note aperture in a direct "A- B shootout" and from recent experience with a number of other refractors. Page 4 With both the moon and Mars favorably placed for critical observation, I put the ED 80 through its paces Membership Corner in seeing conditions ranging from vile to reasonably steady. As is typical with small, high-quality refrac- Page 4 tors, poor seeing conditions still permit some satisfying low and medium-power observation. Here, the scope did not disappoint as it yielded some sharp, high-contrast images of the waxing gibbous moon at BAA Annuals magnifications of 46 and 66x. Absolutely no false color could be seen on the lunar rim, with the TeleVue Page 5 9 and 13mm Type 6 Naglers providing an almost 3-D effect. When the air steadied, a 5mm Orthoscopic (120x) revealed fine detail in and around Copernicus, a neatly defined Straight Wall, and a cratered lunar Member’s Pictures south that resembled a smaller-scale spacecraft glimpse of the rugged surface. Very impressive, and quite Page 8 similar to the images generated by my fine Takahashi Sky 90 APO, but with somewhat less brightness. For Sale Mars was also a pleasant surprise. At 158x under fairly steady skies, the ED 80 easily displayed the Page 12 shrinking south polar cap, the more prominent dark markings such as Syrtis Major, Sinus Sabaeus and Meridiani, the slight Martian phase effect past opposition, and an occasional limb haze. Again, false color was a non-issue, and the scope functioned beautifully with contrast enhancement filters (#21 orange) in bringing out additional detail. The blue halo so typical of even a good achromat was completely missing. Based on past experience and some direct comparison, I would rate this performance as slightly superior to that of the fine Borg 76 ED refractor, equal to the TeleVue 76, and just a touch behind the magnificent Takahashi 78mm Fluorite, arguably the best in this aperture range. Double stars also proved to be a revelation with the ED 80, as it performed well beyond expectations. Epsilon Lyrae, seemingly almost everyone's classic test of optical quality, was cleanly resolved at powers as low as 66x. At 120 and 158x, the hard, sharp, color-free airy disks of the four component stars were strikingly apparent, the clean, dark sky between showing a thin, perfectly symmetrical first diffraction ring. Throwing the image out of focus produced just a slight tinge of color and no trace of spherical aber- ration or astigmatism. As a rough guess from this performance, I'd rate the overall optical correction of (Continued on page 4) Page 2 The Spectrum Volume 5 Issue 6 BAA OFFICERS UB TELESCOPE PROJECT President—Joe Orzechowski Peter Proulx BAA Web Site Phone: 632-7091 Vice President—Dr. Jack Mack ROBOTIC SCOPE PROJECT Tom Bemus and Bill Smith put together a club web site at : Phone: 632-6210 Anthony Davoli http://www.upstateastro.org/stars/baa.html Secretary—Peter Proulx Phone: STAR PARTIES Treasurer—Bev Orzechowski Jeff Gardner Phone: 632-7091 SPEAKERS MEMBERS AT LARGE Dr. Jack Mack Janice Gardner Meetings Tom Bakowski SPECTRUM STAFF Alan Friedman Editor —Jamie Seibert BAA meetings are held on the 2nd Friday of the month from September to Phone: 689-3349 June in the New Science Building on the Buffalo State College Campus. COLLEGE OF FELLOWS E-Mail: [email protected] Meetings start at 7:30 pm and all members and guest are encouraged to attend. Rowland Rupp Phone: 839-1842 OBSERVATORY DIRECTORS Bill Aquino 731-9366 Paul Tabor 434 7148 Spectrum Deadline MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORS Articles for the next Spectrum will be due by: Tristan Dilapo 941-5613 Alan Friedman 881-4310 December 12th 2003 President’s Message by Joe Orzechowski With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought it would be appro- night. You also gave members and visitors the opportunity to look priate to take this opportunity to express my thanks to all those who through and examine a bunch of different equipment, making it possible have helped keep the BAA running and doing what it's suppose to do for us to continue to publicize this as one of the benefits provided by the and who have made my job as president a lot easier. Because there are BAA. so many of you I won't mention names for fear that I will unintention- My thanks also go out to our membership directors for keeping track of ally omit some of you. who's who and who paid for what. Having held the position myself for a couple of years I know the amount of work involved in keeping the I'd like to thank the board members and officers who served with me last BAA's membership rolls (which were significantly smaller back then). year and those who have taken up the challenge for the coming year. An honorable mention must also go out to the membership directors at These folks are ultimately responsible for keeping the BAA running this time of year as they finish up the daunting task of processing renew- and, while they certainly don't do all of the work, they are the ones who als for 150 members. make the often easy but sometimes not-so-easy decisions about what should be done and what should not. Any complaints? Talk to an at- Of course, none of us would be reading this or any of the other articles large board member or BAA officer…that's what we're here for. Aside in the Spectrum if it wasn't for our editor. This is one of the most diffi- from giving of their time, board members have often had to deal with cult positions to fill because it does entail a considerable amount of my lack of sufficient notice about upcoming meetings. For their toler- work and talent. We should all be grateful that we have someone who is ance, I am grateful. willing to spend time collecting, organizing and publishing our written words in a professional looking newsletter. The Beaver Meadow Observatory is a major center of BAA activities and it is no small feat to keep that facility and all of its equipment oper- Thanks also go out to those people who helped out with our special ating properly and to maintain our advertised public night schedule. events and projects. I know that quite a few people have volunteered While thanks must go to our observatory directors, many thanks are also their time and money to getting the robot telescope project and the UB due to all those who make the long drive down to BMO to help out with data link up and running.