Infinity Scopes

Dr. David Levy at Jarnac Observatory, Oct'2002

"Your new telescope is an amazing feat of engineering and imagination. I never believed that an 8-inch Newtonian, with its optics, tube assembly, and mount, could fit into a case small enough to fit into an overhead compartment. Such a telescope is a welcome addition to our travel-filled age. Most important, when the user gets to her or his destination and set it up, the performance is absolutely first class! The mount is sturdy, and the optics beautiful.

Congratulations on a superb design."

David H. Levy

On a clear October evening, Dean Koenig and I set out for a long anticipated visit to the Jarnac Observatory and to visit the renown comet hunter, Dr. David Levy. This rendezvous was orchestrated by Dean Koenig, the owner of Starizona, a well known telescope dealership located in Tucson, AZ. After about a 45 minute drive southeast of Tucson, we pulled into the driveway of Jarnac and started to unload our equipment. Greeted at the entrance by Wendee Levy, David's wife, Wendee turned on the small dim lights that outlined the path to the observatory. David was already busy scanning the skies. After the introductions, I began setting-up Uti in the middle of the 14 telescopes in operation at Jarnac. In the background, you could hear the sounds of computer hard drives collecting images from the automated Jarnac Comet Survey.

As I setup Uti, David was attentive, commenting about Uti's compactness. As the setup progressed, so did the questions. David was intrigued! After setting up Uti, I started the two-star alignment process. This invoked more questions about the Wireless Digital Locating System. David wasn't really interested in the Digital Locating system; he had enough computers in his observatory to rival Kitt Peak. David asked if he could do some comet hunting! I was taken back. Comet hunting with Uti. I couldn't help fantasizing about discovering a comet that night and having it named "Levy-Uti" comet. That would be too much!

I told David, "please, go ahead." He started scanning the sky with Uti. David commented on the quality of the scope. "The movement is very smooth, he said. The field is very dark, considering the open truss design," he added. After about 10 minutes, David asked if he could continue. I thought to myself, are you kidding! I replied, "Please continue and take as long as you want." David spent about 45 minutes scanning the heavens. "I really enjoy looking through the Uti. It's very easy to use," David said.

David scanning for comets

In the meantime, Dean was scanning the skies with Miranda in the area of M22. After about 45 minutes, he called to David proclaiming he discovered a comet. David jumped up to see what Dean had located in the eyepiece. After some speculation and re-alignment of Miranda, Dean had re-discovered NGC6638, a 9.2 magnitude small globular cluster. After all of us viewed the re-discovery, David noted it in his viewing log.

David decided this would be a great opportunity to perform a side-by-side comparison of Miranda (16" dob), Uti (8" newtonian), and a 3 1/2" Questar. All three scopes were focused on NGC6638 and the comparison began. Amazingly, all three scopes displayed a remarkable view of the faint 9.2 magnitude cluster. I was partial to the Uti view, of course!

After another hour or so of viewing, I needed to let David get back to his business of comet hunting. As I packed up Uti, David started in with more questions. The most intriguing was, "Can you pack some clothes in with the Uti?" Not sure if he was being serious, I looked around the case and responded, "Sure, there's plenty of extra room. You could roll up your trousers and stuff those in the main tube. (Thinking you'd have to put a protective covering over the mirror so the zipper wouldn't damage anything). You could pack a few folded shirts in with the trusses," I continued. We all shook our heads and acknowledged it was easily feasible. David ended by thinking out loud. "This would be really nice to bring with me on my upcoming Australian trip!"

Thanks to Dr. David and Wendee Levy for their hospitality.

Thanks to Dean Koenig for his assistance in making this review happen.

Vince Rizzo, Infinity Scopes, LLC