kenmyers

down at the bottom of the page is a change theme link. It will give you an option of a standard theme for the software. This should work fine with IE9 (TBH this theme does work fine with my ie9), but be warned it's a tad on the bright side... Sun glasses may be required.

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cheers

ant

Brilliant this theme works great for me. Bright is an understatement! haha. Thank you very much.

Oh and we should be allowed to say pin [removed word] when describing a d.i.y. mod.

pin [removed word] - *1. *A slight puncture made by or as if by a pin.*2. *An insignificant wound.*3. *A minor annoyance.

more COLOUR compatibility with internet explorer 9. I can only use that browser. At the moment I have to click and drag to hilight text to read it, otherwise it is invisible. everything else is pretty cool.

I have been using the slomo controls for years and years now and really think it will improve my nights if I get a motor tracked mount so I can spend longer looking and less time fiddling. I can't wait but also do not want to rush in and buy something I will regret.

I use a 25mm eyepiece to find objects, I used to use a 20mm for this but the 25mm is so much better. It is also great for framing the whole moon and finding some DSO's like andromeda galaxy and beehive cluster etc. I don't really use the 20mm anymore unless I have it barlowedx2 for jupiters and moons.

I have a 12.5mm which is awesome and saturn is epic through it. This also barlows well for our size scope letting you see Jupiter scarily close and detailed and saturn looks splendidly crisp with it.

I have a 4mm and a 6mm which I use mostly for nebula like orion nebula (it looks fantastic with these tiny lenses and can easily and clearly define the triangulum group of stars) the 4mm is also good for saturn and jupiter and sometimes, on a really clear night, mars. I use the 6mm for the moon mostly. It is fab.

You have a 20mm, using the x2 barlow it becomes a 10mm, using the x3 barlow it becomes a 6.6mm.

You have a 6mm, using the x2 barlow it becomes a 3mm, using the x3 barlow it becomes a 2mm (your scope can not handle 2mm eyepieces and the 3mm will be mostly useless untill you find Saturn)

I would suggest a good 25mm (great for everything and barlows x2 to 12.5mm and x3 to 8.3mm) a 25mm for those full moon and DSO spotting sessions, barlow x2 for to see nebula and planets and barlow x3 to see finer detail in those. Think about the range you can make up using the barlows so you dont overlap too much.

Great work, I look forward to seeing the video.

I have a similar scope as your's and I love it so I hope you find it as good as I do. For stability of your mount try hanging a weighted bag from the mount, it stops the wind wobbling your scope so much.

Orion nebula will look great and it's the perfect time of year for it too. What size eyepieces did you get?

Brilliant. What method did you use to centre spot the mirror?

I guess you followed a guide on cleaning the primary?

Very brave, well done.

Enjoy your views.

I found some great videos on youtube on how to collimate. Their are two ways/tools for doing this.

One called a cheshire collimator and the other called a laser collimator.

The laser is simple and very effective and super fast, but more expensive.

The cheshire is litterally an old negatives film casing with a hole pierced in the centre.

I can't link you as youtube is blocked at my work.

could it be the quality of the diagonal? perhaps the TASCO one is poor and the other a lot better? if there's a way to swap them across try it? perhaps you could at least try the 1inch one in the celestron with the adapter on the nosepiece of the diagonal so it will fit the celestron drawtube?

It is a Newtonian scope he is using. Diagonal not needed.

Perhaps I should also add that I used the same 20mm EP in the Tasco in the day and had it focused in on a few rooftop birds half a mile or so away and it looked fine then

Any possibility that a diffuse cloud was in front of the moon blurring it?

You wont have any problems using the 1.25" eyepieces in the 0.965" focusser if you have the adaptor. It is litterally only a problem if the focusser is too small to fit them in, but you are ok.

If you are getting clear views with the same eyepiece in another scope - panic.

joke

DONT PANIC

Try collimating your new scope and/or check how clean the secondry mirror is. (look in the focusser without the eyepiece in place)

oooooooh... take off the moon filter!(it might help a little untill you figure this out) and try pulling back the focus all the way and then slowly bring it back in to clarity if possible. You should see some ring pattern before focus, ie the moon/star has a hole in it surrounded by a disc of light. this is a way to check your colimation.

hope some of this helps.

ps your new tasco should be a magnitude of order better than the celestron you have. keep at it.

possibilities:

1 Are you in focus?

2 Colimation is well worth doing and very easy.

3 Dew/misty eyepiece/main mirror = leave scope outside for longer to cool down and demist itself.

4 Check eyepiece quality under a lamp checking for defects and dirt.

5 you are using the wrong eyepiece for the moon.

What size is the eyepiece you are using? it should have it'S focal length written in mm's. If it is around 20mm you should see the moon brilliantly clear and most of it in one frame. If it is around 10mm you are very zoomed in and the image will be harder to focus but take some time with it to get it right.

any details you can provide will help us help you better.

Brilliant post, very informative and well descript.

Thank you very much.