Customer Comments

This mirror has really been a great one... terrific planetary views... everyone always comments on it. It has been a terrific tool and I have always felt fortunate to have received it as part of my Obsession.

--Allen

An excellent 45cm mirror give sharp images.
The 45 cm F4.5 is made by the Denver maker Galaxy. A null (zero) test performed when the mirror cooled off revealed a perfectly flat image with no zones. A mirror of this quality is pretty unusual.

--Tsuruhiko K.

Dear John
Since May this year I m a proud owner of an Obsession 22" UC with a Galaxy Optic from you.

I just want to tell you that the mirror performs superbly and that it is a pleasure to see all the great deep sky objects with such a fine mirror. It also makes fun to see the textbook intra and extrafocal diffraction patterns.

Many thanks from a highly satisfied customer

Greetings from Germany

--Jurgen B.

I received a premium figured 18" mirror from you over one year ago and it has delivered absolutely stunning views night after night. Every experienced observer who has viewed through my instrument has been astounded by the images of such a large fast mirror of 18" f/4.4. Just this past weekend at a club outing of the Calumet Astronomical Society, an owner of a planet crushing Parks 12.5" f/7 reflector was knocked out of this shoes by the performance of my Galaxy Mirror. After viewing M27, M22, M17, M11, and Jupiter he said that the images were the absolute best that he had ever seen. My brother inlaw received his new 18" Obsession last week with a premium figured Galaxy mirror. He did not want anything less than what I own...I guess he saw the light!!

--Paul M.

"During moments of better seeing, 4th and 5th magnitude stars showed tiny, sharply defined Airy disk surrounded by a first diffraction ring. Bright stars showed well-defined and nearly identical diffraction patterns on either side of focus, a sign the mirror was not under or overcorrected. As for astigmatism in the primary or secondary, there was none...diffraction patterns were perfectly circular. In all, the performance of the Galaxy Optics mirrors was excellent."

--From a review of the Starsplitter II Telescope, February, 1994, by Alan Dyer.

"The 18-inch f4.5 mirror gave excellent images, with stars appearing as pinpoints on a high contrast background The NGT primaries are made by Galaxy Optics, an outfit which is rapidly gaining a reputation for its superb large-aperture mirrors."

--From a review of the NGC-18, January 1991, by Dennis di Cicco.

"An excellent 45cm mirror gives sharp images... The 45cm (18") f4.5 optic is made by the USA maker Galaxy. A null test performed on the mirror revealed a perfectly flat image with no zones. An optic of this quality is pretty unusual."

--From a review of the NGT-18, April, 1992, by Kiyoshi Ishiwatari

"The Galaxy Optics mirrors proved to be superb. Stars were pinpoints and the extra-focal images were nearly identical on either side of focus with no trace of astigmatism and no obvious spherical aberration or zonal errors."

--From a review of the NGT-18 and Obsession 20. March, 1991, by Alan Dyer.

"Galaxy Optics certainly lived up to its advertisements. For the first time, I have a telescope with which I can use a 6mm eyepiece at 530x and the images get better and better. I have nothing but praise for Galaxy's mirror!"

--Jack N. 25", f /5.0 owner

"We have seen the internal structure of the Saturn nebula at 600 power!!! The views of Jupiter with a 10mm and 8mm Clave Plossl eyepieces were heart-stopping."

--Tony H. and Daphne M. 14 .5" ,18", 20". and 25" owners

"The star test on the mirror was very impressive with concentric interference rings on both sides of focus with no zones or astigmatism...it was by far the best views of Mars I have ever seen and I have owned a top quality 6" f12 refractor."

--Doug F. 25" owner

Hi John,

I'm starting my spring cleaning to get my 25" Obsession with Galaxy mirror ready for another season of public sessions and private viewing. I thought I'd write to thank you again fro this stunning mirror.

Last year I used the scope in a series of public programs at National and State parks. Star party viewing involved somewhere between 800 and 1200 people. Objects ranged from Jupiter and comets down to planetaries and 15th to 16th magnitude galaxies (with the public!). The public viewers were delighted with them all. For deep sky objects, I try to get the viewer to relax and take in details. For example, on the Saturn nebula, it's not uncommon for visitors to begin describing the blue-green color. then stop and mention that they see "ears" - the ansae, and then go on to describe rings and interior structure.

As for my own viewing, I am truly delighted.

Have a good year.

Regards,
--John H.

I have a 20" mirror that was (is) a very good mirror, not because of the paper specs, Strehl ratio of 0.98 as measured on 2,281 points, but because of the performance. The greatest experience I had with my 20" was when the seeing allowed for views of Saturn and Jupiter at over 1,200X. I've also been able to view the Eskimo Nebula at 1,700X with phenomenal detail. Granted, there are very few opportunities for great atmospheric conditions that allow this type of magnification, but the Galaxy mirror performed as expected.

John has been an absolute pleasure to do business with. I am extremely happy with the quality of John's work and have no problem recommending a Galaxy mirror. Especially in an Obsession.

--Sam

Dear Mr. Hudek.

I purchased a premium figured 18" f4.5 for my new Obsession from you last November 2001. Unfortunately, we have been experiencing the typical Washington State weather that keeps our trees so big and green. I still have not had the great deep sky night but have been teased a lot. The moon looks refractor like only bigger with proper cooling of the primary. Last weekend with the new moon I did some seeing in the Virgo cluster. The night was poor with high humidity, a 3.5 night at best but I had been hungry so I set the scope up any way. The galaxies looked nice. As M13 came up I decided to look at clusters. With my 16" mead it would look good to 200x and then degrade to a blurr. The Obsession started at 90x, nice. then 150x starting to resolve the little gems. Well, lets go to the max, 200x so many stars and where did the coma go that I was use to in my 16"? With the parracor still in my ocular case let's try 300x. Just as sharp, bright, but bigger and more stars. OK, 400x, 500x, 600x. At 686x with a 3 mm Radian I ran out of oculars. I guess I could have got a few more mags by putting in the Parracore but I had forgot all about it. What I'm trying to say is WOW! The night was terrible and I had just viewed the best M13 ever. Thanks for bringing the wonders of the universe into focus for me.

Sincerely,
--David T.

Hey John,

I know you would want an update on the mirror you fixed for me. I got it out tonight. The sky was pretty clear, seeing was moderate to OK. The moon was out, and I waited for Saturn to rise high enough to see from my driveway, but not much longer than that.

I started with the moon. I had the power at 120x. It looked great. I looked at M42. It looked great, and I noticed some stars I had never seen before. They seem just out of reach for the scope before, very dim. The trapezium looked great. All stars easily resolved in and around it.

After about an hour, I cranked up the power to 400x. The night was cool, but not cold, and seeing was improving. I looked at the moon again and it looked great.

I turned to the M42 and looked at the trapezium. There were even more stars visible now (better seeing), and I found the telescope easier to focus that before. I used to have to hunt for the best focus position, now, I don't.

I was looking for astigmatism. I do NOT see ANY! Thanks!

The double, Castor looks great. As do some other double stars. Everything I looked at had easy separation of stars, as I had hoped.

Beast of all, when looking straight up, at just the right brightness of star, I can see the airy disk. Inside and outside of the focus are perfectly circular, accept for the expected hairiness due to diffraction. I don't have diffraction spikes on my scope because of special scalloped black paper I put onto my spider veins. Cuts down my light by about 1/2% so I don't notice.

I went back and forth between the moon, Castor, and M42 for about 2 hours, checking for clarity and sharpness. When Saturn got high enough to see, I checked it out. It wasn't too impressive because it was low enough to have Blue and Red edges. It's nearly edge on now, so not nearly as exciting; however, the moons are starting to line up now, with the ring plane and our line of sight. So that's pretty cool.

I saw the Eskimo nebulae. That was neat.

I am happy with the fixes and recoating of the mirror. The mirror looks great! Very bright.

Thanks again.

--Robert H.