RT65CB-SWL

I have a larger sibling... the DS-2102AT (only the tube). It’s not to bad for a beginner, but does suffer from chromatic aberration when viewing the Moon and brighter planets, i.e. Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. A few other niggles are... they use a horrible sticky grease on the rack & pinion focuser... plastic. don’t over tighten the thumbscrews on the focuser/draw-tube eyepiece port... also plastic. I am waiting for some M4 brass threaded inserts and insert them in the eyepiece port, because on one of the two, the thread has been stripped. the mount and tripod are not that great either. I use mine on an AOK-AYO or Tele-Optic Giro. Both are manual ‘T-style’ alt-az.

Hi @Astrobobo and welcome to SGL.

I know the images are pretty much c-r-a-p, but £20.00GBP secondhand for a tube that is mainly ‘thin’ aluminium with a plastic R&P, I am not going to let it get me down or beaten. Trying to focus with one hand and smartphone on other hand ain’t easy.

Hi @Ravi Hegde and welcome to SGL. As previously mentioned, chromatic abberation is the curse with achromatic refractors. To give you an example of what it looks like, below is an image I took last week [Wed. 24 May 2023 @21:26BST] of a five day old Moon, using my Meade DS-2102, an 18mm eyepiece, iPhone 12 handheld over it; mounted on my AOK-AYO and Manfrotto 055PROB tripod. It is the purple halo along the eastern edge. The image above was taken @22:51 on the same day/night, with same equipment. As you can see, the darker the sky, the more pronounced it becomes.

Part exchange or sell it to the Martian’s... Apologies... I couldn’t resist it! 😜

That's the conundrum with owning more than one 'scope on a dual/multi-mount setup!

M6 for the end holes (these are not threaded). M4 for the cone adjustment screws at both ends. 1/4-20 UNC or 1/4” BSW at the centre and offset.

Fantastic images @wookie1965 I spent a couple of hours this afternoon... and for some reason, I could not focus to produce any images.

Hi @SteveQ and welcome to SGL. Have you contacted Baader Planetarium for advice/recomendations? https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/ Also, maybe worth asking or seeking advice here... https://www.adrianololli.com/

Hi @jwhitaker23 and welcome to SGL. Question... what do you intend to view/image? - reason I ask is that no 'scope does everything. I have four, [2x refractors and 2x catadioptrics... ie 1x Maksutov & 1x SCT], as per my signature. Personally I think the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ maybe the better option. It has a bigger aperture to gather more photons. I am not a great lover EQ mounts. For astro-imaging you will need to upgrade the supplied mount. The mounted OTA will also need to be balanced and polar aligned. By the time you have added a camera, T-ring, filters, etc., it is going to add more weight and more balancing. Then you will have master what is known as the 'meridian-flip'. BTW... the last image in your post has been poorly set up... it is tail-end heavy!

Thank you @paulastro Got two of four my ‘scopes setup, then realised that I had left one of four 1.25” star diagonals indoors. As I live near a main road, it was not worth the risk of leaving the kit outside for a few minutes to grab one, as it was easily visible to anyone passing by.

I went out, but forgot to pack a star diagonal for the ‘scope. You would think that someone that has four 1.25” ones, I would remember to bring at least one of them! I did let out/say an expletive that sounds similar to Pollux... also visible along the top edge.

Hi @SwiMatt and welcome to SGL.

Welcome back @barkis / Ron. I have since change my username. I will send you a PM with who I once was.

Here’s my attempt from an hour ago…

Hi @RyanL A bit more expensive but the https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces.html give 60deg AFOV and would be a better choice for wide field views, as opposed to 52deg AFOV for Plossl e/p’s.

Alternatively you could always get zoom e/p. 8-24mm tends to be the most popular. Prices of zoom e/p' vary as does the quality and view. I use a 7-21mm [image below] which is OK'ish that I purchased from AstroBoot, before they left GB/UK 🇬🇧 for Europe 🇪🇺 a few years ago.

Hi @icefabio and welcome to SGL.

Hi @nikooo and welcome to SGL. Following on from @bosun21 reply, collimation is key to make every photon hit you in the retina. Should you wish to purchase a laser collimator, you will need to ensure that too is [ahem] collimated! There are plenty of YouTube videos showing this. All you need is a simple gadget called a 'V' block. They can be made from most things, such as an offcut of wood and four nails, to being made from Lego bricks, [other brands of plastic bricks are also available].

Nice images and your collimation is spot on too. (pun unintended. )

I don’t know if the the sticky-label is a hint/clue...

Polaris does have two companion stars. What ‘scope and eyepiece are/were you using? The two spots look to bright and irregular to be stars. Did you try with another eyepiece? And from Wikipedia: “Although appearing to the naked eye as a single point of light, Polaris is a triple star system, composed of the primary, a yellow supergiant designated Polaris Aa, in orbit with a smaller companion, Polaris Ab; the pair is in a wider orbit with Polaris B. The outer pair AB were discovered in August 1779 by William Herschel, where the 'A' refers to what is now known to be the Aa/Ab pair.” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaris

They did the same to the one opposite me. I complained again and they managed to put piece of metal nearest the pole. It’s a little bit of an improvement, but not 100% perfect. <— before. <— after.

That’s a great comment too!