Sunshine

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.

Strangest looking eyepiece i have ever seen, why is it so long?

Oh my word what a write up that was! I’ll have lots O fun reading through it over the weekend, thanks!

Yes no problem! It’s a fantastic documentary, one of my fav’s from NOVA which like I said in my post, NOVA, has been religion for me for 30 of my 42 years alive so far haha. The sheer staggering genius behind this device to quote one of the researchers “rewrites technology textbooks” I’ve watched a panel interview on YouTube with several historians and some agree this discovery is like finding a combustion engine in the pyramids lol.

Hello everyone!! i thought i would share a documentary which is one episode of a 40 year long incredible series from NOVA, i am sure many of you may know of PBS stations "NOVA" series. i have practically been weened on NOVA since i was a wee lad ( just had to say that cause it sounds funny) as long as my memory reaches back NOVA has been a part of my life. NOVA has been producing documentaries of just exquisite quality, this one, titles Ancient Computer follows the scientific unravelling of one of histories biggest technological conundrums. It shows, just how brilliant the ancients were, at mapping and understanding celestial bodies, every amateur astronomer would greatly enjoy this! for the first 3.5 min the sound is a tad muffled but then opens up clearly.

LOL there's no counterweight on that EQ5/6 it probably thinks a pesky bug landed on its back haha!

So im assuming you got your Quark? i was scrolling backwards looking at different setups and noticed you mentioned your Quark arriving soon, well whats your experience like?.

Wow, i have a 60 and have always drooled for an 80, that looks like something you just want to look at more than look through lol, beautiful scope!!

Hmmm, the views through that Tak and Quark must me epic, i wish i lived near you so i could sneak a peak but unfortunately i feel i would get into a wrestling match with my wife over the next credit card bill and she's tougher than me so i better stay where i am haha.

Sounds like the EQ6R is a bit of a beast to move around, i'm sure the pro's will quickly outweigh the cons in practical use though, maybe you may want to explore some kind of dolly to lug it around? enjoy it while you can lug it around, i myself bought a CPC1100 last year and when i opened the box i was absolutely floored and could not take it out of the box without cutting the box open. Sometimes the scopes we buy ultimately defeat us as i sold the CPC1100, outright dangerous to carry up and down my staircase.

Cams: The older DMK 21's are nice, but the frame rate is pretty low and they are hard to find used here in the US. There just happens to be someone selling a DMK21AU618 mono camera in my city, i know it is USB 2.0, but im looking at half the cost of a new ASI, you mentioned the older DMK 21's are nice, does this model fall under that? sorry if i seem like such a noob cause i am in AP lol. Do you think this cam can produce decent results? DISREGARD im getting 3.0 cam so forget this DMK

Understood thx!

So from what i gather maybe i should jump on that ASI120 mono being offered i my local astronomy buy and sell for the equivalent of US $120??? sound like its a good camera for solar applications!