joe aguiar

u can even do it on a building chimney, a street light hydro pole maybe evebn a building corner. its just to get close then at night u can get closer or near perfect

joejaguar

i only use mine for moon and planets

remember the binoviwer splits the light into two cones to give each eye light, unlike re binos that have a scope for each eye. So the aperture is spilt in half so if u have a 6" sct its like viewing from a 3" scope.

iam not sure i heard of people using it for dso because of this and most dso are dim to begin from

last i kinda find it so i dont use it much

joejaguar

i had a 16" in a white zone and a 80mmf/5 refractor showed 1000x better in a green zone, sometimes u cant overcome the LP by size

joejaguar

3 hours ago, Ben the Ignorant said:

Many people assume GSO is just average or subpar quality because it is mass-produced and "not expensive enough", but that ignores two decades of progress in machinery and the plain good will and competence of GSO and its dealers. Looking at hard data from labs, this is what is found when testing two 16-inch GSO parabolic newtonian mirrors:

A 0.93 Strehl ratio; Astro-Physics, LZOS, Takahashi, Vixen and TEC promise 0.95 Strehl ratio in their "expensive enough" apos but the surfaces they produce are never as large as 400mm, so GSO did an excellent job. The test dating from 2008 the mirror is at least that old, so the tooling and/or the know-how at GSO might well have been improved since. That 1/24th wave surface quality is great work for such a large area to polish.

Now watch this:

Another super-large GSO parabolic newtonian mirror, with 0.98 Strehl quality factor! 1/8th wave peak-to-valley, and a nearly science-grade or military/espionage-grade 1/42th wave overall surface quality! Date is the same, lab is that unmerciful Wolfgang Rohr. The complete page is here:

https://astro-foren.de/index.php?thread/9274-die-neuen-gso-16-zöller-im-vergleich/&postID=76801#post76801

So, if GSO can make such splendid 400mm mirrors, how difficult do you think it is for them to produce an excellent 28mm mirror?

Ben great post

I agree most of my stuff is meade celestron skywatcher stuff cept for 2, even those I only bought them this year, so for 23 years I did without.

I agree most mass produced stuff is fine for most people, altho if u got the money and want the extra % go for it

Joejaguar 

we are all cheap in different ways

I never buy cell phones I only get the  free ones with everytime every 2 years when I renew my plan. I wont pay ONE RED CENT for a phone. I figure they rae making money off me from the plan it should come free. Norm I get an older one like a galaxy3 or 4 or something like that. If by accident it breaks b4 the 2 years r u I just buy a $99 refixed model from a store used.

a phone to me is just a phone to talk MAYBE text I don't have data or internet nor do I have any apps on it, that's what my laptop or desktop is for 😛

sorry for changing the subjet abit

joejaguar

humm ok maybe anthonoy can reply 

I thought he was getting the dob version and put it on that mount, but its if the f5 verson it already sell that way unless the SW160p version weights more?

joejaguar

Per your finderscope question

I have both and probably mentioned that in other threads BUT u never use both a rigel and a telrad on the same scope.

On smaller scopes I use the rigel, on larger scopes I use telrad, but both do almost same thing.

Your regular 8x50 finder will magnify the image where the rigel or telrad will point where your eye sees and then u know where the scope is pointing  to perfectly.

Both go hand in hand.

Altho for me I dont and have not used any regular finderscope for years. I just point my rigel or telrad where the object should be put in my 55mm ep and 98%of the time it's in the ep. The other 2% I know I'm not far off so I start scrolling up down till I find that object. 

Works ever time.

Joejaguar 

I'm kinda changing my mind now the scope is gonna over tax that mount since it about 18 inches longer, which is alot.

Since it's also goto u are gonna stress the gears and motors and maybe kill them prematurely.

If u go the eq way and balance it on both axis then that's much less stress on axis.

A eq4 should be min eq5 will be better.

I would not like to see u burn the motors up and waste the mount. Remember the company makes that scope at f5 for a reason.

If we take celestron for an example 

They have gt mount for few scopes then the slt for others. Then the bit larger mounts for the 4se 5se mounts. Then the 6 and 8se have even bigger mounts then 4 and 5 se. Then the elvousion is still bigger then the cpcs.

That's like 6 different level mounts for different scope

Joejaguar 

Yes it sells on that mount but the eq version is f5 the dob version is f8 so u should put  it on a eq5 or gonna have lots vibrations.

Joejaguar 

I prefer the EQ version over dob version

1 better height over dob version

2 I can add drives for tracking

3 the eq mount and weight is about as heavy compare to dob base and less ackward. If your talking about a heavy mount like eq6 or bigger then the swing may be going towards dob. But I talking about a regular eq5 with steel legs tho.

The dob will be 4ft at it tallest so I'm already bending down, then if its halfway up I'm on my knees

Ps I dont like to carry a table to raise the dob nor an astro chair which I think kinda expensive. To me if I had to carry any these 2 items I rather just use EQ then.

However lots like dob version and that's ok for them then

Joejaguar 

24 minutes ago, martinl said:

Jesus! You only average 2.4 hours of observing per day? That’s it. I’m moving to Toronto!

sure I could use another astro buddy helping me with youtube 😛

2 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Beautiful packaging.  I'd be terrified to actually use the eyepiece for fear of ruining its collectible value.  That would be a shame to have it just sitting in a display cabinet unused.  Perhaps they could later issue an ugly, non-collectible version for the plebeian masses to actually use and enjoy.

but some things are meant to be put on display

I have about 40 meteorites which just sit on a display

90% of the time our telescopes sit in the living room on display due to weather not being good work life family too tired to obseve.

joejaguar

Guys it simple

It's a limited only 300

Some people buy the tak or AP or tec telescopes which can cost 4000 for a 4 inch size. The 6 inch toa tak is $19,000 cdn. Theres are those that want and buy the best.

For others 300 for 4 inch acro is enough.

Even in cars only  1% own things like Lamborghini, ferraris or porches, and use it only few weekends here and there.

Each to their own

Others go to a bar club every week spend 200 to 300 on that, maybe smoke and drink a 24 a home per week.

That's the 11 appolo ep right there.

Joejaguar 

any chnace u can do that video in daytime? and its so huge abit smaller screen i can only see half at a time its soo big

joejaguar

Looking through windows is not really great 

I live in white zone considered the worst, and planets are still easy since they are bright and light pollution doesnt effect them much. So dont worry if u have to view planets  and moon from your front yard. Just shield your eyes.

Depending how high those houses are bungalows (single stories) u can still have ok viewing above them . As norm the bottom of any views of 20 degrees is not recommend since your looking through to much air.

I guess just enjoy what your can and still have fun

I have do goto a lxd75 back in around 2008 or so and just put dual axis drives.

And I just did it again 2 weeks ago again with a lxd75 I just picked used for 300.

Sometimes goto just take longer and more issues to deal with. Sometimes simpler is easyier 

Joejaguar 

i think those hex screws are oringinal before the cross screws came out.

the mirror is not too bad but ya get to that and just mark the side of the corrector plate inside andout with tape then a pen mark. the corrector HAS to go back the same place it went in.

thats the classicic 8" celestron cb on cg5 i think good scope.

for the dust cover i just did it on an old 6" refractor that also didnt have the dust cap. I went to dollar store they sell tin cans that you can put cookies in etc . you will need probally the largest ones they carry. i put 2 rows of foam to give it a fit as it wont be the perfect size u need, and then spray paimted the tin lid black. Its not so pretty but works or use a shower cap.

joejaguar

I have never used any power tanks at all even having 12 inch meade sct lx90 for at least 10 years maybe more.lxd75,8se and the nexstar8 that came out in 2000.

And I have never ran out of power using rechargeable batteries. I used best they 3000 mah back then it maybe was2200 may

Joejaguar 

If its visual just put Polaris in that inner small circle if your kinda doesnt have that put in cross hairs

Joejaguar 

Ya I agree with that budject 8 inch dob if it needs to be on a mount then a 130mm f5 with parabolic mirror on eq2.

Forget the motorized focuser 

Joejaguar 

Right that chart is pretty neat I have never seen it. It pretty much explains it.

Only thing it may not explain is scopes with no co will have better contrast too.

However size plays a big part tho I made a YouTube video called 6inch sct  vs 6 inch reflector vs 6 inch refractor. If u Google that with my name first then title u should see it.

Theres a huge difference in size in a 6sct size and weight compared to 6 refractor, and cause of this scopes with co will never go away. In fact it may still sell more once u get to the 5 inch and above.

Joejaguar 

heres my thoughts if you don't mind

if you get a 4" apo that's pretty much gonna equal your 127 mak (if your mak is good quality) I had a SW 127 mak and wasn't good, sold it after few months.

So do you want 2 scopes that pretty much do the same?

the apo will be wider and the mak smaller fov. Unless the mak stays at home and then the apo at camper till you end the year then that makes sence.

another thought is you manilly view the planets from home maybe get a wide field/rich field telescope to capture the large extened/ milky way objects, since it sounds like the camper is at a dark site, so take advantage of this.

maybe a 120mmf/5 refractor OR 150mmf/5 refractor or bring your 6"f5 reflector up there.

personally I would probally sell the mak and buy something like a 120mm ed like the SW120ed

joejaguar

altho some of the views I got for instance of Saturn were pretty much the best I have ever seen.

joejaguar

you do know thwe cooldown is gonna take a long time?

about 2006 or so I got my hands on one of the last Meades 7"f/15 UHTC mak cass OTA this was the verion without the extra weight to balance it like the fork mounted ones had.

which is the the same size as the SW mak. Mine had a built in powered fan that ran off 10AA battery pack and 1 intake air vent.

Views were pretty good from 1 to 2 hrs cooldown time BUT it was even better after the 2 to 3 hr cooldown time.

so if you get that one it doesn't have any air in take vents or fan so it will take even longer to cool

joejaguar