Alfian

I used an 9x50 raci finder on my Mak127 when I had it. The niggly problem here is that the position of the finder shoe results in the raci being a bit too close to my forehead when looking through the eyepiece. Not a big deal and not insurmountable but worth being aware of. The Rigel does work well too and is definitely better than the standard equipment RDF. I now have one on my 90 ETX.

I can believe that - the 90 Mak is a proper little marvel.

Until very recently I had an ED100 and very nice it was and never thought I'd part with it ...but I thought I would do something else ... its strange how things happen sometimes! I'm not in any bustin' hurry to buy another scope but the Altair looks nice and it doesn't hurt to look - at least until you have to pay the price of curiosity.

Following the "just one scope" thread which made me think of an ED102 F7 doublet, I've come across the new (?) Altair Ascent range of scopes. The ED102 F7 looks good at what seems like a keen price of £549 BUT given that the Starwave 102 ED-R is £899 and has FPL53 glass, I'm guessing the Ascent's glass is something a little less exotic. Does anybody have any knowledge or have a descent guess as to what the Ascent 102 F7 is about? https://www.altairastro.com/ASCENT-102ED-F7-Refractor-Telescope-Geared-Focuser.html https://www.altairastro.com/Starwave-102ED-FPL53-Refractor.html

This idea of "usefulness" is thought provoking. Useful for what (to quote Peter) and "useful planetary work"- but to whom with respect to above makes me reflect on the whys and wherefores of why I enjoy astronomy. Whilst the amateur astronomical community can make a valid contribution to the astronomical knowledge/research base, for me its usefulness is purely personal - although I guess there is a very very outside chance I might spot a comet or something before any one else but I doubt it! Keeping the grey cells active, enquiring, learning and staying engaged is useful! At the same time its enjoyable and fulfilling, most of the time. In this context the minimum aperture is one sufficient to float my personal boat which as someone has mentioned can be the Mk1 Eyeball or a small binocular. That's the minimum - the problems start when I wonder what the "ideal" (for me) would be and I'm still working on that one.

Thats a very interesting and edifying read Mike. Well done. Even with my limited experience and modest equipment I've occasionally observed a "doubtful" luna feature which then having scoured my books to identify, found was real and not just a trick of the light.

In terms of the cost and quality of what is availaible now compared to 30 years ago I think the goal posts have definitely moved. The SW 72ed mentioned is a good example. The discussion regarding "serious astromomy" and more casual (but keen!) observation just for pleasure is also an interesting. I often think when tempted to acquire yet another piece of equipment, when I don't use what I have nearly enough, what Galileo was using for "serious" astronomy. It puts me to shame.

Indeed!

Great find. Always worth a browse around the charity shops.

Oooooo! Nice setup.

If "nothing much" is the difference between finding an object or not, then "nothing much" will do very nicely!

@Louis D, I have no problem in travelling a "reasonable" distance to meet up with a potential buyer/seller and have done so in the past. As has been already said, travel costs here are something to consider so there will probably be a difference between what is "reasonable" here to that in the USA.

Thanks "CB". Good (in one sense) to get that kind of perspective ad sometimes I get that "is it me" kind of feeling. Insurance wise I'd come to the same conclusion as you. Not good, and frustrating.

I know this is thorny subject and has been discussed before but I am just having a beef. I noticed on the long running thread about the ED150 that packaging has been improved to withstand rough handling by couriers but I thought I'd relate a neighbours experience. He was waiting in for a delivery, saw the van arrive but before he could even get to the door the driver had taken the large box and thrown it down six stone steps where it landed at the door, got back in the van and drove away. Fortunately there was nothing breakable in the box and, I assume, it didn't need a signature. Generally most astro equipment posted is tracked and needs a signature but I take it as giving some indication of the "handling" that parcels get as it was with one of the supposedly "better" couriers. My neighbour did lodge a complaint. I recently put my ED100 up for sale. I could have sold it twice over if I could have got a courier whose insurance would have covered it for damage at anything like an acceptable cost to the buyer, or even for that matter sharing the cost. Some couriers will insure telescopes but in the small print it only covers loss not damage. I found one courier, (and I'm fairly sure it was the one that played netball with my neighbours parcel) that would cover damage but it cost the proverbial arm and a leg. So what do you do? Some items are fairly bullet proof but many are not so do you limit a sale to collection only or go for it and say a prayer?

Great stuff Phil, thats a magnificent achievement. Takes some courage and committment, let alone the financial outlay of two of everything, to embark on such a project. Respect.

One thought, assuming the focuser is stiff but still smooth. I think the rubber (?) coverered focuser knob is held fast on its shaft with a small allen bolt. Its possible that the knob is fouling the scope body making it stiff to turn. Slackening the allen bolt off and pulling the knob back a tad and retightening might do it. It might not but just an idea.

When you say shaking do you mean the image through the ep is shaking or that the focuser itself is somehow shaking? If its the first, what mount are you using? Higher power views which is what a mak is good for may give shaky views if the mount isn't adequate. In terms of the focuser stiffness, the SW 102 Mak I once had, had a "stiffer" focuser than the 4se mak that I have now but it had plenty of feel and was quite smooth in operation and gave no problems. If the focuset is stiff and feels to have a coarse action I would think there was a fault.

In visits to Galloway I've found that the sheer number of naked eye bright stars visible is not only wonderful in a jaw dropping way but initially a little confusing in that that the usual bright stars that I use for finding my way around are in part absorbed in the surrounding starlight. Its definitely not a problem to complain about and it sure makes you aware of what probably most of us to varying degrees are missing most of the time.

This is how I started out with Linux, many years ago,when It wasn't quite a s "friendly" as it is now, when even trying to get a printer to work with it was a head scratching job. There was also that fear of breaking what was working OK, so an old PC where you could simply format everything and start again and run the BIOS back to default was good! If anyone has an old machine and, as has been said, some linux distros will work with a very meagre spec its a perfect way to have a dabble with something new. That said, things are much easier than they were, If I fancy a go with a different distro, I first load it onto a bootable memory stick and play around with it for a few days to see how good it is and to make sure it will work with all my kit, only then, if I like it, will I dual boot it alongside my everyday setup.

That is not my experience at all. I've found what documentation I need mostly pretty easy to follow. The "mostly" is reference to the very odd occasions when I've resorted to configuring something via the command line. Even then a search on the many Linux forums will inevitably come up with instructions that will either talk me through it or its a simple copy/paste of commands. Even though I've been playing with Linux a long time, I'm no expert and I've found it easy to use and infinitely less frustrating than recent incarnations of Windows.

The way I would go with it is, as commented, to play around with a Linux distro or two, either on a "Live CD" or a memory stick and get a feel for it. One good reason for doing this is that you can check whether other bit of gear, printers, Wifi adapters etc will work with the distro. Linux is so much better now than it used to be regarding this but its wise to check. There are so many distros availabe, some very user friendly, some still a little bit geeky and or/specialist, but those like Ubuntu or Mint to name just two of the better known popular ones do use a Graphical User Interface that is a window/menu/icon based front end that though different to MS windows will look and feel familiar and intuitive and may surprise people who have never used Linux in terms of its level of easy sophistication. I currenetlu use MX Linux and i find it a nice balance between functionality, simplicity, speed and aesthetics. I dont need lots of bells and whistles. When ready you can then either install as a dual boot system, as mentioned by Redscouse, (the live cd/installation disc) will usually give this option, or you can choose to wipe the entire hard drive and do a complete fresh install of the Linux distro. Clearly and this is IMPORTANT you need to back up any data you have on a PC onto a memory stick or CD/DVD in fact before you decide to modify your PC in any way BACKUP your files! One option is to install a second hard drive (cheap and easy) and via the system BiOS you can run both MS windows and Linux, totally independently of one another. This is how I used to run mine until I ditched MS altogether a few years ago. At some of the bigger newsagents there are some linux magazines which are effectively starter packs including a DVD that are a good "hold your hand" way of starting with Linux.

These days there is not a lot to understanding Linux. There are so many flavours (distributions) of Linux available with differing front ends (GUI) that you can pick one to suit yourself. It is easy to download a version of linux (have a look on the Distrowatch) as an iso file and burn it onto a CD or DVD, depending on size, or even onto a data stick and boot it up independently of your Windows system and just have a play around with it. If you don't like it, try something else. A good well tried start is with Ubuntu or Mint which tend to satisfy a lot of people strait out of the box. I've played around with Linux for years, when it was deemed a bit geeky, but now its main stream and easy and I wouldn't use anything else. My wife's recently bought laptop runs Windows10 and I have so struggled with it setting it up and getting it running optimally (huh). It is slow (has a fastish i5 CPU in it), feels "old" in the way it works, and don't get me started on the update malarkey. If it was mine I'd wipe it and bung Linux on it!

....and why not! Exciting times.

I assume this explains the recent sale of several nice items.

1976 - the year of standpipes in the streets and reservoirs reduced to near muddy pools. The rain was very welcome.