Sunshine

Well done! A great night, and you can’t beat seeing Saturn for the first time!.

Gods what a monster! i am itching to hear what your impression will be on planetary and lunar, it certainly is a beautiful looking scope, a 6" frac is some serious bit of kit.

Now i realize why i don't have time to get into DSO Ap, that looks like an hour to setup, another half hour to calibrate before a shot is started, awesome though!

That’s a beautiful M31 there, id be happy as heck if I took it!

This post should be automatic reading for every beginner looking to buy their first scope.

That is one nice looking setup there!

From what they say, one look at the moon and you'll be hooked!

Oh my gosh, a 152mm Frac, my Mak is 150, i can't imagine the view in a 152mm frac with no central obstruction, is it a triplet? now you've really aroused my curiosity, the possibilities are endless!

Is that a 130mm? Bresser by the looks, planets must look sweet through a large frac.

And what a cracking Frac you have there, have the greatest night, friend.

It's been a great summer so far for planetary, with Venus shining bright at dusk, then Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars all making their way past the large gap, between my home, and the next one over. I can't count the nights where i watched the planetary parade as it mede its way across the sky, this has been a real treat really. This is my first year with a Mak scope, and boy did it deliver, what a little gem it has been, i am happy at the moment, a bino viewer is in my near future and i can't wait. In the meantime, let the parade continue, watching our solar system literally revolve is the greatest show ever.

I see this post is years old, but i feel like blabbing anyway haha, i too have replaced all the cheap bits on my SW 150 Mak, i haven't felt the need for a crayford focuser since i have become quite good at using its focuser.I can say one thing though, regarding this 150, yes it's FOV is limited, yes they're not ideally suited for AP and deep sky, but if you accept it for what it does best (planetary/Lunar/doubles) then you won't be disappointed!. Honestly, i have had some of the best planetary and lunar views i can remember with this 150, and i have had several scopes. The 150 is small enough to call grab and go, and boy does it reward you, given time to cool, and assuming you don't try to exceed its limitations. This is a niche scope, but what it can do it does brilliantly, I am impressed enough with this scope that i just may spring for the 180. I feel the 180 would be my permanent "never to be sold" scope cause frankly, short of a 7 inch frac which is ridiculous on many levels let alone price you can't beat Mak's on a price vs aperture vs performance level.

My Lunt 60 is 8 years old now and the BF is in pristine condition, maybe its not age so much as moisture entering slowly, Lunt has advised me to have a look at it last year when I inquired about regular maintenance. I have had nothing short of excellent service from Lunt every time I called them when I bought the scope.

You walk around your house packing heat? lol

There's something so darn cool about watching a scope track in time lapse.

I have a Mak 150mm, Mak's are a fair bit less expensive than refractors per inch of aperture especially when you get into 4 inch triplets and larger refractors, my 6 inch mak costs less than most 3 inch triplets for example. I enjoy larger aperture but then again there is a central obstruction (secondary mirror) which does affect contrast as in any SCT, the silver lining is that secondary is smaller than in SCT's therefore offering better contrast than an SCT of comparable size. Refractors offer the best contrast (among other benefits like shorter focal lengths for AP and wider fields of view) as they have no central obstruction but are as mentioned, more expensive to manufacture quality refractors. Maks are what I like to call the "poor man's large APO" lol, they will offer the closest views possible to a frac of similar size, and cost a good chunk less, I have only given a few examples, others here im sure can expand on what I wrote. I love my Mak, planetary and lunar views are beautiful, yes, they are a niche scope, mainly lunar, planetary, and brighter DSO's, for deep sky not so great.

Welcome, since you are so new to the hobby, i will try my best to help you, i do strongly encourage you to read the manual all the while using the internet as an aide to help you understand what you are reading. A good beginners book on astronomy is a must "Turn left at Orion" is a great start, there is much to learn, but don't be discouraged or overwhelmed, all in baby steps as you go. How about we start with your new scope, congratulations! you bought a reflecting telescope, meaning it uses a set of mirrors to collect light and brings it to focus at your eyepiece, i am not sure how many eyepieces your scope came with, but they determine your "zoom" or whats known as magnification of whatever object you are looking at. Your eyepieces will have varying focal lengths, numbers like 9mm, 14mm, 25mm and so on, the smaller that number is the more magnification it will provide, always start by using your least powerful eyepiece to find objects, lets say your 25mm eyepiece, then you can switch to higher magnification afterwards. Lower power eyepieces will allow you to see a wider piece of sky, making it easier to spot things, also, the finderscope, that wee little telescope attached to your scope is for targeting and pointing your scope to small objects in the sky. Using your finderscope is fairly easy, but first you should align it roughly during the day, point your scope at an object on land, just manually aim your scope at a general direction with features like houses and street lights, trees, cars, look through the scope and pick a target like a street light. Once you've chosen a target, then use the little screws that hold the little target scope to aim it at the same object you just saw in the main scope, adjust it so the cross hairs fall over the object, now your finder is aligned! Later at night you will do the reverse, you will use your finder first, to select an object, then once you see it in the finder, your scope will also be aiming at the same object, you can fine tune it after with a star. Try these steps out, familiarize yourself with your scope a bit more, use youtube to search for answers also, i can't overstate how useful youtube will be for you, try typing in "equatorial mount" in youtube (your type of mount) and you will be amazed.

That is an attractive little scope!

Yes, that interest usually turns to horror once they start asking about cost lol.

Thats quite a setup there, must earn you a good share of curious peeks out the windows from neighbours houses!

All excited here, getting set up for a night of Jupiter imaging, going to be a night of good seeing and transparency!

Maybe if you're lucky you'll dig up a horde of roman coins and put a Planewave scope in that observatory!

Last night I had the absolute most unforgettable dusk I have ever experienced with my SW 150 Mak. Seeing was just pristine, I have never had conditions so good as long as I can remember in my 20 years observing. It was as though the atmosphere cleared away for a few hours. For two hours I discovered the moon as I never have before, details were so crisp, and however high I magnified the image held up, it was something else. I ran out of power with my 9mm but I could have gone down to 5 without issue. Multiple layers in sloping crater walls were visible where I hadn’t seen before. I took a hand held phone shot, it isn’t nearly as sharp as was the view at the eyepiece, neat still. I soon won’t forget May 24, the day I saw the moon from orbit.

Welcome to SGL Lorenzo!

I live in a place, where for about 4 months straight, i can't think about my telescope, despite how much i would love to go out, near arctic temperatures are forbidding. What makes it worse is the crystal clear winter skies which tease the hell out of me, yes i felt like you many times, hang in there, it is worth it when you have your time under the stars.