RobertI

First light is an important moment, so despite so-so conditions, I thought I'd relate the first observing session with my new Altair Astro 102ED-R. I didn't really have a plan and the session was a mix of trying to test out the optics and trying to do some observing. I think I achieved neither very well, but I got the opportunity to observe a very low Jupiter, a slightly wobbly Mars, the Dumbell nebula, a couple of nice coloured doubles and the rising moon. The main takeaways from the session were: At F7 (FL=714mm) the scope was a lot easier to observe with than the F10 Tal (FL=1000mm), with the eyepiece in more convenient locations. The focuser, which seemed stiff to start with, actually worked really well and was a joy to use. There was no noticable CA on the brightest stars and the moon and nicely defined diffraction rings around brighter stars. I did push the magnification to 200x on Mars, but was not really seeing much detail apart from the polar cap and the dark southerly region. There did seem to be a certain amount of 'scatter' around bright objects, but I really don't know if this is worse than any of my other scopes, and to be honest could be due to my modest eyepieces or even my eyesight, so I'm not worrying about that for now. The dumbell was lovely at x72, very bright with hints of structure when viewed with the OIII filter. I think this scope could really excel at deep sky. The 38mm Panaview worked nicely for wide fields, but there was distortion on a significant part of the outer FOV - to be expected I guess. So overall pretty much as I expected from a cursory intial session. Optically I suspect I will find it marginally better than the Tal but without the CA, yellow cast and long tube. I am expecting it to be much better on deep sky though. I guess I was slightly disappointed that I was not 'blown away' by the views, but I also knew that this was only a 100mm scope and I had tried to manage my expectations beforehand! Also conditions were not perfect at all, and I know that it takes several sessions to really get to know a scope. By the way, I avoided doing a star test after reading several articles about the pitfalls if star testing apo's! However I did establish that the collimation seemed good. I should add that the build quality is superb, very hefty rotatable focuser, good focus lock (which locks the pinion rather than the tube), and a huge sliding dewshield which stays in place! So over the next few sessions I will either stick to some proper observing with the scope, or do a head to head with the Tal, which is really the benchmark I am hoping to beat with this scope. Watch this space!

Nice report! Mars is certainly spectacular at the moment. You have some great planetary scopes there, very interested to see how you get on with the Stella Mira so looking forward to more reports. 👍

That's a phenomenal amount of detail, captured beautifully as always. Just shows what is possible when an experienced observer with a quality instrument observes under a steady sky. Conversley, when an incompetent observer, with an average instrument meets a turbulent sky.......mush....as happened to me last night!

Very nice sketch, an almost identical view to when I sketched it the other day (your sketch is nicer though!)

I saw it was clear on my drive home but it had clouded over by the time I was ready to observe. Shame because the seeing looked good. I think we may have some clear nights coming up though.

Thanks for the idea, I do have a ND filter so I will give it a go. 👍 You’ve reminded me that I have a load of colour filters too which I can try too.

It was a special moment, my first brand new scope in twenty years and a quality piece of engineering that feels special. Looking through the almost invisible lens and down into the blackened and baffled tube is a wonderful sight. Really looking forward to first light. Thanks for the encouragement, your positive comments sealed the deal. 🙂 I’ll probably start a separate thread to share my experiences. 👍

After waiting two months for a Skywatcher ED100, still no sign of delivery, so I cancelled order and bought one of these beauties. Arrived next day. A very solid and well made piece of kit. Hope it performs as well as it looks. Can't wait to try it out.

Thanks Mike. I’m really motivated to continue this, inspired in no small part by your excellent drawings and maps.

Thanks. If you still need templates, you're welcome to use mine. They show the following phases - 85%, 90%, 95%, 98% and 100%. I reduce them to about 50cms on to a printed sheet of A4 (50cms circle size seems to be the commonly recommended size).

An impressive rig then! The outer shell is coming through nicely, looking forward to seeing part 2 (if you end up going for more data).

Crikey John, that's a top quality image. Well done! I bet you had fun processing that. Can you say anything about the equipment and exposures? Edit: Just seen the level of detail you can get from zooming in the full image - extraordinary.

I've been observing for many years but last night was my first attempt to capture the red planet on paper. A nice night too as Mars was very close the the 90% waning moon.The seeing was unfortunately poor, even at the end of the session, but there were brief moments of relative calm which helped tease out some detail, but not the best night. The result over a period of 90 minutes is shown below. Rather underwhelming I know, but a start, and I can only get better I hope! C8, x200, Seeing: Poor, altitude: 37 degrees max Observing notes The main dark feature is Mare Sirenum, it initially started as a dark 'seagull' shape, but it eventually became apparent that the whole lower hemisphere was dark with the seagull shape even darker. Apparently Olympus Mons was also visible but I could not see it. I think I timed it to see one of the most featureless faces of the planet! The polar ice cap is ringed rather than doing a full blow shading with a white patch. Would it be cheating to pre-prepare a coloured template with the ice cap already shown in white and then shade in the dark areas and rub out the light areas during observing? A screen shot from Sky Guide as a comparison (mirrored). For info I only consulted maps/apps only after the session so I was not influenced. Although I have a number of apps and Maps of Mars I found there was no single map that did the job, it was a case of looking at a number of them. Do other people have this problem? What do people use? Equipment From previous experience I felt the C8 was the best scope for the job so I put it on my simple non-goto driven CG5 equatorial mount at a height to allow me to sit - I have to say being seated and having the scope tracking made life so much easier and I don't think I could have observed for 90 minutes (on and off) with my usual setup of standing using a non-driven altaz mount! I also briefly tried the Tal100RS and the 150PL as a comparison. The C8 clearly revealed the most detail of the three but the colour through the TAL was a glorious deep red and still showed some detail - on a night of good seeing I think it could reveal a lot. After observing through the C8 for 90 minutes, Mars seemed white and the red colour was barely apparent!

I was coincidentally reading “Observational Astronomy” this morning and this information appeared in the chapter on Observing Mars. Hope its still relevant 👍

Nice illustration from Stu. Another way to look at it is a feature will be in the same position 37 minutes later each night, so you can concentrate on one feature for a couple of weeks if you are prepared to stay up late! It will take 5.5 weeks for the feature to be back in the same place at the same time.

Never cleaned my RC6 mirror (I've had it around 5 years) but it rarely gets used and is pretty well wrapped. Never cleaned my Heritage 130P mirror (had it around 3 years) but it does get used more often and is more prone to dust and would probably benefit from a light wash to remove dust and grime - which I may attempt soon. Of course the mirror of my 20 year old SCT has never been touched and is as pristine as the day I bought it!

My first scope as a teenager back in 1980 was a 6" F8 newtonian. What is the best all round scope now for a beginner? I reckon a 6" F8 Dobsonian! (or possibly an 8" F6 dobsonian)

Useful insight into your process, thanks!

Excellent sketch. 👍

Looks like a good fit, where did you get the case?

For everyone's interest I tried several suppliers and the only one who answered the phone was Rupert at Astrograph. An extremely helpful chap who told me a lot about the Tecnosky scope, and confirmed it was the same as the TS and AA scopes. I really wanted to give him my business but I just felt the Altair Astro scope was the safer bet. But I will look to purchase from him in future. The lens is from Kunming United Optics. It is FPL-53 (he indicated it is likely to be better quality glass than the SW) with a Lanthanum mating element. What I didn’t realise is that Lanthanum is a coating which increases the refractive index rather than a glass type ...at least that what he said! Perhaps someone more knowledgable can explain.

Thanks all for your positive comments folks. I think I’ll have a lot of fun using the scope and get a lot of pleasure from owning it. If it’s anywhere near as good as the Vixen ED102SS I’ll be a happy bunny. 👍 In anticipation of its arrival I have bought a used 2” Astronomik UHC filter to go with the 38mm Panaview. Hoping this will be nice for larger nebs. I think I need to stop spending now! 😬 ...although I do need a padded bag.....

Well I’ve been told around 5 days (by Harrison Telescopes who I ordered from) - they place the order with AA who I know AA are on hols and will have a backlog when they return so I am not expecting it to be quick. I am also fully expecting somewhere along the line to be told that it’s not in stock after all! I’m not expecting a smooth ride but will be pleasantly surprised if it is.

After much consideration, I have been brave and pulled the trigger ....... https://www.altairastro.com/starwave-102ed-r-fpl53-refractor-459-p.asp We’ll see what happens next!

Been struggling with the Crescent, I've seen it, but it's been very faint and underwhelming - I probably need to try a dark sky and a different scope.