johninderby

And a couple of stainless steel knobs arrived from WDS. Will make tightening down the dovetail saddle a lot easier as you can get a proper grip unlike the stock knobs.

Tube rings and focuser for the 8” Cassegrain. Now Big Red can have it’s Steeltrack back. TS 2.5” R&P focuser and the tube rings will let me set up the scope for an Alt-Az mount properly.

I have seen comparison tests that do show that the cheap dielectric diagonals are not terrible but lack contrast in particular compared to the big name brands. Also often the mirrors aren’t mounted well and some stick out into the light path blocking a bit of the aperture. The Orion and Celestron are not quite as good as say the WO or ES or GSO quartz diagonals. Must be said though that when you get to the price point of the WO paying more doesn’t seem to make any real difference.

Now sold

Just so happens my TS-AZ5 will be going up for sale next month when I get my AZ100.

Shoild have put keep your eyes open for a second hand refractor version and if you do find one then sell yours. There is of course one way to make several second hand ones pop up. Just buy a new one and next day.......

I much prefer seeing the latest post in a thread. So annoying to have to wade through a load of posts from the beginning. of a thread. Easy enough to click on the left arrow and go to the beginning if that’s what you want.

Sale pending

Or if you really want something special the new Rowan AZ100.

Well let the 8” Cassegrain cool for an hour. Dew was dripping off the scope and had to wipe off the finder and eyepiece but zero dew on the scope primary or secondary. Had read that this scope just doesn’t dew up. Took a tour of the moons termintor and was impressed by the sharpness, contrast and detail showing. Then tried the Morpheus 4.5 which would give 541 mag. All I can say is wow. Unbeliveabe detail !!! The sensation of just floating above the moons surface was remarakable. I had thought the Skymax 180 was a good lunar scope but this is in a different league. I could see more detail than I ever did in the 180. And this was with mist and not great seeing. Can’t wait for a clear night with great seeing And also the collimation needs some fine tuning.

Bit of mist and a nearly fulll moon. Not many stars visable but set up the new 8” Cassegrain anyway. Was impressed with how sharp and clear the terminator (such as it was) was with no cool down time at all. How unlike the Skymax180. Left it cooling down and will see how much better it performs with some cool down time.

The makn problem is the newt version of the Steeltrack has only 40mm drawtube travel whereas the refractor has 80mm. Much better to sell yours and buy a second hand refractor version. There are other differences in the design as well.

The stock clamps ade very poor. Definately need changing for sonething better.

Sky-Watcher AZ5 Deluxe Alt-Azimuth Mount Only bought this on 30th September as a replacement for a Manfrotto 405 geared head that developed a problem. Was able to obtain the parts needed for the 405 after all and it is now working perfectly again so the AZ5 mount is now surplus to requirements. Replaced the clutch lock knobs with some better easier to grip ones. £99.00 Collected (UK Shipping by DPD £10.00) S O L D FEATURES Helical Worm Gear Drive: 96 Teeth Alt & AZ Axes Mount Rotation Angle (Continuous): 360° (Azimuth), -50° to + 90° (Altitude) Payload Capacity: 9kg with steel tripod / 5kg with AZ5 lightweight tripod. Two-Position Adjustable Altitude Fork Arm 45mm Sky-Watcher/Vixen Dovetail Saddle 2 x Flexible Slow-Motion Axis Drive Cables 3/8" Threaded connection Weight: 2.3kg head only / 4.9kg Payment: PayPal (buyer pays fees) or Bank Transfer John

You needed the mounting flange from the RT adapter set intended for the original Steeltrack. https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/baader-steeltrack-rt-adaptor-set-for-celestron-skywatcher-refractors.html This just arrived today and bought on eBay.