John

You should get a reasonable image even if the collimation is a bit off. If all you are now getting is a blur it sounds like something else ?

I'd suggest a star test to check the collimation but if you can't get a sharp star image in the eyepiece that's not going to be possible.

Which part of the scope did you slightly knock ?

I agree entirely with those urging you to return it for a refund or replacement.

The scopes that I have bought new, regardless of price and branding, have all had immaculate lenses and cosmetics and that is the way that yours should be.

If we start to accept these issues then suppliers could get lax.

Sounds like your retailer is giving you a load of baloney as well I'm afraid

I had an Evostar 120 on the EQ3-2 mount for a while. The mount was supplied with the steel tube legged tripod as per the Celestron Omni 120 / CG4 combination and the mount was OK for the scope. Not brilliant but good enough for visual observing.

2 minutes ago, Connor brad said:

Hi could this be caused by the quality of the eyepieces aswell and I may need to buy a better eyepieces? 

Quite possibly.

I've posted in your other thread on this (just started):

Perhaps I should merge these two threads to avoid confusion ?

The stock eyepieces will probably show a distortion called astigmatism in the F/5 200P Explorer. This distortion causes stars to look elongated as they move away from the centre of the field of view.

The colour fringing could be caused by the atmosphere if you are observing objects that are close to the horizon but eyepieces can also introduce false colour as well.

Astigmatism looks sort of like this:

The false colour issue is called lateral colour and looks a bit like this:

The solution may well be to consider moving to better corrected eyepieces.

The Bresser 127L is an F/9.4 achromatic doublet, not that @Nair al Saif has chosen that one.

I've fitted both versions to my Vixen GP at one time or another. They both bolted straight onto the mount with minimal fuss.

I currently have the enhanced set fitted to the mount and it's working just fine.

4 minutes ago, Alkaid said:

Ah...the 2” legs will have sorted the stability, now I understand, thanks.

I didn't find my AZ-4 stable enough for the ED120 with either 2 inch steel legs or the Berlebach UNI 28 tripod unfortunately. It was great with my F/6.5 Vixen ED102 but longer tubes troubled it when the magnification got over around 150x, which it often does with the ED120 and similar length Tak FC100-DL as well.

I wish it had been different because I always liked the AZ-4

I'm glad @Timebandit is happy with that combination though.

I've owned both scopes but there were many years between them so I never had a chance to compare them !

I've had the ED102SS for over 10 years now. I did notice some CA with my old Vixen 102M which is pretty much absent in the 102SS the latter being an ED doublet. The 102SS can show me a 4 degree true field which the F9.8 102M could not do of course and I think the 102SS is a touch better figured so it supports high magnifications just a touch better.

The 102SS does need some cool down time to give it's best images though and that caught me out to start with. 30 minutes or so seems to get the scope really on song.

The 102SS is not a scope you come across often - I've only seen a handful for sale in the years that I've had mine.

I'm very attached to the scope and it will not be going anywhere despite being joined by the superb Takahashi FC100-DL around 4 years ago.

Sorry I can't offer a direct comparison between the 102M and the 102SS but there were about 10 years between my ownership of them. I did enjoy the 102M when I had it though.

Don't assume that the 102SS is BV compatible. I don't BV myself but it would be worth checking carefully if you decide to go down that route.

Great sketch !

I was observing Mars at the same time last night and you have captured the subtle surface features as they were showing very nicely I think

You are so right about needing to spend some time at the eyepiece to allow the detail to emerge as well. "The more you look, the more you see" is spot on for planetary observing.

1 hour ago, Roy Challen said:

Why not just state "Offers invited" then?

You still need to provide a guide price.

6 minutes ago, Nair al Saif said:

Can anyone send me images unedited through what they see in a 4 inch acro

 

Images won't really help because a CCD / CMOS chip does not see the way that our eyes do.

Sketches are a better guide.

Also, what is actually visible varies, location to location, night to night and observer to observer.

This thread:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/

and this section might be of more use:

https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/21-sketching/

On 30/08/2020 at 17:49, LondonSi72 said:

Hi John,  Where have you seen them for that price?  Every advert I've looked at so far (Astrobuysell, Ebay, Gumtree, and the private ads forum here) has been ~£350 for a complete scope and mount or about £250 for scope and £250 for the mount if sold separately.  Are there other good places to look?

 

Thank you

UK Astro Buy & Sell. I've sold them for that as well.

Used prices just now might be a bit inflated because new kit is difficult to source.

The big difference is that the 2x Powermate is in the 2 inch fitting while the 2.5x is 1.25 inch. That is why the 2x costs more. The optical design and quality is the same. As far as I know the 2.5x does indeed amplify 2.5x.

28 minutes ago, globular said:

@John does the ES 2" 2x focal extender move the focus position?

Sorry @Dantooine for hijacking your thread but I've been searching for this info for a while without success and with John mentioning it re the powermate I just had to ask him.

I have not used the ES 2" 2x FE so I can't be sure. If there is some movement, it should not be much because the design is similar to a Powermate.

Sorry that I can't be more help on that item.

Optically the Antares 1.6x is good and it works well with the Ethos.

There can be issues with the amount of inwards focuser movement required to reach focus though, depending on the body design that you get.

I've owned a couple of them, one of the old set screw type and a more recent twist lock one. The latter seemed to need more inwards travel than the former.

If you can reach focus OK the optics suit the Ethos eyepieces well

The Powermate does not change the focus position or effect eye relief (as barlows do) but the price tag is hefty and the Powermate 2x 2 inch is quite heavy.

The 2.5 barlow is just generating too much magnification to be any use with the 10mm and with the 25mm you get a 10mm effective eyepiece which is pointless as you already have one !

Get the finder precisely aligned with the view through the main scope and stick to the 25mm and 10mm eyepieces while you get used to the scope. While finding things, keep the 25mm eyepiece in the scope and only swap to the 10mm once you have found your target and if it would benefit from more magnification.

I've not seen variance in the BST ED "Starguider" eyepieces, having used them under 3 brandings now.

I have seen variance with other eyepiece designs under different brandings though. Cosmetic changes but also different coatings being used on the lenses.

The BST ED "Starguiders" though, so far, seem to be the same apart from the printing on them.

I would leave the Barlow Lens out for now - it's going to create very high magnifications which makes finding anything much harder !

Is your 200P the equatorially mounted version or the dobsonian ?

Most important thing (what ever scope you use) is to make sure that the finder scope is very closely aligned with the view through the main scope. This makes finding things so much easier.

Use low power eyepieces to start with as you get used to finding and observing, eg: the 25mm.

I've noticed that Orion often supply plossl eyepieces with their scopes which are a better design than the achromatic huygenian eyepieces that are supplied with many other brands. Some of the lower end scopes only come with non-achromat huygens or ramsden type eyepieces which are even poorer than the AH types.

Of course premium branded scopes don't come with any eyepieces at all !

The mods and admins of the forum want the classifieds section to run with the lowest possible input from us. We will remind folks to put a price on but don't know why they don't always put one in - the rules are quite clear and we expect people who use that section to read them and abide by them just as they do the code of conduct for the forum as a whole. Here they are for those who would like to refresh their memory:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/260503-astro-classified-rules/

At one point we debated not having such a section and opinion was quite equally divided. We decided on balance to keep it but on the basis that it would require minimal input from the team.

We would much rather be enjoying the forum as a whole rather than running / policing a classifieds section

If there is no moon, good transparency and DSO's are going to be the main targets, then my 12 inch dob is usually the one used.

Otherwise I have a choice of a number of refractors between 100mm and 130mm. I tend to rotate those but the Takahashi 100mm and the Skywatcher ED120 seem to get the most use overall.

Saturn and Jupiter have been so low that getting the dob onto them is awkward so it's a frac if those are the main targets.

All my scopes can be setup within a few minutes, including the 12 inch dob.

26 minutes ago, Matt01 said:

...... Any tips from those with experience buying TV's second hand?

If you see something you are looking for at around the right price ....... don't hang around !

1 hour ago, Dantooine said:

There is a niche however, I ended up with quite a nice mount I wouldn’t have bought  and I won’t be looking for another 😎

The AZ8 is a nice mount. I looked into it when I was looking for a mount for my 130mm F/9 triplet but I don't think it would handle that tube too well from feedback I got from other AZ8 owners. Very good for your 102mm F/7 though

Personally I would stick to 100mm as a minimium aperture. I've owned some good quality ED doublets of, 70mm, 80mm and 90mm but, for me it's 100mm and above which deliver views that are engaging enough to be more than just "nice".

The Skywatcher ED100 is a great scope for the money IMHO. I owned one of the very early blue tubed ones. Now my "100's" are the Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 and the superb Tak FC100-DL F/9. Both very capable scopes at low, medium, high and, in the case of the Tak, very high magnifications.

F/7 is a versatile focal ratio for an ED doublet. Slow enough to cause CA to be mostly invisible if an FPL-53 element is used but fast enough to get whopping true fields with long FL 2 inch eyepieces.