Dude_with_the_tube

clouds all over the place but there is a possibility to star test it.Scope is out and i am going out in 30mins.Fingers crossed now.its either yehaa or oh well...

30 minutes ago, John said:

I'll lookforward to reading any thoughts you have on the Meade 178ED. Having seen these in Telescope House in London back in the early 1990's and having read an interesting variety of views on them since, I've always wondered what they are really like.

Thats the whole idea why this instrument is in my house now.I personally think that meade 178 is very under-rated telescope and i tend to prove it.Well i hope i will ... 

I will only open a few cards on this one yet.Lens was reworked by Es Reid and despite lens is the second run and collimatable with push-pull and sideral,Es installed additional 3 collimation screws to hold negative element more firm in cell and centered to positive element. Additional tape was added to both glass elements to press against cell walls and 2 days tests by Es confirmed that he cant dis-collimate lens by tapping on cell or  by any other means.Wavefront of both elements is smooth with no astigmatism and color correction is good. What is great.I have spend 2 days on insides of OTA by adjusting and replacing baffles.Original focuser is a piece of junk and has a slop and moves around ,so there is work involved to get this one up to expectations.Still have to do star test too but weather isnt cooperating.

there we are.

for visual Az mount is hard to beat,specially on those long fracs.I think Stu followed my advise for his Vixen Atlux (befre he sold it sadly) and got Skywatcher Az-EQ6GT and was happy with it.I have been using mine now for 2 years and have no complains(bought it second hand).Az-EQ6gt mount actually holds meade 178 with a laugh in Az mode.Had meade on my mount whole day today as i was adjusting baffles and few other things before i can star test that beast.

I assume you still havent made up your mind on how to mount your TMB?

57 minutes ago, John said:

Those are "big ones"

Is that Tom Yate's 7" Meade ED by any chance ?

 

Nope John,its not Tom`s one. Not sure who got his one.All i can say that Tom`s one had second run lens+cell (colimatable with push pull and sideral) same as my specimen and his one was in pristine condition inside out with perfect star test.(spoke to Tom a few days ago after he tested it )

31 minutes ago, Anderscn said:

Hi,

An old friend finds a new home.

The Istar 150mm F/12.

Here on the fully extended Berlebach Planet, SW EQ5 Pillar extension and Sabre Mount. I´m only 178 cm, so I need this step ladder in order to safely hoist it up to 185cm and fix it.

Obviously the Sabre Mount is stretched, yet mounted on the short arm leaving the longer arm for the counter weights, it actually works with tolerable vibrations. Very smooth movements actually.

What I have seen so far on Saturn and the various doublestars in the Lyra, I actually like the views. I did expect more CA, but at 200-300x it is not too bad. Positively surpriced.

So if I decide to keep it, I may go for an Ayomaster.

Best Regards,

Anders 

 

i do recognise this scope.Is that not yours John? I do like anything above F10 he he.You have to agree that a simple acrho in F12 or F15 or bless the mount in F18 just looks MAJESTIC!

i guess i have to be more precise.Lens on Meade is 7" where OTA itself is 8" or 200mm in diameter.

how big is a big refractor? Just for a laugher really here are my  6" F9 Vixen Atlux ED together with 7" Meade F9 ED. Only 1" aperture increase ,but look at the share size increase. Vixen from ground up is 1mtr 40cm where Meade is 1mtr 80cm. Also a lot more tube to handle and slightly more weight.Still Skywatcher Az-EQ 6GT handles Meade perfectly fine in Az mode. Meade has been kindly provided for testing purpose (so far) and comparison to Vixen.More info to come later.

i guess i will have to do an updated pic of my case over the weekend... havent had a time recently to do anything.

no binoviewing Dave? or i am missing something?

Yep, you were right. I got there in the end. Do you really use without side counterbalance? I would have thought it would put more strain on the mount doing this?

Can't really say, I just don't find them comfortable or natural to use. My last pair were Denks, very nice. No problem with collimation but I just naturally return to mono viewing all the time.

Two reasons potentially. Firstly my eyes are very different, my left (observing eye) gives very nice resolution and plenty of detail but not so bright, my right eye is far brighter but it's like looking at a poorly tuned TV (old style analogue of course), far less detail visible. Perhaps this is a strain on my brain to deal with?

Second point is that I do frequently change eyepieces and binoviewers are not naturally suited to this.

i have used a couple of times without the side counterbalance in AZ mode and it is perfectly fine  

Valid points Stu about eye difference,but i dont think it will be critical in binoviewing as it does take a bit of time to get used to them and once mastered you learn how to relax when observing and then it sort of "pops". Changing eye pieces frequently is not an issue in binoviewers as i do the same.It is very easy to do in Denks and Baader mark V,specially in baaders as they have click locks.I had click locks installed on my Zeiss too and its a doodle to swap out.However,i am now swapping out far less as i have powermates to use and now i dont go lower then 16mm pairs of orthos and when i need more power,i just put either x4 or x2 powermate in.Saves the hassle of swapping eye pieces.Denk 2 come with powerswitch and it does work really well giving you 3 different magnifications.But as it has been mentioned before,some people just like mono viewing.

Looks fabulous Gaidis. I'm very glad I followed your lead with the AZEQ6, it handles the Vixen beautifully.

Still can't get on with binoviewers, just sold my third pair!

told you from the beginning Stu to get the AZ-EQ mount didnt i? Easy to use,has a go-to and tracking and in Az mode can handle up to 25kgs.perfect combo.

A bit puzzled why you cant get on with binoviewers.What pairs you had and what was the issue? What in particular you didnt like?

here are couple of pics of my Vixen Atlux 150. original 4" focuser unit has been removed and replaced with 2.5" Moonlite.I binoview and everything is done so that i reach focus in "Native" mode without the aid of OCS or Barlows. Binoviewer is a custom made Zeiss with 30mm prisms and 30mm openings on both sides (telescope and eye piece),prisms are off very high accuracy and Zeiss T* coated for extra light transmission.Pairs in picture are Baader Eudiascopic 35mm with 29mm field stop.No vignetting or any other artifacts,just clear image and perfection.There is currently a plan to completely overhaul the Vixen but it is currently on stop for some time until other things get sorted.

Baaders eudiascopics are the same 5 element masuyama design as Ultimas,Ultrascopic,parks gold series with a lot of eye relief and will require a bit of inwards focus.I am aware of the focusing issue,but I shouldnt have issue with that as i use binos in native focus and still have loads of inwards and outward focus available.

Long orthos and plossls don't give wide views, short orthos and plossls have painfully short eye relief

1.i dont have issues with short eye relief eye pieces.

2. dont have any plossls,meade rg`s are erfles with about 60-65 degree fov and quite generous eye relief,specially on the longer focal lenght.also the 16 and 28mm orthos have actually too generous eye relief for my liking.

and for really widest fov i have baader eudiascopics 35mm incoming.i binoview and dont do cyclops anymore.I am a planetary/double and bright dso observer due to light pollution in my area,as such i dont really need any ultra wide EP.

hope that explains contains of my ep box.

here is my current box.BGO sets are gone,replaced with 2 sets of Meade research grades.Awaiting on arrival of 2 Baader 35mm Eudiascopics and a pair of 10mm Kasai (testing purpose).

 get a simple orthos or plossls and you can fit them all in your pockets without the issue of damaging your tender parts

All these fit easily in pockets.

Tele Vue make green and black braces just for this sutuation

Just £199.99 for a set. Do you want wide, ultra wide or hyper wide ?

too expensive!

To avoid your pants felling down and if you dont have a belt,poor man used a simple piece string or piece of rope.Can be picked up for nothing in any fishing harbour.

dont need a case Stu.One EP goes in the focuser,rest in pockets.Job done.

i have a couple in my EP box.Doesnt harm.

its a plucking foam Joe,has been pre-cut in small squares,all you do is pull out the squares.Simple.

Maplins sells cases with this foam.

Or add a further 9 to get to 40 ?

ohh you never know John

there is never too much of the GOOD stuff

i had 21 eye pieces in my goodie box and added another 9 so now its 31 in total.Might ditch one to make it a round figure of 30

grats Shane T1 nagler collection is slowly growing.Whats the next one? T1 11mm? its quite rare but has been highly regarded.

i use Maplins flight cases,but buy them when they are on offer and you get a bargain.

I compared Olly's 13mm Ethos to my 12T4 Nagler (under mediocre seeing conditions), and did not find the ethos a clear winner. Yes the FOV is wider, but the eye relief is clearly shorter, making it hard for me to see the entire FOV anyway. I can quite understand people going for Naglers. Great workhorses, and I much prefer working with multiple focal length to a single EP with the magnification of a short one and FOV of the longest. I find that changing exit pupil to optimize the visibility of a DSO is more important than how it is framed.

thats a bit of a different televues you compared Michael(talking about eye relief). Ethos has 15mm ER,where T4 naglers where made for glass wearers and had 20mm ER,no wonder you found T4 more easier on the eye.Actually the current T6 13mm nagler has only 12mm ER as such it is even shorter ER then Ethos.