johninderby

Made up for Jupiter. Will try again later to see if things have improved. The little mak is showing great detail on the moon at the moment

Good to see another CC owner. Yes I was impressed with the build quality of it. Very solid scope. One thing I found was that sometimes it was difficult to remove the cover if you overtightened it Hence the knob.

Very unsteady seeing tonight as far as Jupiter was concerned. Occasionally seeing would improve for a minute and you could see good detail on then the detail would vanish for a few minutes then would improve for another minute and so on. Saturn was much better for some reason and showed good detail. Still at least got to try out the little Bresser 100 mak.

A top quality marine ply will outlast you. Marine ply is used as it doesn’t have voids in between the layers and is very strong. I have seen cheap marine ply that has poor quality outer layers which is important if you want a nice finish. Remember it’s the grade of ply that is important not just the type.

Place a wanted ad in the Astro Classified section. Someone is likely to have one they don’t want.

With the ZWO120 seliing fpr less tha £100.00 used that’s an easy decisuion. Hers a SPC900 that tecently sold on ABS for £20.00 cooled and with a Baader filter. https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=162840

Silicone sealant works really well so maybe try that.

OK Fri night but cloudy Sat night and rain and thunder showers all night on Sun and Mon.

When I ordered my Pentax XW 5mm recently from FLO it showed as in stock and indeed was shipped next working day.

Try Telescope Express. They do high quality custom spiders as well as pre-made. Also like their adjustable secondary holders. https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/index.php/cat/c64_Telescope-Making-----mechanical-parts.html/page/2

Can only go on my own experience but have found FLOs stock level indicators to be spot on and things are delivered within a day or two if shown as in stock. Have occasionaly dealt with RVO and found them also to be a good reputable company.

Yes I did order direct as no one else had it in stock. Shipping was a bit expensive though. They are closed until the 17th August so I got my order in the day before they closed down for their summer holiday. Cheaper shipping from APM https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Berlebach-Stativ-Report-312-fur-die-Astronomie/132516655677?hash=item1eda9bb23d:g:i5QAAOSwx4Zakndu Perhaps worth asking FLO if they can order one in for you when Berlebach reopens.

They are about the same price but after measuring things up decided the 212 was the right height for what I wanted and will take a bit more weight. Minimim heights are 27” for the 212 and 31” for the 312. Max height for the 212 is 45” and for the 312 55””.

My little Bresser mak came with a solar filter. It’s the thick film type that shows the sun in yellow. Not as good as the Baader film but quite usable.

Just for the alt and az bearing surfaces.

They are almost the same but have different leg attachment arrangements as the regular one allows you to set the legs at various angles., The spreader and tray if bought seperately come to about £110.00. BTW the 212 is rated at 20kg.

Glad to hear you have finally got things sorted. It will be worth waiting for and at least the nights will be a bit darker by then as well. One other thing to get is some Turtle Wax to wax the bearing surfaces with. Only the original Turtle Wax works and no other brand works as well. I experimented with different things and found this to be by far the best. It has been recommened for years for a good reason. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00068OL1A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cloudy tonight and was supposed to be good Thursday night but latest forecast is showing cloud and maybe some clearing later on. Oh well at east the forecast is still good for Fri and Sat night.

Yes nice to see images from the CC. Although I use mine for visual love using it and wouldn’t go back to an 8” SCT.

First (sun) light. Had a chance to try it with the provided solar filter. Not bad at all but the filter uses the thick film that gives the sun a yellow colour. Not as good as Baader film but still quite serviceable. Won’t be replacing my StellaMira 80 with solar wedge anytime soon but would give the beginner an intro to solar observing.

The AZ-GTe is a lower cost version and is identical to the AZ-GTi, except Freedom-Find™ dual-axis encoders are not present.

A used ZWO 120 is currently selling for about £95.00 posted for the basic usb 2.0 version. but as mentioned above so much better than the old SP900.

Lokking at prices that they have sold for on Astrobusell the average price for a standard SPC900NC with nosepiece seems to be about £30.00 to £35.00. Modified ones or ones with extra adaptors do go for a bit more though.

Ha ha. No but it is a very nice teak table.

And on the Manfrotto 405 head for a really light setup.