Rusted

Daft question: If one eye is lower than the other why not just rotate one's head to compensate? Surely the image orientation should rotate to match? I saw the moon and stars as double for decades until my eyes adapted, with old age, to neutral at infinity. My need for .75 diopter distance spectacles simply vanished over a years or so. Probably because I never wore my glasses on my bike when I took up high mileage cycling. I am cured! Except for the stack of different strength, reading glasses. 👓

Binoviewer misalignment made me feel very dizzy. It was tying to make my eyes and brain work hard just to align the misaligned images. The replacement was fine and I could relax and see more detail than with one eye. The same holds true with misaligned binoculars. I collected lots from charity shops for small change. Almost all of them were badly misaligned. Presumably that's why they were "donated."

I am not sure whether Denis is still "supercharging" binoviewers for private customers. He is/was most active on CN. No doubt a little research over there would be illuminating. Contacting Denis for his expert advice might be very useful. Provided one has the skill to carry out the work oneself. Failing that, I would be studying self-centering eyepiece adapters to see if anything is a direct swap for the originals. Thread size may be the key. I haven't seen these binoviewers so can't really advise on what is involved. Worst case, a lathe might be necessary. Don't do anything "life changing" if things don't simply unscrew.

Denis Levatić | Astrosell

If you decide to change the shafts on your MkIV you must order 1.25" Imperial size. Not the nearest Metric size. I swapped my rusty shafts for stainless steel. A lucky find at a local engineering co. Stock from a previous job. They were metric shafts and needed a lot of work on a big lathe. I should have worked on the bronze sleeve bearings instead. This is an option if you can't find imperial shafts. The bronze bearings are split tubes pressed into the MkIV castings. Be warned: Removing the old MkIV shafts is seriously hard work. They are knurled and hydraulically pressed into position. They will also be cross pinned. You'll have to remove the paint locally to find these pins. You will probably destroy the original shafts while using a large Stillson wrench. If you damage the visible shafts and then can't get them off you are in real trouble! You'll need a sturdy bench and clamps to hold the MkIV castings still while you work.

I don't do enough lunar imaging to get much practice. These were taken with my iStar 150/10 H-alpha objective. Home made scope and mounting. ASI174MM with Orion 2x Shorty Barlow. I find the solar D-ERF sharpens the views nicely. So I leave it on. All resized to 600 pixels to make them look sharper.

Thanks. The seeing became even softer after dark. Which was odd considering the high altitude of the Moon at the time.

Don't forget to install retainers to stop the roof from lifting in gales. I have now scrapped my drawer slides in favour of inline skate wheels rolling in alloy channel section as a guide rail. Having sourced cheap alloy sections in a scrap yard made the choice quite economical. Otherwise not at all! The conduit pipe and rollers is an excellent choice. Having the advantage that it will shed rain off the pipe. Rather than puddling wintry showers and then freezing solid overnight!

Don't panic! I was looking for something far too substantial. T-S sells a simple male/female M48-M42 ring. Continuous threads. Slots for adjustment. Job done.

Thank you, Sir, but I am not trying to start a new paranoia convoy. Let's keep this a secret between us for the moment, eh? BTW: I noticed a similar "bridged" crater slightly further south. Obviously a trick of the light but still interesting. Can I claim first dibs on toll gates for the loony lunar tourists?

Hi, I have drawn a blank in finding an M48 x 0.75 continuous male thread - T2 M42 x 0.75 female adapter. I want to fit and adjust a Baader 1.125x Glass Path Corrector inside any of my 2" extensions. 2" filter thread = M48x0.75. Almost all M48 adapters have a flange. Which would prevent me adjusting the spacing of the GPC. Any better ideas for achieving the same thing? Preferably in the European area. Thanks

Hi, A crater with a "bridge" popped up on some of my [rather soft] images from yesterday afternoon. I have been searching but cannot find a name for this feature. Probably just a trick of the light where two craters overlap?

I have removed the 1.125x Baader GPC from behind the PST etalon. This means I have to add stronger GPCs to get the same scale. I have also removed the Baader 35nm H-a and Beloptic KG3. These internal filters are meant to protect the camera. Not needed in mid winter with less energy in the sun's rays. The full aperture Baader D-ERF remains in place of course.

You captured a lot more structure in the SE prom than I did. My live view was marred by a flat roofer's fishtail blowlamp.

Thanks Stu. My post questioned the difference between the two, 6" instruments, in purely visual terms. Assuming both were placed side by side with the eyepieces at the same angle. I am the owner of assorted refractors up to a classical 7" F/12 as well as a 10" f/8 Newtonian. So I know the severe problems of mounting these long and heavy instruments equatorially. Of course neither instrument would be chosen as a "starter" telescope today. Though they might well have been considered much more normal in the past. The modern amateur astronomer is highly mobile and demands both compactness and lightness.

Those who advocate larger reflectors [than 6"] to beginners, might pause to think how many 8" refractors are in regular, amateur use. If a refractor usually tops out at 6" aperture, then a Newtonian, of the same size, is surely just as valid? I wonder how many here could actually tell the difference if they were brought to the eyepieces of the two types of 6" scopes in the dark?

The centrifugal/centripetal forces place severe limitations on its cargo feasibility. Certainly NOT a human bod launcher.

No wonder the lights had dimmed... Registax must have thought it was a DDoS attack!

Indeed! Try ImPPG instead of Registax. Free, quick and rather magical. With live, on-screen scrumptiousness.

Those are some great images! When you change the GPC the image can get brighter or darker. All depending on the degree of enlargement.

Only 60? Congratulations. When I were a lad.. Seriously? ++++Get a 6" Dobsonian. --- NOT an equatorial mount! --- Nothing bigger! --- Bigger is a physical and mental hurdle against more frequent use. +++ Grab and go outside whenever it is clear +++ Mind blowing on the Moon +++ Great on the planets +++ Small footprint +++ Easily carried +++ Easily stored upright on its mount +++ No cool down time to delay the fun +++ Shows you all you could wish for +++ No neck contortions +++ Hold a phone or camera to the eyepiece to record your views +++ Goes in any car with room to spare +++ Trailer it behind a push bike to a darker, local site? Negatives? None to worry about as you explore the night sky. Learn how to maximize your viewing pleasure and PRACTICE seeing stuff. It's a learned skill! I can still clearly remember my first view of the Moon through a schoolmate's 6" Newtonian. That was 60 years ago. Back then altazimuth mounts were solid cast iron but people were much stronger!

Turnbuckle is the term used for fencing strainers and pole stays. I found a picture of my carport foundation blocks. It might offer inspiration. They sell for about £16 each over here.

Any more mention of the sun being visible to the naked eye and I shall report this as misinformation.

Well, at least you would only own a 300kg monolith instead of the 2.5 tons you feared was overkill.

The surface area of the sides of a buried concrete foundation block must be resisted by the soil when subject to lateral loads It follows that the weight of the concrete alone is not the final arbiter. 15"x30" is not a very large area in soft soil. Most of the sideways loading is near the soil surface. That said, a lightly loaded telescope pier is unlikely to suffer much sideways loading. My 2.2m Ø parabolic satellite dish on a 110mm Ø x 150cm tall pole has a 40x40cm x 1.5m deep hole filled with concrete. 4.5" Ø x 5' tall pipe on 16" x 16" x 50" block in Olde Money. I tapered the hole outwards towards the bottom to resist frost heave. The wind loading it has suffered would make a complete mockery of almost any telescope pier in amateur hands.