Peter Drew

I currently have 6 SCT's ranging from 8" to 16", optically they are all better than "good enough".

Straight through will be necessary considering the low altitude of Mars.

Not surprising as they are both one-off self builds. The mount is a simplified version of the TTS Panther.

They can't. They climb up the pylons and then tightrope along the wires for fun. One lurking to the left of the first photo.

"Dust bunny".

Ready for Mars!. 5" F15 triplet APO.

The DEC drive on these mounts has only a limited travel. Before use it's best to set it at halfway travel. You then loosen the DEC axis locking knob to point to the DEC position of the object you wish to observe and then tighten it again when in the field of view. Centering can then be achieved by turning the DEC operating cable. The RA control is a continuous action and will turn for as long as you wish or until the cable clashes with the mount, whichever is the soonest.

@Rusted. I was still distracted by our PM discussion.

This is a "white light" configuration, nothing to do with Ha.

@rusted. PM sent.

My latest PST mod. It's another 6" F10 using a Istar objective, similar setup to my own version. 110mm internal D-ERF, WO dual speed focuser and two projection type solar finders.

I would lay the scope down on its side so that the detatched baffle is halfway down the tube. If you can arrange it such that the front end is overhanging a table you should be able to get a good grip on the front cell to unscrew it, mine comes off fairly easily.

You don't need to remove the corrector from its cell, the whole cell unscrews and will screw back on retaing the orientation of the optics. As mentioned, the baffle is glued on concentric to the aluminised spot.

This isn't the secondary mirror, it's the secondary baffle which is normally glued to the inner face of the corrector lens. The secondary is an aluminised spot on the inner surface of the corrector. The whole front cell should unscrew and then you can retrieve the baffle and carefully glue it back on. Don't let the detatched baffle rattle around on the primary mirror as it will scratch the coatings.

Complete with early dongle.

The same principle is used in many geared focus mounts but kudos in successfully making such a precision component yourself!

Good job!. Nice to see Ampthill mentioned, I moved up North from Park Hill, Ampthill, good memories.

A S/H 4" F10 Vixen OTA.

I'm not well off (financially!) but I can afford to pay to have a pilot fly me to Tenerife, albeit with a couple of hundred others at the same time.

No need, why do you think that Taks are in green?

You have to be well off to do either.

There certainly is a learning curve with Ha viewing, I've been doing so for over 15 years and still finding techniques for improvement!

Oops!, plus a picture of my grandaughter serenading us, posted in error.

My 8.5" F12.5 refractor.

They were built for terrestrial use and I didn't get much of an oppotunity to try it out astronomically. I recall that Jupiter looked pretty detailed with little CA. The terrestrial views were amazing, excellent resolution at 20 miles range, would have loved it myself! I hope it still exists and used somewhere.