Peter_D

It's been non stop cloud for me for the last week. Last evening there was a small area of the western sky that had intermittent clear areas. In one of them, I could see the cresent Moon so I used my Celestron 6SE to set up alignment on it. When I did a goto, there was cloud where Mercury should have been. A small gap came up and there it was, Mercury for probably 10 seconds in my finder scope and then in my 25mm. And then it was away again! Peter

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has experience of using this type of reducer corrector for imaging: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p8474_TS-Optics-Reducer-Korrektor-f-6-3-fuer-Schmidt-Cassegrain-SC-Teleskope.html Clear skies Peter

I had an Revue 60/900 which was very similar to your scope - circle K (Kenko?) if I remember correctly. It had nice optics - really dark black sky and pinpoint stars.

In my limited experience, Goto mounts are needed if you suffer from light pollution and don't have enough visible stars to star hop to your target. I have an unguided Vixen GP mount and can only use it for DSO on the brightest objects. A Goto upgrade is potentially available but costs 500€ - not sure if it's worth the upgrade. Even if they have dark skies, I think most AP-ers use Goto simply to save time and get setup as quickly as possible.

You can identify it's made by the Japanese firm Vixen because of the V inside the circle.

Hi, Many thanks for all the feedback so far! Attached is the original frame: you can see very noticeable coma on two stars. Here are details of my optical train: 6SE OTA => 1.25" Visual Back => Svbony 0.5 reducer => 1.25" nose piece => Baader UV-IR cut filter => Zwo asi224mc camera Better to switch the positions of the reducer and the filter next time? The C6's colllimation is spot on - hopefully getting the Bahtinov Mask will help things next time. Clear skies Peter

Thanks Mike! Yes, don't know why I did 350 captures, it makes no sense for a GC..thanks for the pointers. A Bahtinov mask will be on my shopping list as well as the Celestron corrector / reducer. Peter

Hi, Last night, it was my first time using my Nextar 6SE for EEVA and getting something for a result! I have a Zwo asi224mc which narrowed down the targets a bit. M3 was an ideal candidate so after allignment, the scope successfully went to the location: what a thrill seeing the glob visually first. It is in the eastern sky for me so ideally placed out of Cologne's skyglow to the west. Then I began to do live stacking: I have to say, I probably overdid the number of captures I did (350) - how many would people recommend for globulars? I could probably also invest in a bahtinov mask and maybe a better 0.5 Reducer - any recommendations on the latter? I had to crop quite a bit from my capture because of an elongated star near the periphery. Would a better reducer improve things or was it due to the number of captures? All a bit new to me but great to give it a go and get a EEVA DSO image from my Bortle 6-ish skies (I generally focus on the Moon and planets). But lots of room for improvement I know. Clear skies Peter

Hi, I've bought a Bresser mobile power supply to use with my GP mount / SW Eq5 motor upgrade kit. I have a AC/DC power adapter with an assortment of adapter tips. When I connect the 5.5mm X 2.1mm adapter tip and connect it to the hand-controller, the adapter tip is too long and some metal of the barrel is visible (please see photo). Is this a safety concern? Many thanks for any feedback Peter

I think the superior low light capabilities of 7x50s are also beneficial at sea and around the coast.

Hi, This is a part 1 of 2 review because I've yet to receive the goods ordered but I just want to commend teleskop-austria.at for offering a basic item at a very, very reasonable price: Eq5 latitude adjustment bolts for 5€ each. I ordered two. Postage to Germany was 10€. Hopefully the order goes well and if so, teleskop-austria will be on my radar from now on. Clear skies Peter

Re. Goto, I think the advantage his father will have is he already has a knowledge of the night sky and can therefore use known stars as alignment stars. Also, he will be using a power tank and not internal AA batteries. I struggled with the Goto at first simply because I was using AA batteries. Once I got a power supply, it worked flawlessly. I also use a little triangular spirit level to level the tripod before fitting the mount - this might not be needed but I got into the habit of it. One thing that I don't personally use is any WiFi connection to a controlling smartphone - I'm happy enough with the supplied handset.

Hi, welcome! In visual astronomy, aperture is king so an 8 inch SCT is going to give a more detailed view of the Moon and planets than a 5 inch Mak (IMO). The contrast in the Mak could be better than the SCT (smaller central obstruction than the SCT) but the amount of detail will be better in the (collimated) SCT. The 8SE is a fine scope. The one thing you do hear is it is just on the borderline with the single arm SE mount. Others with direct experience will give you their opinions about vibrations / settling times. I know you can buy pads for the tripod legs to help surpress vibrations so maybe something to get feedback on too. I have the smaller 6SE which works really well but I don't use it as my primary scope. One thing that is in your favour is it will be used for visual only. The supplied SE accessories will all get your father going. Some people replace the red dot finder with a finder scope ( I did). My 6SE came with one 25mm plössl eyepiece which is actually pretty good quality. I would get him a 8-24mm zoom eyepiece and a lens cleaning kit with blower. Cleaning kit is for eyepieces and the blower is cleaning dust off the front of the corrector plate. Another upgrade down the road for the 8SE is the 0.63 reducer/corrector. Peter

I had to bring the exposure and gain right down Stu when I Barlowed..but now I am having doubts because there is such a discrepancy in the brightness between the two. I see on this page that the orientation fits (coincidence?) but not the magnitude: https://bestdoubles.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/castor-three-steps-to-take-you-from-aw-to-awe/ Maybe I need another session focusing on Castor!

Hi, I'm new to observing double / multiple stars. Castor was well placed last night so I had an enjoyable time observing the primary split with my 6SE SCT. I used my Zwo asi224mc to capture some images and stacked them like I would with Lunar / Planetary images. The first one is un-Barlowed and the second is 2x Barlowed. I realise I should have recorded orientation and what eyepieces I was using but to be honest, I was just thrilled to be seeing the split 🙂 Thanks for reading Peter

One manufacturer I would recommend for having good value is buying a used Vixen telescope and / or mount if you see one going relatively cheaply. Vixen has a very good reputation , but especially so in the 1980s and 1990s. Maybe with the overall lack of equipment it's not so much the case now, but over the past few years I've seen a regular appearance of used (unfashionable?) Vixen achromatic and 114mm f7.9 reflectors on the used market - I am biased as I bought some gear myself but definitely it was a good way to get me going in the hobby.

Hi, Here's a close up of Plato I captured during the week, Meade 2080 SCT, Zwo 224mc, Baader UV-IR Cut filter, 2x Barlow. 3000 images, best 25% used. PIPP, Autostekkert!3, Registax6, Gimp2.1 Thanks for looking! Peter

Hi, I just saw these on their website (top of the page), are they newly released? https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/index.php/cat/c210_Cameras-without-Cooling.html

Hi, Seeing has been really good in this part of Germany for Lunar imaging the last few nights. Here is a close up of Copernicus. Meade 2080 SCT, Zwo 224mc, Baader UV-IR Cut filter. 5000 images, best 25% used. PIPP, Autostekkert!3, Registax6, Gimp2.1 Thanks for looking Peter

Thanks for highlighting Alpetragius to me - I inadvertently captured it last night when imaging Rupes Recta:

Hmm, some odd looking stripes towards the bottom of the image, sorry about that 🤔

Hi, Here's an image from last night (20.04). I used my Meade 2080 SCT, Zwo as224mc, Baader UV-IR Cut filter and a 2x Barlow. 1000 frames, best 40% processed. PIPP, Autostekkert!6, Registax6, Gimp2.1 Thanks for looking! Peter

A Dobsonian is a type of mount - the majority of them having Newtonian Reflectors on them. A 150mm telescope will have different characteristics depending on the type: 1. Newt: Relatively small central obstruction so good contrast. Will typically be an F5 (so tube is 750mm long). For planetary you will need a Barlow lens. Regular collimation is required. Mirror is open. 2. SCT: Relatively large central ob. Will typically be an F10. Lighter, compacter OTA so easier to mount than a Mak. Corrector plate protects mirror but can dew over without insulation or dew heater. Collimation relatively stable. 3. Mak. Smaller central ob. than an SCT. More contrast. Greater focal length than SCTs so more magnification than the same ep in an SCT. Lens protects mirror but can dew over without insulation or dew heater. Collimation very stable. 4. Refractor - 150mm needs a very big mount. I've a 80mm F11 achromatic which is a good general scope (bit old school now with ED and APO glass now cheaper than before). HTH Peter PS 5. Classical Cassegrain: See John's post. I have never used one.

Hi, Why don't you contact the St Louis Astronomical Society? I'm sure in they could fix you up with a loaner telescope while you research further and give you good, practical advice . I see there is even a library telescope loan scheme in your city! https://www.slasonline.org/library-telescope Peter

Hi, First clear-ish evening in a couple of weeks. There was still quite a bit of thin cloud but I was able to get a bit of detail nonetheless. I use a asi224mc camera but I think I will just capture in mono mode from now on - could just not get a natural colour with my data so in the end, just converted it to greyscale. Even now, the grey seems a bit off to me but maybe I've just been looking at it too long! 🙃 On a related note, does anyone capture with a mono camera that they could recommend? Equipment: Meade 2080, aforementioned asi224mc, Baader UV-IR Cut filter, 2x Barlow. 1000 images captured, best 40% used. PIPP, Autostekkert!3, Registax6, Gimp2.1 Thanks for looking! Peter