johninderby
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Posts posted by johninderby
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2 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:
The best view I had of Saturn (when it was overhead), was through an OMC-140. That has an aperture of 140mm and a primary of 150mm. I expect a Skymax 150 would be similar in size - can anyone confirm this?
The Skymax 150 is about 142mm. The OMC 140 I had was a bit of a frustrating scope. Super sensative to seeing conditions. When seeing was great it gave great views but in average seeing was disapointing.
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The pulleys and belts have to be bought seperately but are easily available from eBay or Amazon as they are also used for 3D printers. The details are in my thread.
You don’t need the GPS unit to make the Starsense work as all it does is enter your position and time for you instead of having to manually enter them with the hand control every time you turn on the scope. A convenience rather than a necessity.
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On the 150 the finder shoe is bolted through the tube itself so it would mean taking the scope apart to fit an extra finder shoe.
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Just now, FLO said:
Is it this one?
Steve
Yes that’s the one. I find it has a small edge in performance over the Skymax but then it is more expensive.
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As far as Iknow they haven’t changed the Skymax maks so assume they are are all slightly under aperture.
Also have a Bresser 127 mak which is a full 127mm aperture and a longer focal length than the Skymax 127 and the OTA is bigger in diameter. Just that bit sharper and a bit more contrast.
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I think the bottom line is the Skymax 180 simply works. Not perfect but capable of giving very satisfying lunar / planetary views.
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I found the Pentax xf zoom was slightly better but not a huge amount.
The TS version of the Lunt zoom is on special right now at Telescope Express and a great buy.
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You could always use a dual finder bracket like this. Would have to see if the finder base would give enough clearannce to miss the visual back/ diagonal.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Orion-Finder-Scope-Mounting-Bracket/dp/B00D2LEHIU
There used to be a focus motor made for the mak but that was years ago. Was called the Gskyfocuser for mak.
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The 180 mak has two sets of threaded mounting holes for a finder shoe so you can fit the finder on one side or the other. I simply screwed a second shoe in place using two screws.
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I added a second finder shoe. Many maks have two finder mounting positions. Which mak do you have?
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It’s not hard to adapt a Skywatcher Auto Focus motor to your mak.
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Good spot 👍🏻
Had to look at this Nasa/sdo image to spot them.
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It has a lot to do with how rarely is seeing good enough to take advantage of a perfectly collimated large scope. Most of the time the mak will give great lunar / planetary views despite the seeing not being that good and collimation is not a problem with most maks. It’s potential vs real world conditions particularily in the UK.
A big dob can produce fantasrtic views on those rare occasions when everything is just right though. 👍🏻
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Hi
I replced the diagonal with a William Optics SCT diagonal but any decent 2” dielectric diagonal will do and often for sale second hand.
I originally fitted a Badder crayford focuser but removed it as it made the scope very back heavy. Have now fitted a Skywatcher Autofocus motor. No vibration when focusing.
Recommend changing the stock dovetail saddle for a decent one such as the Primaluce one. You’ll need the mounting puck as well. Link is to the AZ-EQ5 puck but they do an AZ-EQ6 puck as well.
The tube rings can be ordered from Orion Optics UK. Rolled tube rings 216mm. I fitted a handle from WDS Ltd. There is a bit of DIY involved in drilling mounting holes in the rings but nothing difficult. So much easier to fit the scope to the mount when you can hold the scope one handed and tigthen the saddle bolts with the other hand.
https://www.orionoptics.co.uk/ACCESSORIES/tuberingsa.html
I’m using an AZ-EQ5 GT mount and it handles it fine. I use it mostly in Alt-Az mode which is fine for lunar / planetary imaging as it’s all short exposures.
Yes you can get the Starsense unit for the Skywatcher mount but note that it will only work with the expensive Celestron GPS acessory not the Skywatcher one. Not really needed but convieient.
I replaced the stock straight through finder with the right angled version. Also don’t forget to get a dew shield.
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Good news. You seem to be getting things sorted out. 👍🏻
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Download the Synscan hand control manual and you will,find a lot of usefull info. The manual that comes with the scope is more of a quick start one and useless if you want proper info.
https://skywatcher.com/download/manual/synscan-hand-control-and-synscan-app/
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I’m hoping to do some comparison shots with and without the filter.
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There is an old saying.....Don’t throw good money after bad. Better to save up for something a bit better. Say a Skywatcher Heritage 100P at £100.00 or a bit more for a Heritage 130P.
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Unfortunately finding the right part is going to be nearly impossible and you shouldn’t pay more than a few pounds for one if you could find one.
For comparrison purposes a complete new Skywatcher 114 newt OTA can be had for £40.00.
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The Altair IR Pass filter is a good buy and excellent for linar imaging.
https://www.altairastro.com/Altair-Astro-Planet-Killer-685nm-Premium-IR-Pass-Filter.html
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Telescope Express TS 100 degree but some differences. .???
Haven’t seen one myself but imagine they will be available under a few brand name
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I just make my own step up converters using a standard module. Even cheaper if ordered dorect from China.
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At the recent protests in London noted that a certain celebrity flew in from LA for the day just to attend the protest. When reminded that they were protesting among other things about the effects of air travel she just said well I just had to be here. 🙄
Hypocrisy
“the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case.”
Oops........Posted in the wrong thread but I’ll leave it.
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32 minutes ago, Alan White said:
Nice One John, but -
No, No, No.....that text is wrong 😂
Should read, 'Packaged with best West Country Cloud and Rain'
None of this PC brigade May Contain!!@FLO please take note 😉
Something along these lines then. 😁
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Why are Maks so good on planets ?
in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups
Posted · Edited by johninderby
My OMC140 was the carbon fibre tube with 1/10pv optics. Eek just took at look at OOs current prices and they don’t show the 1/10pv option price. 🙀🙀🙀