vlebo

Thanks Globular

2 hours ago, Louis D said:

@vlebo Please take a picture of where the Pentax XW 30mm has an S in its designation.  Perhaps you have a misprint, and thus a collectible.

My sincerest apologies…… the letter is an R 

My mistake 

Hi all 

I'm looking at selling my XW 30 , 20 and 10 Pentax XW eyepieces and I see the new 30mm has -S after it .

is this a new model or are they still the same spec as my 3 eyepieces  ?

Chris

17 hours ago, Starwatcher2001 said:

This is my C9.25 Evo on alt-az mount. I'm 60 and out of shape (well round is a shape I suppose), but can take this through the house, assemble it, align it with StarSense and be observing inside 20 minutes.

The tripod is the heaviest but doesn't need to be lifted high. The bolt for the accessory tray unscrews and drops down without coming all the way off. That allows the tray to be dropped and twisted around, allowing it to be collapsed together without needing any further dismantling. Both the mount and the tube have carrying handles, so it's three trips indoors for the scope and one more for the eyepiece case and assorted other stuff.

I've only had it a few months, so haven't travelled with it, but don't think there'll be any problems getting it in the car. Packing it to prevent it rolling around will need a bit of thought. I'm thinking tripod in the boot, mount and tube on back seats wrapped in a sleeping bag and seatbelted up. I'm sure the lot would go in the boot if necessary. (It's a lot lighter and smaller than my diving rig).

I do like this setup but with the extra eyepiece i want to get ( Pentax 7mm ) its getting out of budget ....very nice tho !

18 hours ago, nfotis said:

The C9.25 is approaching the limit of what can be carried by a single person. I have carried mine in an IKEA shoulder bag, so it's feasible (I am 1.80 meters, and not that athletic).

My HEQ5 mount can be carried with its tripod over a short distance without counterweights. An EQ5 mount or similar is (I think) the lower limit in stability and load capacity for visual observation.

 

This mount might be usable, if you want Alt-Az

http://skywatcher.com/product/az-eq5-synscan-wpier-tripod/

 

N.F.

 

It starts to get complicated with driven mounts , power supplies etc ! I'm trying to keep it simple but thats a good mount for home viewing !

20 hours ago, dweller25 said:

I’m guessing a Skytee 2 might be a good option for a C9.25 ?

That's what I was thinking . Hopefully it would be stable enough .

14 minutes ago, Pete Presland said:

I have a C9.25 and I love it, I use more than any other scope I own.

For simplicity though, I would think a large Dob would be difficult to beat for visual astronomy. Lightweight and easy to transport as well, I guess the only thing maybe is how do you feel about the collimation? 

I don't have a problem with collimating as I previously owned a 300p Flex . I was just thinking of something less cumbersome as the 300p is stil a big lump to transport around 

Thank you 

Hi all

I'm still undecided which way to go with my new setup .

I was going to go for a large dob for keeping at home but now I'm thinking of something more portable to take up to my grandson in Gloucester as he's interested in Astronomy  and also to be able to take to dark sights if I need to .

I'm thinking of the C9.25 as I've read great reviews on it and it will be on an alt az mount for quick setup . It's all about the uncomplicated pure viewing and ease of set up for me .

Do you think it's a wise choice ?

Thanks 

Chris

Thank you so much for tyour input everyone .

I did decide to go with the 130p or 150p Heritage scopes but could not find any available until end October/November so i opted for the Heritagfe 100p . Not my first choice as I mentioned but its his b/day next sunday and i wanted to give it to him then . 

Thanks Mick 

That is helpful as that scope has good aperture and will not need collimating !

A little more than I wanted to spend but if he loses interest I could always have it back as a grab and go as you say :)))

Thanks

26 minutes ago, Red Top Miguel said:

Good Morning and welcome,

Not sure on your budget but have you considered this:

1. Sky-Watcher Explorer-130PS AZ5 Deluxe

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az5-deluxe/sky-watcher-explorer-130ps-az5-deluxe.html

It comes with an AZ5 Mount which is great for beginners. The primary mirror is non-collimateable as it’s fixed, I’ve had mine at least 6 months and I’ve not seen a change in that time. It’s a great all-rounder and an ideal grab & go telescope. 
I bought mine following advice from JohnInDerby who is part of this forum and vastly more experienced than me! 

Hope this helps Mick

 

 

Hi all 

I need some advice please !

It's my grandsons birthday in a couple of weeks , he will be 8 , and he's shown an interest in Astronomy .

I want ot get him his first telescope but I don't want to spend a lot as he may lose interest , kids being kids etc .

I want it to be easy to use as in grab and go , but also big enough to pique his interest and for him to see Jupiters moons  , Saturns rings , possibly The Orion Nebula etc.

Iv'e seen the Skywatcher Heritage 130 and 150 but a little put off by it possibly needing collimation every now and then , the problem with that is he's 150 miles away !!!!

Any suggestions greatly appreciated 

Vlebo 

3 hours ago, vlebo said:

Sorry guys .. I posted the pics by mistake, my intention was to elaborate a bit on why I chose this setup and for any opinions on how to improve it but I couldn’t delete it and start again !! Sorry if it sounded a little abrupt

I previously had a 300 Flextube which I reluctantly sold a few years back and now Im looking at getting back into my Astronomy have been toying with the 14" .

Common sense has prevailed as I recall the 300p being more transprtable and easier to manage and the savings on the 14" will be going towards a XW eyepiece , Moonlite Focuser etc 

I think it’s gonna be the 7mm for now ! I’ll use it for a while and see how it goes with thoughts of getting the 5mm at a later date ! Thank you so much for all your feedback 

Chris 

Hi all 

After an extremely long lay off from stargazing I'm soon  planning on getting a new setup which will be purely visual.

I'm planning on getting a Skywatcher 300p Dob .

I ,wisely , kept my eyepieces , which consist of Pentax XW30 , 20 and 10mm and I'm looking to add one more , either the 7mm or the 5mm . 

Can't decide between the two ....... any suggestions greatly appreciated 

Chris 

http://www.altairastro.com/starwave-152mm-f5.9-achromat-refractor-telescope-with-3-crayford-focuser.html

Not yet but delivery soon I hope !!

Part 2

Initial assembly

I remember that assembling the telescope took longer than I expected.  You have to glue the secondary in place, so it takes at least 24 hours, and there is quite a lot to assemble all of which you are doing for the first time.    I actually let the secondary sit for two days as it was standing in a cold place.

There was a near disaster the first time I attached the top ring: I lost control and it went crashing to a concrete floor bending one of the truss tubes on the way down.     Fortunately this happened before the secondary was installed and the bend was in the flat bit near the end so I was able to straighten it by placing it on the floor and bashing it with a hammer.  The focuser tightness then needed adjusting but overall I seem to have got away with it.

A lesson from this is that installing the top ring is a fiddly process that can go wrong because having located it on one pair of tubes, you cannot assume it will not jump off.  (Fast forward to October 2014 and I have installed a barrel bolt experimentally as a quick way to lock one pair of tubes with one hand to secure it for a few seconds while I fiddle with the others.  I'm hoping the risk of dropping the thing will now go away forever.)

UL16_bolt-001.jpg

In any case, it helps to have elastic bands or cable ties to keep the tubes together when putting the top ring on.

In one of the Formica strips there was some minor damage (which I just put up with) and some unglueing.  It does not seem to have cause much harm.  I have had some trouble with it but glueing with Copydex (rubber solution) rather than the recommended contact adhesive seems to have worked.

I did do some other minor damage when assembling it.    The whole telescope is a bit delicate.  Once assembled, it is strong enough if you are sensible with it but I would not like to have unruly people getting too close.  However, I guess delicacy is inevitable with such a light structure, and being light is very much the point.

A bug was that the wing nuts used as lock nuts on the feet don't stay locked.  This can have a nasty effect because they tend to wind inwards so the other end stands proud above the lazy Susan where it can foul on things as the telescope rotates.  The solution was to fill the space with washers so there is a hard limit on how far a foot can screw in.

UL16_foot-001.jpg

Another bug: the collimation springs were not strong enough.  This seems to be a plague in Dobs by other makers too.  Weird.  I seem to remember that an effect was losing pointing accuracy when looking high up as the mirror started to drift (this was before I figured out what was happening, let alone trying for good collimation).  Another effect was that if the mirror box was in the car, bits would fall off during the journey.  I fixed this by getting some new springs from RS Components.

Bug three: the secondary mirror could not be placed exactly in line with the focuser (this only became clear in 2014 after the CatsEye collimation kit arrived).  I used it for a long time with it shoved as far as it would go and eventually used a needle file to lengthen two of the slots enough for it to fit.  This problem probably happened because the top ring is not a perfect dodecahedron.

Bug four: the finder is not focused on the cross hair (and cannot be adjusted at that end).  My guess is that I happen to have a bad one.  I did not realise exactly what was wrong early enough for it to be worth getting a new one sent over.  Eventually I intend to glue a cheap lens to the back of it so that I can see the cross hairs.  It is not that big a problem though or I would have already done something about it.

Bug five: the finder would not stay still in its mounting but tended to slide down.  That meant that the lens bell would catch under the mounting ring and then I could not align the finder with the telescope until I had worked out what was happening.  Solution: a ring of cardboard that stops it slipping down too far.

UL16_finder_ring-001.jpg

Hubble Optics do not supply a mirror cover.  The reason probably is that with their sling arrangement, a good cover is hard to make.  I made two covers.

The upper cover is a large sheet of polycarbonate that I happened to have, with some nylon screws to act as locators.  It is strong and turns the mirror box into a useful table when you are fiddling with things.  It is off-white coloured which is a good thing because a concave mirror must not be kept under a transparent cover if you don't want your house to catch fire some sunny day.

UL16_covers-001.jpg

The lower cover is a large sheet of cardboard tediously bent at the edge to be close fitting and is supposed to keep dust and cooking vapours out.  It does not seem to work.  I suspect that the cardboard itself is shedding dust.  Eventually I intend to replace it with something yet to be designed.  And then I shall think carefully about cleaning the mirror...

With that many bugs I would call Rentokill !!!!! 

I dropped a client off in Tring yesterday so I popped into the Tring Astronomy Centre yesterday for a look around . Was  greeted with a warm hello by a lady who immediately asked if I would like a tea or coffee. They had a fair few scope on display from Skywatcher  and Celestron and Vixen. I got talking to a very friendly and helpful gentleman who 's name unfortunately escapes me ( I must pay more attention when people speak ) and he gave me some very helpful advice with regards to my next scope purchase which is  long overdue . I also got to have a play around with the Altair Astro Sabre Mount and was very impressed.  That with a Celestron C9.25 attached does seem quite tempting !

Overall a very pleasant and friendly experience and as they are only 30 mins from me may become a regular haunt during my travels.

RIP Sir Patrick. He brought astronomy to the masses for many years and no doubt sparked an interest in our hobby for many people all over the world.