Les Ewan

19 minutes ago, John_D said:

I wondered how well the solar projection screen would work but never had the courage to try it 😁 I also have a second end cap with a hole in it presumably for a solar filter? ( Although it's probably not a common diameter size ☹️ )

Thanks again for all this. I'll print the relevant pages and try some tweaking.

My scope came with the off axis aperture cap but the UK supplier had removed the highly dangerous Suncap from the filter set,not that I would have used it anyway and would of thrown it away.

The manual has much in common with mine although the eyepiece selection is differant with the 15mm replaced by a 7mm.

The filter set fits externally by clicking them over the the ridges on the top of the eyepiece body. 

As for the use of the Solar screen I would only use it using the drive manual controls as balancing is a big issue and using the electric drive without the OTA properly balanced could damage the drive mechinism.

One odd feature of this Newtonian is its supplied with a Solar projection screen that attaches to the counerweight shaft. This screen is one of the few items that is made of plastic. 

A Newtonian that is designed to allow solar projection must be a rear beast and I had it up and running again yesterday.

I had forgotten just how potentially dangerous Solar projection can be-but great fun.😎

I even managed to image the projected image(after some tweaking with Faststone).

The spherical mirror give stellar images a slightly blobby appearance but resolution for doubles such a Epsilon 1 and 2 Lyrae are perfectly fine. From memory the primary give a somewhat soft view of the planets.

It is supplied with 3 eyepieces,achromatic X4 Barlow and a reticule.

The 15mm is a Kellner and the 25mm is Symmetrical. The 42mm is unknown.

The eyepieces barrels seem to be some Russian dimension and are slightly oversized and are too big fit into a normal 1.25" focuser.

Here it is being set up after 20 years.(I know criminal)!

My much neglected Tal 2 seems to sparked some  interest,so more about this tractor technology telescope

I bought it in 1994 mail order for around £630.

I came in 2 wooden boxes,when I moved the main box yesterday I had use a sack barrow!

Hope this helps John.

1 hour ago, John_D said:

Ah a scan of those pages would be useful, thanks. I have some information that came with it but not to that level of detail.

Yes, the motor on mine makes a loud ticking noise which just adds to the overall missile launcher vibe 😁

HI John

I couldent get the pages flat enough for my scanner but I'll shortly start a new thread on this board with jpeg images hopefully they will be clear enough to be usefull.

On 19/04/2024 at 20:22, JeremyS said:

Sorry Dizzy, it’s been a while but the night is yet young.

FC 100DZ

 

I love your dome. I'm as green as your grass!

45 minutes ago, John_D said:

@Les Ewan Nice, looks exactly like mine 😁 The paint inside the OTA in mine has held up fine, the outside not so much.

The drive on mine has been making funny noises since I bought it second hand last year and was only working intermittently last time out. Hopefully it's just a readjustment and a re-lube rather that a complete strip down.

Did you get the manual with the scope? Pages 14-16 it goes into how to adjust the clutch and backlash on the drive. If you wish I'll scan the pages and put them on here but be aware the Russian translation is not good! If you remove the main cover it allows access to the three adjustment screws on the main drive wheel.  In the 10 years I used the scope I've never had to do anything with the motor so cant tell you more.

Incidentely the motor is not the most restful in the world and is on the noisy side even when running properly!

Finally got my old 1990's TAL 2M 150mm f8 Newt out of storage after 20 years packed away in its wooden boxes. I had to clean the eyepieces after the sponge linings in the eyepiece compartment degraded into the lenses. Luckily this was easily done with warm soapy water. The aluminium OTA has also degraded in places causing the paint to peel both inside and outside of the tube.

The mirrors are in better condition than I thought they would be and the drive worked right away. I put it though its paces earlier this evening and the 6" spherical mirror did well considering its was filthy needing collimated and the inside of the tube is full of cobwebs!

Had lovely views of Castor,Algieba and even split  Izar easily, which is not bad considering the state of the scope at the moment.

Just a mere 27 hours after the total eclipse the new Moon has already made its appearance.

Taken at 21:10 BST with a undriven Nikon 3200 and a telephoto lens set a 650mm fl. 1/20th sec exp at 3200ISO

Only just got this image of Pons Brooks and Hamal which was a memorable sight with 7X50 binoculars. Clouds were encrouching and the comet was lowering towards the roof of the house but manged this image using a 150mm f5 Newtonian on a driven Skywatcher Star discovery altaz mount.

The camera was a Nikon 3200DSLR attached to a Duo Ultima Celestron Plossl. 5 sec exposure at 3200ISO

Yes here in Midlothian Antares is visible but it skirts the horizon by a mere 7 degrees. Fomalhaut is the real challenge but I often see this autumn visiter low down at a maximum of 4 degrees at best.

I'm at its northern limit as Fomalhaut never rises north of Lewick.

I've been trying for decades with reflectors of 6" to 16" and its always eluded me. Here in Central Scotland the maximum altitude of Sirius is only 17 degrees.

Theres a lady Youtuber in California at  lat 37N who sees it frequently with a 80mm short focus refractor ,so as your latitude gets less the chances of seeing the pup increases.

As soon as WIFI is mentioned I get cold sweats!

I have a Skywatcher Star Discovery mount which has built in WIFI which I've tried to use on my phone and tablet and had nothing but trouble with it.

After getting everything set up and I think I'm ready to go it goes haywire not going where its supposed to not tracking properly and repeatedly and constantly having to re star align.

I had a spare (good old) Synscan hand controller and as soon as I started using that instead all my frustrations melted away.😎

Well I finally gave up on the Astrolux finder. It is usable optically once the aperture stop is removed( I really dont know why Skywatcher fitted the stop in the first place as the finder works much better without it).

However it is so infuriating to adjust and never stays in alignment between uses even with the mods I done previously.

Luckily I had a spare 6X30 finder and bracket kicking about. The stud holes in the tube match the bracket exactly so there was no drilling to be done,(wow something going right for a change)!

I got this scope primerly for solar work and its much easier for this task than a refractor. I took this image of a Sunspot group near the limb yesterday using a Nikon DSLR attached to a Celestron Duel Ultima 21mm plossl.

A very simple setup at work this morning. A Astrolux 76mm f9.2 and Nikon DSLR after doing some sunspot imaging duty this morning.

These images were provided by a Astrolux 76mm f9.2 Newtonian on a yoke altaz mount.

The eyepiece was a 21mm Celestron Duo threaded to a Nikon 3200 DSLR ,1/600" exp at 100ISO.

This instrument is a lot easier to use for Solar work than my EQ2 90mm f10 refractor.

For its price and aperture the Skywatcher Astrolux 76mm f9.2  is a fairly capable instrument. Its let down by its supplied Barlow but  at just over £100 it comes with a pretty good steady full height tripod and altaz yoke.

This set up is hard to criticise given its price however the finderscope really lets what is generally a good piece of kit down badly.

The finder is supposed to be a 24mm  but has a aperture stop behind the  objective which is non achromatic and reduces it to only 12mm. Im actually surprised that a company like Skywatcher allows a junk scope finder into its range. 

It is also very difficult to align using the non sprung adjusting screws and is easily bumped out of alignment.

This finder is very frustrating and could be a hobby killer to newbies.

I found that if all three set screws are rack right up tightly the finder scope can be securely aligned permantly by packing the bracket /OTA contact point with fibre washers(first image).

The aperture stop is easily removed and have done this (third image). It will of course make the abberations on this dire finderscope even worse but it will brighten the image for star hopping.  

After Moon set this morning DSO's really popped out. Even the weather was ideal despite being -5C there was no wind and virtually no dewing problems.

I obtained this image of the open cluster M46 and photobombing planetary nebula NGC 2438 using my NIKON 3200 DSLR at prime focus of  a Skywatcher 400P driven Dobsonian f4.8 Newtonian. 1600ISO 10sec exposure.

Sobering to think  we are a lot closer to NGC 2438 than any of the cluster members!

A 6X10 ft shed! I asked Santa for one a couple of weeks back but he said I'm too old to ask him anything unless theirs a drink in it and anyway he wouldn't manage to fit it on his sleigh and the elves were too busy to erect it.

So I bought and built it myself.

Its long been needed to store my telescopes and odd bits and pieces of astro stuff thats been cluttering up my cottage for years.

I'm mainly looking foreward to bringing home my old Siberia TAL150 Equatorial Newt which my sister has been holding for me since circ 2010. I went to her house today to collect it only to discover thats she's using the wooden creates to support a large Christmas tree so will have to wait until January now.😒 

When I started observations back in early 70's Edinburgh there were still a lot of domestic coal fires and evening viewing was a challenge. Not only were fainter objects dimmed the old yellow street lighting reflected back and dimmed things further by glare.

The early mornings were far clearer and transparent ,it was lovely.

I now live in the country and the domestic smoke and smog has gone but I still maintain even now that the last few hours before Sunrise if it stays clear are usually more crystal clear than any other time.

If the scope is well focused then it sounds like diffraction spikes which are quite normal for a Newtonian especially around brighter stars. I rather like them,(except the one on my 400P that always tries to conceal Rigel's companion)!

Great work. 😎