Aussie Dave

It seemed too easy Philip but being my first time, it still took about 15 minutes and looking through that pin hole stuffed my eye up for some time. No back plate on mine, only rubber oval plugs that hide the primary mirror adjustment screws and hex screws. If I knew what I was doing, it's a 3 minute job or less on the Saxon. I have to collimate my Celestar C8 SCT too and that has the back plate that needs removal first, but that job's for another day. I forgot I had this collimating EP. I just can't figure out my laser collimator.

I did my first telescope collimation tonight on the Saxon with a collimation eyepiece. Who would of thought that this cheap looking piece of plastic could be so helpful. A very handy piece to have in your case. Much easier to use than a laser collimator from what I could work out. At first glace I could tell the primary mirror was out, quite noticeable. Being my first time collimating, I fumbled my way through it, adjusting each of the 3 screws until the dark shadow of the secondary mirror was centered as best I could. I would say it's now 90% better than what it was looking through the collimating eyepiece. Hopeing to get out soon to test and see if the star coma's have gone.

Going by your summary Michael, it looks like you've had many clear skies. Now it's my turn

Called it a night, fingers started to get numb and dew forming on grass. The EQ6 Pro performed faultlessly. I only did a rough polar alignment, no star aligment. It did have some slight drift which is to be expected, but very acceptable. That surprised me. I started the brief viewing session in light polluted backyard with the William Optics SPL 12.5mm 1.25" and finished with a Meade QX Wide Angle 26mm 2" EP. What I did notice was that there was some star coma, all pointing the same way so the Saxon will need a slight adjustment. Will test again on a warmer night as I don't think the mirror cooled down enough and the temperature was still falling. Found 2 larger star clusters and a very small faint fuzzy. Sorry I can't give more info on what I saw. I still have my L plates on. Overall I'm very pleased with the Saxon. Time for a hot cuppa!

I've had the ETX70 frac and ETX90 Mak Osbourne, both nice little scopes but I'm high magnification obsessed atm with scopes. Still trying to get a 5mm EP or slightly less that performs well. Atmospheric conditions do play a big part there.

Michael you gave me that little push tonight with your first comment to get it all out. It's the first time I've used the EQ6 Pro since buying that too. So... if it all goes belly up, you're to blame I still haven't worked out how to polar align or remember any star names. I'll just hunt a little. I still haven't seen a galaxy yet, That's high on my list of things to see. Orions not up yet either, I really wanted to check that large neb out, it's been too long. There will be many better nights to test my gear. Visual tonight is with a William Optics SPL 12.5mm 1.25".

Dewshield about 2 inches too short :/ Set up took about 40 minutes, Scope cooling down atm. I was hoping to get some moon shots tonight but the moon's not up until early am. Not sure I'll be out for that long. Yes we do at times Osbourne and quite bad. Now it's warm days, cold nights. Anything that outside and not covered get's wet.