chrisdg1968

41 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I don't get much dewing here but this sound like a good idea.

Terrible last night (not made any better by the fact my red led head torch packed up, was rather old mind) and even worse tonight already - got the 102 Mak out an hour or so ago, went out about 10 mins ago and it’s soaking ! 😞

Couldn’t find anything really about mini dewshield for a magnified finder, so I decided to quickly cobble together one myself for my RACI after suffering quite a bit of dewing on it when out last night, and not wanting to go down the dew heater route.

I actually put this together some years ago, but having cleaned it up / given it a quick service last week I thought I’d put on some photos….it’s a combination of old Skywatcher Supertrak tripod with stainless steel legs, and one of their wooden mini dob mounts - some holes drilled and a few screws later, hey presto ! From memory, think I got the tripod and dob mount from Astroboot though I think that was as long ago as 2015 now.

Just managed to get out as skies were clear to grab a look at the crescent moon, giving me a chance to precisely align the Rigel and focus the raci for when I’ve got the old specs on.  Very impressed by both, gonna make things a whole lot easier methinks.  I also just got myself a Svbony 10 - 30 zoom and that was showing really nice views of the lunar surface…okay not as good as my individual focal lengths but more than passable.

Couple of simple upgrades to my 6” dob to fit 9 x 50 raci and Rigel quickfinder (both purchased through FLO).  Was considering upgrading the dob as a whole but I do like it and happy with what I’ve done here for now (and hoping to avoid cricked neck syndrome….)

39 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Wasn't Helios the brand that used internal barlow lenses in the focuser and used spherical rather than parabolic mirrors ?? -  

 

I believe that was the later models…originally Helios was manufactured by Synta same as Skywatcher so they simply re-branded the earlier equipment but it’s identical.

9 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Assuming the Helios is the same size and weight as a Skywatcher, an EQ5 with steel legs would be considered a barely adequate mount for it.

I once had a Helios 200mm newtonian on a manual EQ5 mount, and I thought the combination was horrible. With legs extended, the eyepiece could be 7ft off the ground, and with them retracted it could not see lower altitude objects over a 6ft fence.  The eyepiece could get into awkward positions and I had great difficulty getting non-obvious objects into the field of view.    The combination was quite stable for visual use though, in a sheltered location.  I bought a C8 SE within a few months.

Okay thanks, though the Sky at Night review of the Skywatcher version on the FLO website mentions it is stable with steel legs, and I may be able swap the aluminium ones out for such.  Does the ability to rotate the tube in the rings not eliminate a lot of the eyepiece positioning issues ?

I’m as certain as can be it’s the older type which was taken over directly by Skywatcher branding.

Just a quick shout out for the opinion of all you good people…I’ve got a 150p Skyliner dob at the moment, and was looking to upgrade to an 8” dob in near future but have now got opportunity to get myself a good condition Helios 200p on aluminium tripod EQ5 for around £170.  EQ’s are not unfamiliar to me, I’ve had them in the past but have generally gravitated towards alt-az mounts.  Anyway, question is, is this a good price for this set up and how manageable is this ota on the EQ mount ?

Thanks all !

Chris

Here’s M13 I managed to get with my 150 dob, not fantastic but allright I think for early attempts…also edited in native iOS photo app.

I have night cap on my iPhone 11, it certainly allows much more control than the native iOS app on that model and there’s a very good tutorial on Cloudy Nights about using the long exposure mode properly and it has a few useful pre-programmed modes. 

4 hours ago, Ricochet said:

If you want grab and go I think you need to go with a 102 option, or even a smaller ED scope, that can be stored set up on the tripod and carried out in one go. I don't think that a 120 frac will be any more grab and go than your 150 dob. 

Edit: in fact, why are you storing the dob base in the shed and the OTA indoors? If you store the OTA on the base in the shed you can just carry the whole scope out as one piece and there's your grab and go scope. That's what I do with my 8" and set up time is less than a minute. 

Well, I traditionally did store them set up in the shed but was finding they were getting a bit mucky in the colder months especially, and with that in mind with the colder weather dewing and fogging the mirrors made me reluctant to keep caps off to disperse it when put back in shed so this year decided to keep it indoors. I suppose I could put some fine mesh material over the open tube (pair of tights I’ve heard people use for this) and make sure I cover over the primary mirror end too which tbh I’ve never done.

Thanks all, as per my original post I’m more after a short tube rich field frac (and also the ones I’ve mentioned are within budget).

Or I could go to the Bresser 102S / 600 and still get a few extras, is the slightly higher price genuinely reflective of equivalent increase in quality over the Skywatcher ?

For any of these options I’d of course consider used but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of them about at the moment !

Hi all,

My main scope is a 150p dob, which I have to store in two parts (ota indoors, base outside in shed). Great for dso’s / lunar / planetary, and I’ve also got a Skymax 90 sct for a quicker set up for lunar / planetary.

So, as an addition I’ve decided to get myself a grab and go wide field / dso setup but within my budget not sure whether to go for an ST120 ota or an ST102 and have a little left over for say a decent Barlow as the one I’ve got is rubbish, and maybe another EP. Either will be mounted on an AZ4.  I’m looking forward to the crisp views a frac brings as haven’t owned one for a few years.  

What do you think ?

Cheers

Chris

23 hours ago, seven_legs said:

silly question but are you using a dew shield or some type of dew prevention? 

as I would guess the front corrector plate would get dewed up and misty really quickly this time of year in the UK

I have checked for dewing and it wasn’t the issue.

Okay managed a star test before clouds rolled in…which showed collimation to be a bit off at one side of focus, but at the other side of focus clearly quite a bit off so there seems to lie the issue.  I’ve collimated a newt quite a few times but really don’t fancy messing about with the mak tbh so I think I may just move it on (as a scope which needs some adjustment) and try to recoup some of the outlay.

The prism diagonal is (or is supposed to be !) astronomy suitable. In any case, I’ve also used my mirror diagonals and no difference. 
I’ll do a star test as soon as conditions allow - of course hoping it’s not a rogue scope !

Thanks all, I’ll certainly do a star test as soon as I get some decent clear skies.

50 minutes ago, GazOC said:

If you're observing in the UK then Jupiter and especially Saturn are placed too low for the Mak to really show it's stuff

Yes I had considered that but still a bit surprised at the low quality visuals especially compared to the dob.

57 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Very similar thread started yesterday on the subject of planets in a 127 mak :

 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/385829-baader-zoom-or-fixed-fl-ep-for-planets/#comment-4165422

Ah yes, seems I’m not the only one then !

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

What sort of diagonal are you using?

The 127 mak should be giving very sharp images. They don’t usually need collimation. Have you done a star test which will show how well collimated it is.

I’ve got a fairly stock standard 90 degree mirror and a 45 degree prism. Must say I haven’t done a star test, bit remiss of me….I’ll do so and see what transpires. 

Well I picked one of these up used a couple of months ago - all looks in pretty good shape and as far as I can see reasonably collimated though I’m no expert.  Used it a few times especially as we’ve had Jupiter and Saturn up and about, but tbh on these I can’t seem to get great focus on any ep of 20mm and below, and not much detail and contrast which is disappointing considering what great planetary scopes they are supposed to be. Am I expecting too much ? For comparison (and yes I know it’s got more light grasp but is of course a slower scope) my 150 dob blows it out of the water on these two gas giants ! I even I think prefer the view through my little SW mak 90. Thoughts ? 

I’ve got an ironing stool I use for the dob Ruud.

Thanks for your input Rudd, makes me thing it’s probably vignetting.  The Revelation does not have a very high eyecup so I suppose just need to persevere with getting me eye at right distance.