dweller25

I had a good C6, an excellent C8 and a terrible C9.25. In my opinion SCT optical quality varies. For the same price as a C9.25 you can buy a Takahashi 180mm Mewlon with 1/20th wave optics which seem to get consistent praise 🙂

Brilliant 👍

Sounds like you may have bought a fancy brass scope toDAY ? 🙂

I have everything crossed 🙂🤞

I would suggest as your configuration is not working that you just flip the thin top lens over so that both arrows point in the same direction and give that a try to see if you get improvement.

Did it work OK when you first received it ?

This 👍

Hello @wookie1965 I received an eyepiece that displayed the same views you described with your scope. The lenses had been put back into the eyepiece the wrong way round. I suspect all you need to do is turn the lenses to the same orientation as the above diagram and you will have a good scope 👍

You may have the lenses the wrong way round ? They should be like this….

The FLO advice is good, but as already said, it is important to initially dab the mirror to remove any small grit particles.

Hello and welcome to SGL 👍

I’m sure this is correct where you live Don ( I need to move to LA 🙂) but sadly the UK skies are often very different to yours after x250 - it’s Jetstream and/or weather front alley 🙁

In 1986 when I read the Astro Systems brochure many, many times whilst trying to decide what my first real telescope should be I came across the Vixen FL102 on a GP mount. It was insanely expensive. With hindsight I should have bought one - it would have saved me a bob or two !

Would suggest eyepieces to give the following approximate magnifications… Venus x120 Jupiter x180 Saturn x200 Mars/Uranus/Neptune x250

Yes John kept his options open there 🤣

One scope to rule them all…… Ultimately, the Tak FC100-DZ, the perfect blend of weight, ease of use and performance.

A Mewlon 180 would play nicely with your 80mm and 300mm scopes.

Best excuse ever 🤣

I have three scopes…. A 100mm f/8 refractor A 120mm f/7.5 refractor A 180mm reflector And these two mounts… Vixen GP Vixen GP-DX I’m definitely finished buying new scopes.

@Stu The Mewlon secret weapon… If Tak made it, it would cost £150 🤣

I have had both, the extra mass of the 210 made it harder to cool down and keep up to dropping evening temperatures in the evening. Even with active cooling the M180 can take 90 minutes to fully cool down but when it does it matches the planetary performance of the FS128. A fully cooled M210 will probably be close to a 140 APO on the planets and deep sky will be better than the M180. I prefer the 6 spikes as they are much less noticeable. Overall I did not like the M210 as much as the M180 as it was frustrating to use.

Yes, great setup Nicola, but I would say that as I have the same two scopes 🤣

Great image 👍

I have looked at M31 with a 5” APO, a C9.25 SCT and a Skywatcher 10” Newtonian. To be honest none of the views impressed me. I recently looked at M31 again and got that “wow” factor - trust me that does not happen often after 50 years of night sky observing. The sharpness, relative brightness and above all the contrast of the view really caught me out by surprise. The scope was a Mewlon 180C

Yes, the colour vibrancy of the FS128 is superb 👍 But I digress from the OP’s thread……