johninderby

Maybe it’s time for something new in Alt Az mounts. Magnetic brakes to control resistance perhaps and a remote with the slo mo knobs and braking resistance knobs on it. Of course that would mean drive motors but simple low powered ones would be good enough. Or maybe just the regular clutches with the motorised slo mo controls on a remote. Hmmmmmmmm 🤔

It’s the same OTA but mine was refinished in silver.

Used to have one although fitted with a new Crayford and it focused with no problems.🤔 It was a very, very heavy beast though. About 17kg for the OTA.

Have looked at the AZ8 and thought maybe someday but the TS-AZ5 I have now works so well. Seems better set up than the Skytee II and no problem with backlash.

I use one of the Omegon errect image prisims with my Lumicon finder with Big Red my Carton 100 f/13. Very good prisim although not as good as the Baader in a scope. Miles better than the type of diagonal usually used in a finder. 🙂 Works well with the 127 Mak for daytime terrestrial observing.

With the Baader prism images will still be reveresed left to right as with a mirror diagonal.

I use the Baader T2 prism with the fine focuser top with my Bresser 127 Mak. Works OK although not a lot of difference to a decent dielectric mirror diagonal. The fine focuser is useful though.

The tracking speed of a GOTO mount never changes except when you select lunar or solar tracking modes. Magnification is irrelevant. The illusion of Saturn moving faster at higher mag in a dob is just that an illusion. .It’s just a case of at higher mag you are seeing a smaller patch of sky so Saturn moves out of the smaller patch of sky more quickly.

Primitive and crude though it may be the Skytee just plain works. Had a couple of Giro mounts but only have the Skytee (TS equiv.) now. I simply like using it better than the Giro. Now a Skytee engineered to the same standards as the Giro would be a winner. 👍🏻

Buy the proper non shedding flocking material as sold by FLO. Regular flocking as found in a local shop does indeed shed. Also when flocking an SCT or Mak get some acetate 600micron sheet to make a slip in liner and apply the flocking to the acetate sheet. Much neater job than trying to stick it to the inside of the tube. You could also use Protostar Flockboard but the cost of importing into the UK is prohibitive.

The Hyperflex zoom is cheaper and will perform just as well as the Baader in a slow scope like the mak. It’s an excellent zoom and is the same eyepiece as the Lunt zoom. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ovl-eyepieces/hyperflex-72mm-215mm-eyepiece.html

Orientation used to be important in earler Celestron SCTs when mirrors were hand finished and were a matched set but now with machine finished mirrors doesn’t seem ro matter any more.

The image going through my mind accompanied by the Benny Hill theme. 😂😂😂

Think you need a field mower like this. 😁

A little something from Germany. 🙂

Yes at last Orion is back. 😁👍🏻

You should note that the Opticstar is an all metal bodied construction with decent nosepiece and eyepiece holder. Good mechanical build quality. Almost all at that price point are just lightweight moulded plastic bodies and cheap nospiece and eyepiece holders.

Unfortunately not. For the Skymax and SCTs you need a focuser with about 30mm drawtube travel. The ED80 focuser has several times that and as the drawtube can’t fit inside the scope it simply won’t fit. You need an SCT fit focuser.. Motorising the focuser ia another option.

Found a photo of a somewhat similar though smaller old Ross refractor with a tapered tube.

No problem buying off eBay if you are buying from a proper dealers eBay shop or you could buy direct from their bricks and mortar shop. http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Accessories-Telescopes-Opticstar.asp?p=0_10_5_1_8_201

Better getting a better quality mirror diagonal. This one has reasonable build quality. Not a high grade mirror in it but still up to the job. Have used this one and it was not bad at all. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Opticstar-1-25-Deluxe-Diagonal-UK/322821924245?hash=item4b29afa595:g:5usAAOSw9XhZ3zMZ

Lot of cloud and mist around but at least the moon was visible so spent some time observing it. Was impressed by how sharp and contrasty the image was and just how much detail could be seen. The 7mm Nirvana and neodymium worked really well. Looking forward to trying the Badder Morpheous 4.5mm when it arrives. 🙂 Managed to carry out a star test through a break in the clouds as well. Talk about a text book airy disk. The rings were evenly spaced and very clearly defined and showed no signs of any aberations. Can’t ever remember having a star test this well defined with the old 250px. The TS Concenter and Hotech laser combo worked perfectly. The Concenter made getting the secondary spot on straight forward and the Hotech finished the job. Collimation is so close to perfect didn’t bother fine tuning it during the star test. All in all impressed with the way the scope performed tonight even though there wasn’t much to look at other than the moon. 👍🏻

They make smartphones with 10,000mah batteries. https://www.amazon.co.uk/10000-Battery-OUKITEL-K7-Smartphone/dp/B07DZYRCXK/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_107_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=02SQ1A67EN5C0288H24V

It’s really a daytime spotting scope zoom optimised for daytime use that just happens to have the perfect characteristics for HA. Very sharp and contrasty. Shows distorions when used for night time observing though.

The best zoom for HA is the Pentax XF zoom. One of the very best HA eyepieces period. Fpund it was just as good as a Baader ortho on HA. Rubbish on regular night time observing though. https://www.wexphotovideo.com/pentax-xf-65-195mm-zoom-eyepiece-1529787/?mkwid=s9OF3Sj7c_dt&pcrid=310558796128&kword=&match=&plid=&product=1529787&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_IWfosjV5AIVFuDtCh1gfQHEEAQYASABEgJvX_D_BwE A very good lower cost zoom for HA is the OVL Hyperfex. Same as the Lunt zoom. https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/skywatcher-hyperflex-7e-7.2---21.5mm-zoom-eyepiece-1.25.html#SID=239