dweller25

Excellent idea @Cosmic Geoff - do you have a link for the OP ?

Hello @tezz and welcome to SGL. I am wondering how you would get the telescope back in quickly if it rains ? Do you have a garden or back yard ? If so you might think about having an observatory built that you can permanently keep your scope in and with an automatic roof that you can open and close from indoors. That would allow you to use an 8 or 10” Newtonian which are both cheap and high on performance. Alternately, if you use a wheelchair could you attach a small 5” reflector or short refractor to it ? Just a few ideas for you. Best of luck 👍

Welcome back Grump 🙂

Grump Martian sounds funny Grumpy Martian sounds miserable I would leave it as it is But thats just me 🤣🤣🤣 Probably best to contact a moderator

Well I like to work to the statistics. But then there are ……. lies, damn lies, and statistics 🤣

When does “Molly” turn up ? 🙂

Well, hopefully greater than 1.16 arc seconds as thats where 4” scopes run out of fizz. Unless of course you are using a big mirror 🤣🤣🤣

Great drawings Mike 🙂 I observed Mars 4 days ago at x300 - it still showed details but was tiny !

I think the best solution for most people is 3 scopes….. 1. 4” refractor 2. 7” Mewlon 3. 12” dobsonian

I care 🙂 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪

That is an unusual result @Paul Manuell I usually see a slight improvement in contrast when I use the Neodymium filter but have noticed it needs to be at ambient temperature for best results.

I believe SCT’s vary in optical quality which is a shame as I like the form factor. I have had three, one was average, one was good and one was an utter lemon and trust me cool down, collimation and seeing were not factors. I would never recommend SCT’s for visual astronomy based on my - limited - experience with them, which is a shame as I think the C6 might suit the OP quite well.

My Skywatcher 200P Newtonian beat my Takahashi FS128 on the planets and deep sky for a fraction of the price. Later I bought a Skywatcher 10” Newtonian that was even better. BUT - I really like refractors 🤷🏻🤪👍

I’m sure they will appear again in the future. I really enjoyed mine as it was so light.

Oh, are you sure ? what are the three round plastic caps on the back for ? Edit: I found these instructions, the Ioptron has three sets of two bolts at the rear for collimation. https://www.ioptron.com/v/Manuals/6101_MAK150_Collimation.pdf

@Grotemobile Nice - how many screws does it have for collimation ?

Have you considered a 6” Classical Cassegrain ?

What Craig said 👍

Except your C9.25 and Mewlon 🤣🤣

Well, hallelujah, its back to normal again, Jupiter has stayed dead central for the last 15 minutes - the GRS is visible btw. I think it as a combination of grease on the DEC pressure pad and imbalance of the OTA. i will leave it for now as its working but its probably only a matter of time before it happens again, so I ordered a lens spanner so I can take the DEC bearing out and degrease it when the time comes. Thanks to everyone for their input 👍🙂

Thanks @Peter Drew I just changed it 👍although it acted the same way when I set it to 60’ or 35’

I just removed the external brass bolt to reveal the DEC plastic/teflon pressure pad. The bolt and pad are covered in grease, it looks like the DEC unit needs taking apart for cleaning off excess lubricant. Thanks for the heads up 👍

Yes, I will check the plastic pressure pad behind the DEC axis lock nut tomorrow if all does not well tonight - thanks

Yes, good point - mine starting getting to 180 degrees before locking so I changed it to 90 degrees last year. See my above post as I think I found the problem which I will confirm tonight. Thanks