A McEwan

I've been going through my kit the last few days, and thinking and playing about, and remembering.

I used to have a T5 Nagler 16mm and at some point I moved it on, and I can't remember why or what I replaced it with.

I think I liked it? I know I love my 13mm T6 - it's one eyepiece I use in every observing session! I suspect I must have replaced the 16mm T5 with a 17mm T4 which I held onto for a few years before selling, as I now much prefer 1.25" eyepieces because of balance issues.

So... is there anything out now that is comparable with the 16mm T5 Nagler in 1.25" barrel?  Or will I ultimately want to just replace what I had originally?!

Thoughts?

Ant    

1 hour ago, Greymouser said:

I have the 9.25 Evolution and love it, though it is not perfect. The OTA is excellent; the mount/tripod is excellent, but to be honest I feel that they are not that well matched. I would say Celestron is pushing things and the mount could have done with being a little larger, as well as the 9.25 being at the limit, weight wise. The OTA has a tendency to collide with the mount as you near the zenith, especially if you use the larger 2" diagonal. ( Which I bought separately. ) It is avoidable, to an extent, but the stability of the OTA is then affected, in my opinion, others disagree! I have also used my C5 on the mount and intend to use a small refractor on it too. It is in fact a great mount and comes with the hand controller, which makes life much easier, as the control from the app is annoying, at least when it is cold. Decent when warm and you don't need any tactile sensation to help you find the buttons. To be honest I also find using the tablet to control things can be annoying, particularly when the app crashes, which it can do.  Then there is the effect it can have on my night vision, which is also annoying, even in night time mode.

The mount/tripod for the 9.25 is heavier duty, I think than for the 6/8. Not sure if that is just the tripod, or the mount as well. Also there is a company which sells the mount separately, but confusingly pictures the 9.25 mount for sale, but states it is the 6/8 mount, which their picture is not. You would need to check up on that to be sure. https://grovers.biz/optics/home/7518-celestron-nexstar-evolution-6-8-mount-tripod.html

Very interesting; thank you!

Thanks - good to know!

Hi,

I've just found out about the Skywatcher Solarquest mount.

My scopes are Tak FC100DF, ED80 and Lunt 60 PT. For solar, I use Baader 2" Herschel Wedge OR Quark Chromosphere in my refractors.

Would my entire family of scopes be usable on the new Solarquest mount, either with or without some modification? I would be using the mount head on a Berlebach UNI-18 tripod.

Been out of touch for a while - means I'm discovering a whole load of new toys being available!

Ant

Hi Geoff.

Purely visual but if it can double up as a solar tracking mount that would be good (although the Solarquest mount is another option I may look at separately). To hold: Tak FC100DF - with the Quark fitted this adds to the weight a little, but even so it's not a heavy load. Other scope is an ED80 - probably about the same weight fully loaded.

I have a driven GP for those times when I really want Equatorial style planetary tracking.

For night-time, it would be an alternative to my AZ-4 and/or Skytee II but with tracking built in.

Zenith viewing not essential (although I have seen mods that can make this possible for very little effort).

I see there are several different models of Evo scope too - 5", 6", 8", 9.25", but I can't tell which of these have the same mounts? I imagine that there will be differences between the mount for the 5" and the mount for the 9.25"? Is there a general "best value" version - even given that I would have to wait for a mount to come up available separate from its scope package?

Hi all.

I've been out of touch with new hardware for a while, but recently heard about the Nexstar Evolution mounts and scopes. My club has one with a 6" SCT on it, and it gets a lot of use. I haven't been able to try it out yet, and was wondering a couple of things:

Can you buy the mounts seperately anywhere?

Would it hold a Tak FC100-DF with or without a Quark fitted?

How about a Skywatcher ED80?

Can you attach the head unit to a sturdier tripod such as a Berlebach UNI-18, which I own and use all the time?

Ok, I know that's more than a "couple" of questions, but I hope you'll indulge me!  

Damn. Just messed up my keyboard drooling on the laptop......

I really like the look of that Sky-Tour setup. I'd like to try something similar one day.

Mmmmmm........ dat Celestron Orange....!! 

Here's a blast from the past too. Does anyone know where this is now?

Last seen sporting a Moonlite dual speed in red...

Nearly forgot...

Speaking of ED120's and Quarks... mine out this morning:

I admit to being a bit Tak green myself... with envy!

I'm aiming for an FC-100 myself, but if I'd known in advance about the 100DL model's existence it would probably have just upset me - or prompted me to pre-order!

Congratulations John. Can't wait to read First Light report!

1 hour ago, t0nedude said:

Indeed, the tub has generous aperture too...

It's a Light (green) Bucket...

3 hours ago, John said:

Ah, so that one was the SP102M then. I had one of those way back when but mine was branded "Bresser" and had a matt black tube which showed fingerprints wonderfully well. As you can see from the photo (scanned from a 35mm snap) I had the Skysensor GOTO handset which was like a pale green brick with red LED characters. Not very user friendly !

No green tupperware box, alas

 

OMG Look at the size of that hand crontrol box!

Sharp looking setup though, very nice.

.you can have a BGO on Circle T orthos and visual difference will be so small that in majority of times you will not notice it,unless you are in the best spot in the world where you have 365 clear nights and you can go well beyond 500 magnification.But not in UK viewing conditions.

Don't quite agree with this as I had a full set of the Circle T volcano top Ortho's before I started collecting the BGO's. The Circle T's were very good, for sure, but when compared to BGO's back to back in same focal lengths there were quite noticeable differences, especially in the light scatter department. The BGO's had considerably less scatter.

I've had several Pentax XL's and found them too to be superb eyepieces on all targets. What I found great about them, and it is obviously the same with the XW range too, is that I never had to swap them out, like going from a "wide field eyepiece" to a "planetary eyepiece" - they simply did it all with no fuss.

I do miss them and would have them again if I could justify the purchases against what I have in my eyepiece case these days.

Interesting comparison with the Delos. I've never even seen a Delos yet, so it will be interesting to maybe one night try one. It sounds like it will take me back to my Pentax days, maybe...

Ant

That 3.7mm Ethos looks massive! Only five main eyepieces in that cast too and yet so many magnifications and exit pupils are catered for. Well thought out.

Ant

Interesting comparison. I'm surprised at the PST giving better disc detail, but not at all surprised by the Sweet Spot comparison. Amazing what you can get for your money these days for H-alpha viewing. Congrats on the new scope - hope you continue to enjoy using it!

Ant

The Borg seemed like a good idea but in practice it was not up to the job of holding a diagonal and eyepiece and still being smooth and easy to turn. It tended to be sticky, which I think was caused by it being slightly overloaded and the weight pushing down on the surfaces, increasing friction.

Thanks for the link to the adapter ring - that may come in handy. I'm sure there is a FT model that fits, but I'm not sure my pockets are that deep at the moment!

Any other reports on their focuser upgrade?

Hi all,

Just asking who has upgraded the focuser on their Maksutov and how do you feel about the upgrade? I'm thinking specifically about my Skymax 180 Pro and would like some input. (The Borg helical one didn't work out for me)

Many thanks,

Ant