Wednesday, January 28, 2009

How I won two free Agena eyepieces



Well there is a website astronomyratings.com were you can register, then log on, then write reviews on all of your equiptment. When you add your reviews you are given points towards a weekly and monthly prize givaway. I kind of thought ya right, I never win anything but I'll give it a try. Well so far for the month of February I won an Agena 8mm Wide Angle eyepiece and today I was notified that I won an Agena Ultra Wide Angle eyepiece of which I do not know the focal legnth yet. I have recieved my Agena WA 8mm eyepiece on Feb. 18th and was kind of sceptical of how a wide angle eyepiece of its price range would perform. Well, upon inspection the eyepiece was well made and the glass was much larger than any of my comparable plossls. I tried it out in 2 of my scopes, a 12.5" f/5 Newtonian dob and a 4" f/12 Maksutov. I will say this little eyepiece is a performer! Mars through the Mak was very nice with surface features very visible. I also viewed Saturn with the Agena WA 8mm in my Mak and it was tack sharp and I was able to make out banding on the planet. I used it to split Polaris and checked out the Trapezium in M42 and it did a wonderful job with no visible false color. I also did this all in my 12.5" dob and it performed well with very little coma at about 90% out. I made out all 6 stars in the Trapezium and was able to see the entire Double Cluster within the field of view. I also tried it with my glasses on ( I really don't observe with my glasses on, but it's important to some folks) and I did have to push down to see the entire field of view but not bad. I will say this eyepiece at its price level is a steady performer and I will keep it in my collection!

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