Live_Steam_Mad

OK so I just booked pitch #8 with EHU, for 7th through 10th October, 3 nights, I will be using a small ish tent, and will be bringing EQ6-R and 12" ACF SCT and a bunch of the green eyepieces and LPR filters in wheels. Looking forwards to meeting everyone in the Astro Group! I had wanted pitch #25 but alas looks like I left it too late, but at least I did manage to grab a pitch with EHU near the group. Best Regards, Alistair G.

Can I ask if there are going to be non-Astronomers attending at the same time? If I was observing at night and made any noise (with my mount slewing etc) I don't want to get a telling off by any non-Astronomer who would want to be asleep at that time. Also I was going to book for Brecon Astrocamp 2021 this October so I don't know which to choose from now (I've never been to any Astrocamp before but I'm booked into Kielder Astrocamp in November, which was going to be my first, but I'd like to come along in October as well for and Astrocamp if possible. Regards, Alistair G.

I think before trying to learn how to do photography, if it were me, I would first try learning how to align the scope and mount with a 3 star alignment, with a 32mm Plossl visually, make sure you understand how to do that and can do that repeatably and reliably, then learn how to collimate the scope, at 50x, then 100, then 200x in focus then at 400x in focus, then learn how to polar align the mount, and then think about attempting to get a camera to focus through the scope without an eyepiece. In that order. Just my 2p worth. Regards, AG

What was the Tamiya brand "Sky" color XF-21 paint like in comparison to the Takahashi old green color paint? How good of a match was it? Which telescope of Takahashi in particular are you wanting to put the touch up paint onto? I also need a Tak touch up paint jar, for a 1997 model year CN-212 where the front metal dust cover / lid has some wear / defects on the paint. I also see that the original Tak touch up paint is not available in the UK, it seems. BTW I have a friend in Japan who got a sales person from Starbase to telephone Takahashi whilst my friend was in the shop, and Takahashi told the sales person that Yes they could indeed repaint the lid, BUT only in the current modern color and not in the original green color. This is disappointing, because e.g. TeleVue can and will refurbish any old telescopes or eyepieces of TeleVue brand, a reason why I admire them so much. Regards, AG

My friend in Japan has a 1st generation Mesu mount and Scitech hand control and Windows 10 PC, we would like to know how the hell you align it. I have quite a lot of experience with Meade, Celestron and SkyWatcher mounts, I can align an LX200 classic, my AudioStar on my StarNavigator 102, my Celestron NexStar Plus on the CG5 ASGT, and my SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro, and where all objects are close to the centre of the FOV with 32mm Plossl in 8" F5 scope etc, and with polar axis error of 7 seconds in one axis and 5 arc seconds in the other. I don't do imaging but my friend would like to and maybe I would in time also. Can you do a Youtube video on aligning the Mesu or some form of tutorial ? Or maybe you can link me to one? My friend has no view of Polaris but I do. Basically what I am saying is, Please Help!! Best Regards, AG

Given a particular focal ratio, it is the glass types which determine the level of Chromatic Aberration correction that is possible, not the surface polish or accuracy of the surfaces of the lenses. Regards.

Anyone know what the focuser travel is on the Explore Scientific AR127 or AR152 ? Also for the Altair 125ED F8 ?

If anyone gets a chance to compare the TS 8" CC with a C8 XLT or Meade 8" UHTC (SCT/ACF) side by side at the same magnification, I would love to hear what the brightness difference is, as I am interested in buying this scope for the return of Mars later this year, I was hoping that it the 8" CC would outperform my Meade 7" Mak (which has the best corrected and smoothest optics of any scope I ever tested) and my rough, primary misaligned and overcorrected C11 and my rough SkyWatcher 8" F8 Newt which has some Spherical Aberration. If Meade product designers ever read this, please bring us an 8" version of your 7" Mak, it was wonderful. Regards.

Interesting. Can you post / link to proof of the "99 per cent Dielectric" claim by TS being wrong? Regards

I have a Lunt 50 and also a Lunt 60 Tilt tuned, I see views very similar to this, especially in my LS60. I see plenty of details, and strong surface granulation everyday, in all of my eyepieces from 18mm to 5mm, and also through my Vixen-made TeleVue 8-24mm Click Stop Dioptrx compatible Zoom eyepiece. The tuner makes an enormous difference in both scopes. I don't use cameras at the moment. When I double stack the LS50 I see a preposterously large amount of details. This is all without a black cloth, but with a ScopeStuff Solar Shield. Using the black cloth makes everything easier to see. My LS60 Tilt tuned scope comes to it's optimum tuning right near the end of the tuning range where the resistance suddenly goes slack to no resistance at all. There is some backlash in my Tilt tuner that annoys me though. My LS50 comes on band near the end of it's tuning range close to maximum of being screwed in. I am at 54m above Sea Level, and in England. Regards, AG

OK found it LOL ;- https://bit.ly/2XmIJ6n Regards.

What is the link to the map used in the first post above? Regards, AG

There's no silver in the blue filter. Lunt confirmed a while back that the blue filter is Schott BG38 Blue Glass. There is no coating on either side of the blue filter. The thickness of it determines the transmission at 656.28nm, the transmission is quite low already. The glass appears to be chemically unstable (in some conditions?). It's Meade who use ITF filters with Silver as the middle layer. The thread holding the filter is tapped at an angle to prevent filter reflections. One f our local Astro club members has a B600 with way higher transmission than either of my two B600's. Regards, Alistair G.

I disagree strongly that the quality of the views visually on double stars depends on the eyesight of the observer. I have much worse eyesight than most people with 3.75 diopters of Astigmatism in my observing eye and I see horrid Astigmatism at low power with my spectacles ON, my glasses do not correct fully at a 6mm Exit Pupil. The out of focus oval diffraction pattern's direction (axis) moves with my head, so the Astig. is in my own eyes. However, at high magnifications (e.g. 333x in the 7" Mak, giving about 0.5mm Exit pupil), I see no aberration due to my own eyes, the aberrations are coming from my scope's optics (8" Newt or C11 or 7" Mak) at this size of Exit Pupil. My moderate Long sightedness does not matter, since I am wearing glasses that compensate for that. My eyesight does not change the fact that my C11 is strongly overcorrected and no amount of collimation will ever alter it. The Ronchi lines bowing would be seen by anyone else, as would the differences between the Star images compared to the 7" Mak, at this Exit Pupil. It is the problem of my C11's optics not my eyesight. Once upon a time Takahashi made SCT's, as did Opticon https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/user-reviews/telescopes/schmidt-cassegrains-scts/opticon-10-r74 and they were rather better optical quality than some of the dogs of SCT's that I have seen tested on Wolfgang Rohr's and Moscow Astronomy Club's interferometer, Artificial Sky and Ronchi Tests. Price was higher for the better quality optics though, it is admitted. Regards, AG

There was a magazine article in one of the Astronomy mag's a few years ago that showed C14 Edge HD OTA's being hand figured at Torrance, California, USA by using a Star pattern lap on the secondary mirror to null the system, and a red laser being used as an Artificial Star along with a DSLR to take photo's of the diffraction pattern and to align the optics. It's not the method that matters though, it's the quality of the optical surfaces after "Quality control". Too many SCT's are Astigmatic, with a ton of Spherical Aberration, bowing Ronchi lines with the Ronchi test "eyepiece" (133LPI) with 4 bands showing, Airy Discs with several spikes on bright stars, dirty looking Airy Discs, primary misaligned on the carrier permanently glued in / loose primary mirror retaining collar, mirror flop, focusers with backlash, quite a bit of scattered light from rough optics etc. My C11 USA made from year 2000 is like this. There is also one more C11 at our local club (LAS) which is much the same optically. Neither of us much like the view at high magnification on Stars because of this (350x upwards). In comparison, my 7" Meade Mak (also made in USA, much older) is 1/6 wave or better, no scattered light, no bowing of the Ronchi lines, one medium brightness first diffraction ring on bright stars (such as Dubhe), no Astigmatism, almost no Spherical Aberration, Star Test that looks very similar indeed on both sides of focus when defocussed very little at 333x, breakout of the centre donut is very similar size both sides of focus and breaks out at very similar distance either side of focus, and looks text book in comparison, very clean Airy Discs. Just wish I had ever seen that in any C11 I ever saw. I saw better results than my C11 optics from my friend Jon's 8" F10 Meade ACF but the contrast on Mars was way worse than on my 7" Mak, and that was with Mars higher in the sky with his scope (optics cooled to ambient on every scope tested, no thermal plume from primary on out of focus donut, collimation nailed dead on, no dew on corrector etc). I think I have given up on SCT's and I want to try an 8" Mak. Regards, Alistair G.

I notice that Baader do a 1.25x GPC for your Mark V ;- http://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/accessories/optical-accessories/barlow-lenses-coma-and-glaspathcorrectors/glaspathcorrectorr-1125-for-baader-mark-v-großfeld-binocular.html ...as well as one for the MaxBright binoviewer. Have you tried or thought of trying this to reduce the magnification with your LS60? I wonder if it would allow eyepieces to come to focus with a Mark V or MaxBright in my smaller Lunt 50 ? Regards, Alistair G.

Didn't you manage to get your LS50 to work with your William Optics Binoviewer? If so, which eyepieces did you manage to reach focus with, and what barlow did you use to do so? I also have a Lunt 50 with B600 BF and I am trying to find a binoviewer that is compatible. I found this one so far ;- https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/500093-lunt-ls50-h-alpha-scope-and-siebert-black-night-binoviewers/#entry6585466 Regards, Alistair G.

I got a reply from Starlight Instruments which reads ;- "Yes this is the correct focuser for the Lunt 50mm [FTF1575BCR---FEATHER TOUCH® ROTATABLE 1.25" DIAMETER SINGLE SPEED .75" DRAW TUBE TRAVEL, BRAKE, AND COMPRESSION RING], but if you want to motorize it, you will need the dual speed version as the single speed version does not have a place to attach the motor. Below is the link to the dual speed version: http://starlightinstruments.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&keyword=ftf1575&category_id=0&product_id=445 Below is the link to the electronic focusing kit and the motor needed for the above focuser is the HSM20: http://starlightinstruments.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=96&product_id=356 Please contact me if you have any questions or if you would like to proceed with an order. Thank you Wayne Schroeder Starlight Instruments 2380 E Cardinal Dr. Columbia City IN 46725 www.starlightinstruments.com 260-244-0020" Regards, AG

I wonder if this Feathertouch option for the LS50 is available motorised? So I can have remote control focusing whilst broadcasting for example? EDIT: I just contacted Starlight Instruments asking this and await a reply, I'll report back with what they say. Regards, Alistair G.

I just got First Light with my own brand new LS50THa / B600 PT. Plenty of surface detail, quite easy to see, especially at higher magnifications (8mm TeleVue Radian and Dioptrx). Breathtakng proms with loads of detail. A couple of dark fissures / rifts on the surface. Mine came on-band at about middle travel of the tuner. Sounds like something's wrong with yours. I'd be contacting Lunt. Hope you get this resolved. Let us know how it worked out. Regards, Alistair G.

I have this 2" version of this Lacerta Wedge that I bought about a month ago and it's very good, the contrast performance is great. Only one drawback that I can find is the angle of the eyepiece holder, which makes me have to nearly sit on the floor to see the Sun when it's high up. Regards, AG

I have also waited a long time to get a Solar Scope and have nearly saved up the money for the one I want, a Lunt 50 with 6mm BF. I keep reading of people who see almost no surface detail in one Solar Scope and loads of decent contrast surface detail on other Solar scopes (all being Single Stacked), for example I read a review on Amazon on the PST and it described plenty of detail and surface texture visible, but I was offered one PST second hand recently where the guy had basically never seen any surface detail since buying it new, a terrible shame. I have seen where there are various USA dealers who can sell me a PST for 1/2 the money of a UK sourced one and many times I have thought about chancing my arm (422 GBP / 549 USD instead of 880 GBP) but the PST cannot be automated for remote focus and tuning, whereas the Lunt 50 can, which is something I really want. I did see through an 80mm Lunt Single Stacked recently and was staggered by the amount of good contrast surface detail present (looking like iron filings), easily visible. But there are just too many reports of bad Solar scopes of Lunt and Coronado brands (look recently in the Solar section on CN forums for bad Lunt 50's) to risk buying a USA sourced one. So I am going to be buying a Lunt 50 from FLO shortly (any chance of a 10 per cent off sale haha). I have seen a topic on here where FLO allowed some guy to have a replacement OTA if the first one doesn't perform as it should. I no longer care if it costs more to buy from UK where I am, I want peace of mind. The thought of having to send an OTA giving no surface detail or god forbid a decontacted Etalon back to a USA dealer horrifies me. Hope you get a decent performing one. Let us know what happens! Have you contacted Lunt to see what they have to say (I see you are in USA) ? Regards, AG

My second hand year 2000 C11 (ex-CG11) Starbright (non-XLT) SCT, optics set #3678. Very good, possibly excellent optics, outperforms my excellent 7" Mak on Double Stars and on Jupiter. Primary mirror off center (or secondary, I can't work out which, possibly both) which can't be cured with collimation, which causes "chromatic slice" or "colored coma" effects at some axial rotations of either of my diagonals, at 700x. Still gives excellent diffraction limited images at 350x and 700x. At 700x Stars are hard round balls of light surrounded by one bright-ish ring and some much fainter ones, very good contrast. Double Double is very easy, so is Delta Cygni, not had chance to try on anything more challenging yet. Image shift about 1/5 FOV at 700x. Works great with my CG-5 ASGT, 2 second damping times at 700x after touching focusser, not bad, GOTO has most things at the inner FOV at 88x. Perfect tracking for such an overloaded mount. ScopeStuff 6" counterweight extension bar. 5kg, 3.4Kg and 1.8Kg weight used for 10Kg approx. of counterweight. All fairly easy to lift and mount at waist height. Easy, comfy observing on dining room type chair or small padded stool. https://plus.google.com/photos/101932667412801910198/albums/6051993476024595153?banner=pwa https://plus.google.com/photos/101932667412801910198/albums/6035331302363373761?banner=pwa https://plus.google.com/photos/101932667412801910198/albums/5920609664309878017?banner=pwa Regards, Alistair G.

My 7" Meade Mak on CG-5 ASGT with internal weight removed for faster cool down, now only 7.5 Kg for the bare OTA. 3.5Kg weight removed. Fan reversed to suck air in, Excellent optics, very good on Mars at 206x, quite a lot of detail visible. Pity about the blue cloudy coating on the secondary. ;- https://plus.google.com/photos/101932667412801910198/albums/6008643526877494449?banner=pwa https://plus.google.com/photos/101932667412801910198/albums/5918439540089043905?banner=pwa https://plus.google.com/photos/101932667412801910198/albums/5919514395168164961?banner=pwa https://plus.google.com/photos/101932667412801910198/albums/5918397603051714481?banner=pwa https://plus.google.com/photos/101932667412801910198/albums/5876390624413309361?banner=pwa Regards, Alistair G.

What are the optics like on your Meade 2080 ? Regards, Alistair G.