johnturley

2 hours ago, Richard136 said:

Looking for recommendations on how to go about finding a supplier for machining adapters, e.g. for connecting a new focuser to the scope. 

Does anyone have experience of this? The commercial adapters seem quite expensive and I wondered if it'd be cheaper to go direct to a supplier. Also might take some confusion out of the process when ordering online.

Try RCM Engineering in Dronfield (Tel: 01246 292344 and ask for Pete), they've machined a few parts for me.

John 

Opticron are also a good source

John

2 hours ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

I have just held the SLV 5 and 15 mm EPs up to my eyes and the 5 definitely has a slightly smaller AFOV. They are very comfortable to use with glasses, I find. The coffee tone wasn't obvious in my LV 9, but it was in the LV 7mm

I have the 4mm SLV and I would say that the apparent FOV is around 45 degrees

John 

Still haven't been able to see it visually yet even through my 14in

John 

Plus if you only do visual accurate polar alignment is not necessary, with my AZ-EQ5 mount (which didn't come with a polar alignment scope) after carrying out similar to what you described, an object will stay in the field of view at medium power for up to about 1 hour.

John 

1 hour ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Unfortunately not.  I have tried on a couple of occasions but I seem to have a fair amount of light pollution in the area of sky where Uranus is located. I can barely see the star constellations Aries and the vertical star line of Pisces. I am hoping the regal finder will help me locate Uranus also. When I look through my right angle finder I am struggling to understand what I am looking at in that area of sky.   Both Uranus & Neptune are both providing me with a challenge!

Regards

Baz

If your location suffers from significant light pollution, then it is unlikely that you will spot Triton visually. At my location have been unable to spot it visually even with my 14in Newtonian, through which in theory it should be quite easy to spot. I don't whether the main reason for this is due to light pollution, or my declining visual acuity at 70 years of age, although I have had a recent cataract operation in my right (observing) eye which should improve things. Also I can't make out the constellations so clearly, or the milky way, or so many of the Pleiades as I could back in the 1960's when light pollution was not so bad, but I could still make out the milky way clearly from dark sky locations such at Mt Teide Tenerife, or from parts of South America on the recent eclipse trip. 

I have however picked up Triton photographically, by accident as it happens, when I photographed the close conjunction of Neptune and Mars last year.

John  

1 hour ago, barkis said:

Perhaps Skywatcher are using Fluorite. Since Large deposits are available in China, why would they not exploit that, and encourage the Apo fraternity to their product.  

Heh Heh, perhaps I'm hallucinating.                                   Ron.

 

 

 

 

 

Skywatcher don't advertise that any of their refractors utilise fluorite, and if this was the case I think that they would.

John  

I thought that FPL 55 glass was supposed to be superior to FPL 53 (although only marginally so), CFF state that their larger refractors use FPL 55, and give the impression that this is the case.

John 

Uranus is quite easy to identify, and shows up as an obvious disc with magnifications of over 100x

Neptune on the other hand is much more difficult and requires around 200x, and under unsteady viewing conditions when you don't get sharp star images, is hard to distinguish from a star.

John  

My 24mm Panoptic, which I ordered before Christmas arrived today, I note that not only has the 10 % off sale now ended, but some Tele Vue prices now have increased to more than what they were before the sale, so that I actually ended up saving  nearly 20 % on current prices.

John 

6 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

This one

http://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_astrograph_net/Products/AGBPHA35-2

Dave

Thanks Dave I assume that its the  Baader  35 nm   Dielectric Coated Filter not the H alpha filter that you would use, and its placed in front of the Quark.

I would still though be bit nervous about using it with my ES 127 allowing unfiltered direct sunlight to pass down the OTA and I definitely wouldn't risk it with my Esprit 150                     

John 

54 minutes ago, Solar B said:

 

If going down the Quark route then a 2" Baader 35nm filter is all the ERF you'll ever need 

 well up to 150mm and is much more effective than a standard ur/ir cut.

 

Brian 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is it the Baader 3.5 nm Ultra Narrow Band H alpha filter that you were referring to, its not promoted as being suitable for solar work

www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-filters/baader-ultra-narrowband-35nm-h-alpha-filter.html

John 

3 hours ago, jambouk said:

The power tank is too small. You may get longer from it without the LED flashing if you can keep it away from the cold; keep it off the cold ground, keeping wind off it etc may help, but fundamentally it’s too small.
 

3 minutes ago, Physopto said:

Problem with lead acid batteries is in the charging !!! Safety safety safety.......

There are far too many accidents whilst charging because either people forget that these batteries emit hydrogen gas once the battery voltage goes over around 12.4 volts. Don't forhet they require the bartery voltage to rise to between  14.4/8 volts on average to be fully charged, it depends upon type of lead acid.

It  is far safer to use a totally sealed lead acid or  a LiFePo4 type  battery. There are plenty of discussions here on SGL about costs of the different types and the merits/problems of each type.

To give an idea:--

 

will get in reality and how safe you wish to be.

Derek

 

I actually have two 7 Amp Power Tanks one badged Celestron (which I purchased at the same time as my CPC in 2014), the other badged Skywatcher (which I purchased recently with my AZ-EQ5) , but otherwise they appear identical, so almost certainly originate from the same factory, and appear to be of the sealed lead acid type.

I purchased a second power unit  so that I would be able to use both my 9.25 CPC and my ES 127 at the same time, and It looks like its a good job that I've got two power units, but I probably won't be using either scope for long periods at a time, so can manage without having to buy a higher capacity power unit, plus also have a mains adaptor which fits the CPC (but not the AZ-EQ 5 which has a different plug fitting on the power input). 

Incidentally the CPC unit although it has a power on light, it doesn't flash to indicate low voltage, it would appear to flash on the AZ-EQ5 when the voltage is only marginally down on that when fully charged.

John 

52 minutes ago, eikie said:

I did get that adapter (I think), but without the extra "tubing" of a reducer, can I really achieve focus?

While most shops I know do carry that brand, I can't seem to find a flattner/reducer.

Also, would that fit correctly?

Would something like this work?

Site is in dutch but basically it's an extender with a T thread (and space for 2' filters)

https://www.robtics.nl/product_info.php?cPath=30_139_395&products_id=1088&pID=1088&language=en

Yes, that should work ok (assuming you need one, and one wasn't included with the scope), most UK suppliers stock 35mm, 50mm, and 80mm extension tubes, the Revelation brand are fairly inexpensive, and the self-centring ones are best. 

John 

1 hour ago, scitmon said:

Did your evostar not already inlude a t adaptor?  Mine did when I bought mine a few years ago.  With that all you should require is https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/sw_m48_adapter-1.html.  I'm 95% sure there will be enough focusser travel to not need the diagonal.

 

You may also need an approx 50mm extension tube if one wasn't included with the scope

John

On 3 December under quite good viewing conditions despite its low altitude, I compared the view of the area of the moon around the Mare Crisium through 3 of my scopes, the 14in Newtonian, the recently acquired Esprit 150, and the ES 127. Although the 14in gave a brighter view, there was very little to choose between it and that through the Esprit 150, regarding detail, sharpness and contrast On the other hand the view through the ES 127, although as well colour corrected as the Esprit, was some way behind the other two. I did wonder before I bought the Esprit 150, as to whether I would gain that much with just an extra 23mm of aperture over the ES 127, but I think the difference is not only due to the extra aperture, but also the superiority of the Esprit lens. I know that mine is a good one, as I picked the scope up directly from Es Reid (whom I know personally) in Cambridge after he checked it over for FLO. He stated that mine was one of the best he had tested, plus I know for a fact that after testing, it has not suffered from any rough handling by a courier. I would also like to have been able to compare the view through my CPC 9.25, but at the moment its stuck behinds some plants in the conservatory which my wife has taken in for the winter.

John 

Unfortunately here in Dronfield after 3 nice clear nights, conditions were not good Thursday and Friday of this week, so I've missed the opportunity of a good view of the Straight Wall this lunation, but it will be well placed for the next few lunations with the waxing gibbous moon gradually increasing in altitude in the evening sky.

I attach a photo taken some years ago through my 14in Newtonian using eyepiece projection, and with my old Pentax digital SLR (which did not have live view), I would probably get better results with my Canon 6D. 

12 minutes ago, artem said:

In the AZEQ5 Manual it is written,

https://teleskop-austria.at/information/pdf/AZ-EQ5p_AZ-EQ5-Manual-EN.pdf

 

Regards

Martin

 

Yes, and that's within an hour using a fully charged power tank.

John 

6 minutes ago, Physopto said:

It will depend upon what drain current is being taken by the mount, what the battery size is in ampere hours, how long your power lead is to the mount, what cross section area your power leads are and lastly what temperature your battery is operating at. Are you slewing often or just occasionally? Tracking takes much less power than slewing. You may find that in the first instance keeping the battery in a warm enclosure extends the battery life before the mount led starts flashing.

 

Derek

I'm just using the mount for tracking, the power supply is the Skywatcher 7 Amp Power Tank.

John 

I was finding that within about one hour's use, and with a fully charged power tank, the power light on my AZ-EQ5 started to flash. According to the manual this indicates that the power voltage is low, and that continuing to operate the mount may damage the battery. I thought that it should not discharge this quickly, and when I put the Skywatcher power tank back on charge, in no time the fully charged light came on.

Originally I thought that the power tank might be faulty, so I took in back to Rother Valley Optics, and they changed it for another, the second one appeared to be slightly better, but after about 1hr 15 mins the same problem occurred again.

Has anyone else experienced this with their AZ-EQ5 or similar mounts, the mount continues to function with the flashing light, but its a bit off-putting.

John .

On 05/10/2016 at 20:52, Alan White said:

I bought a new 32mm TV Plossl from Simon at Widescreen Centre a week or so ago; last week of the London Store, I paid £143.
Anyway, finally a short first light tonight and I am dissapointed, had set my heart on it being great 

Such long eye relief it kidney beans on my 6" 150p Newtonian, I stuck in my 25mm Meade 4000 and although the clarity was better in the TV, I found it very easy to use.
Big shame as my Mrs bought it for my 50th birthday, so doubly sad.

Is this just too much for my scope, the EP or me.
Your thoughts and advice please.

I have the cheaper Meade Series 4000 32mm Plossl and this, unlike my 26, 15, 12.4, and 9.7mm eyepieces, is one of the later 4 element made in  China versions, and I have never experienced this sort of problem. 

Having only recently seen this thread, I tried it out on the moon earlier this evening, and it was fine no problems.

John

9 hours ago, Merlin66 said:

John,

If they are marked "Japan" on the black body, you may be pleasantly surprised!

 

Yes they are, I will have to give them another try and compare them with some of my wider field eyepieces.

I have the 26, 15, 12.4, and 9.7mm eyepieces, the 15mm used to be my favourite.

john 

I've kept several of my original Series 4000 (made in Japan) five element smoothside plossls, which date back to the 1980's, mainly for eyepiece projection photography (those with rubber eyecups probably won't fit in my eyepiece projection tube), maybe I should get them out for visual use as well.

John 

A dew heater will help, I keep one on all the time on a low setting when not in use, to try to prevent this happening with my Esprit 150 (situated in an observatory shed), only problem is that its probably costing me a fortune on my electricity bill.

In addition I have a desiccant dehumidifier in the observatory shed, plus also use a desiccant cap.

John

Took the splash and ordered a 3-6mm Nagler Zoom from FLO while on offer, having read good reports. This will be a high power eyepiece for my Esprit 150, and if I am impressed with it, I will probably selling my existing Parks 3.8 mm Plossl and 4mm Vixen SLV eyepieces. 

John