I have been observing the deep sky with telescopes ranging from 4" to 30" for over 30 years. Currently, my specialty is observing the more obscure deep sky objects, such as Hickson Groups, Abell Planetary Nebulae, Arp Galaxies, Abell Galaxy Clusters, Shakhbazian Groups, super thin galaxies to name a few "lists".

My observing sites are in the Sierras of northern California at 5,000 feet and higher with fellow TAC and TAC-Sac observers.  Our most used site at 7,600 feet.

For major star parties, I regularly attend the Texas Star Party and the Oregon Star Party.  His associations are with TAC and TAC-Sac.

Current observing equipment

Telescopes
- 22" f/4  home-built reflector    I personally use this telescope the most as it is fairly light and very transportable.  I feel that 22 inches of high-end glass is a good balance of aperture and portability.  I even pack this telescope with all of my accessories and camping gear into my Volkswagen New Beetle.  The primary was figured by John Hall of Pegasus Optics and resulted in a very fine figure.  I've used up to 1200x with full aperture with zero image breakdown, so it meets the 50x per inch quality guarantee.  I recently started using a home-built equatorial platform and it works GREAT! 

- 30" f/4.3 Starmaster with Sky Tracker   I use this telescope only at major star parties as it is too big for one person to setup.  It also requires a trailer to transport unless you have an Excursion or something similar.  It barely fits in there, due to the long truss poles and a 12-foot ladder required.  The primary was figured by Steve Swayze and is a very good sample.  I was able to use 1200x at Mars during the 2003 Oregon Star Party.  There was astounding detail and many folks yelled that "You gotta see Mars in the 30."  Lastly, the Starmaster has the best customer support and best optics of any commercial made truss telescope in the market.  Rick Singmaster personally tests each telescope as a system over several nights before it leaves his shop.  The telescope is for sale - please inquire if you are interested at alvin@faintfuzzies.com

Eyepieces

Narrowfield
- Zeiss ZAO-II (10, 6 and 4mm)  The Zeiss ZAO-II is my favorite Deep Sky eyepiece as it gives me the best chance to observe that last photon or minute detail that I'm attempting to fish out.  The Zeiss gives the highest light transmission, lack of scatter and highest contrast of any eyepiece I've used.  And I've used many different eyepieces.  Best of all it is only 4 elements in two groups with incredible polish and coatings.  I use these eyepiece for most of the time, the only time I don't use these is when I'm observing galaxy clusters  or galaxy rich field in star poor regions, where I tend to get lost at high powers...so I employ one of my Ethos or Delos in that case.

- Baader Genuine Orthoscopics (18, 12.5, 9 and 7mm)   I use these to fill in the holes between the Zeiss eyepieces.  Great alternative to the Zeiss Abbe II’s as an entire set costs as much as one Zeiss Abbe II’s eyepiece – used.   The BGO's are excellent eyepieces and outperform the Ethos, which is the best ultra wide-field eyepiece on the market now.  A couple beginners at the 2009 Golden State Star Party saw more detail and background stars with the Baader than the Ethos.  We compared a 6mm sample of both eyepieces along with the Zeiss ZAO-II.  In actuality, the UO HD (same as Baader) is closer to the Zeiss than the Ethos.  See results here (scroll to the bottom).

- Takahashi MC ortho 0.965" (25mm)  Recently acquired and use this for large diffuse objects, such as dwarf galaxies, large planetaries, etc.  I did a comparison between this and the University Optics 25mm volcano top orthoscopic and the Tak handily beat the UO.

- Takahashi LE (10, 7.5 and 5mm)  I still have these, but rarely use them now as they are replaced by the Zeiss and Baaders.  Nice eye relief and somewhat wider field of view compared to the orthoscopics, but at a slight expense of light transmission.  Just the thought I may be losing something when I stick one of these in my focuser when I have good orthoscopics in my case is enough for me to not use them as much.

Widefield
- Televue Ethos (13mm only)  The Televue Ethos is by far the best wide-field eyepiece on the planet right now.  I compared several focal lengths with every major brand and the Ethos goes deeper and shows more contrast than any other.  The Pentax XW comes very close and a great alternative if you don't want to spend that much (See update in Delos below).  The Explore Scientific 100 degree series is a good alternative too.  Those who wants the best should stick with the Ethos. 

Update:  I've tried the 6mm TeleVue Delos under mag 7.5 skies at OSP 2011.  To sum it up, I found that it noticeably outperforms the Ethos, but not the Zeiss, while observing extended objects, namely Hickson 99, component E (mag 17.7) and IC 1296 (a good low surface brightness galaxy by M-57)

- Televue Delos (10 and 6mm)  The Televue Delos is now the deepest widefield I've ever tried so far.  I'm slowly replacing my Ethos (not the 13mm) with Delos as more focal lengths are released.  I'm planning on acquiring the 5 and 8mm Delos to round out my collection and unload the 8mm Ethos when they are available.

- Televue Panoptic (24mm)  This is my primary finder eyepiece as I leave the 2"/1.25" adapter in my focuser 100% of the time.  This is the widest practical 1.25" eyepiece.

Other Visual Accessories

- TMB Barlow 1.8x ED  Wow, this barlow is excellent.  The coatings is so well made that the glass is very hard to see under normal light.   The glass is made at the famous Zeiss Jena facility and is regard by many to be in the same league as the famed Zeiss barlow, a few think it is actually even better.  It has only two elements in one group as far as I know!

- Lumicon O-III filter  workhorse planetary nebula filter

- Orion Ultrablock filter   The original, made in Japan, back from the early 90's.  Not the current version, which is made in Korea.  Solid everyday nebula filter (can't find the filter profile, but it is identical to the current UHC filter)

- Lumicon H-beta filter  The well-known Horsehead nebula filter.  Best used on the "redder" nebulae, such as the California, IC405, IC 5146 (Cocoon Nebula), etc

- Astronomik CLS filter - good filter for protoplanetaries and reflection nebula where the Ultrablock/UHC doesn't work.  Outstanding filter for the younger (bluer) galaxies, such as NGC 253, M-33, etc.  Don't let the "budget" marketing label fool you.  This filter actually passes quite a bit more than your standard broadband filter, while rejecting a majority of the light created by artificial light sources, such as street lamps.  Jimi and I have used this filter to enhance the view of Hanny's Voorwerp with his 48" reflector.

- Baader Moon and Skyglow filter - Interesting filter that really works in enhancing the lunar and planetary contrast.  I have not tried it on deep sky objects yet.

I'm still considering the AstroDon Sloan G filter for visual use as my buddy, Jimi, and I have found it effective for protoplanetaries or objects like Hanny's Voorwerp (offical site of discoverer or an image).

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