Barry-W-Fenner

Hi all, Just wondered if I could have some assistance with my Sky Watcher dual speed focuser. Last night while setting up the 300p I accidentally and unfortunately hit the 1.25 to 2" adapter on a door frame. The adapter appears to be ok, However the draw tube is has now gone very loose in the focuser and can be moved very easily by hand.. It doesn't feel secure at all. This brought an end to my "session" and I could have kicked myself as I have managed to stay accident free with my scopes until now. I checked all the small grub screws by the focuser control nobs and they are all tight, Nothing seems to have come loose. Anyone know of a way to tighten the draw tube back up that I can try? Thank you For reference I have added a pic which shows the focuser I have, Its the normal sky watcher model not the low profile. Barry

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Proplex-Black-Surface-Protection-Sheet-2400-x-1200-x-2mm/p/118670 link attached, complements of Helen. I've just PTFE taped my 76p focuser. It's taken a lot of play out of it. Arcturus and Vega should be along shortly to try it out 🙂👍

Excellent report there Jeremy, The heritage 150p sounds like it packs a punch and is nice and practical also! It is encouraging that you managed to locate so many DSO's even with less than ideal sky at the moment, It will be good to hear how it performs under darker skys! What are your thoughts about a light shield? Do you think it would benefit from one to cover the secondary mirror more and darken the inside of the tube? it looks like you have a very similar focuser to my little 76p, looking at your pics did you literally just wrap the silver focus thread with PTFE tape? I was going to get the 300p out later but my go with the 76p after your write up 🙂 Baz

Thats an interesting theory John, Ive not looked at it they way until now. I assumed that you needed to get the mirror temperature down. Not so much the temperature inside the tube. However it makes sense to reduce the temperature in the tube and make it less turbulent. Baz

Very nice pics of Venus,Jupiter & Saturn. Your pic of Mars is the 1st time I have seen it from a "through the eye piece" perspective. I didn't know what to expect, It genuinely just made me say "WOW" in a positive way out loud to myself. Its so small! I believe you do have a hint of White ice caps at the bottom of the image. So technically the Northern side of the planet. I cant wait until I finally get a look at Mars through my scope. Just that and Neptune to go on the planet front. I really enjoy coming back to them though, One of my favorite things to observe the planets! baz

A little update for you all. I set up the 300p last night with the intention of getting some observing in. The Scope was out cooling from about 8pm. I fitted my AstroZap light shield and collimated with my laser as I am still waiting for my short Cheshire eye piece to arrive. I set up in a different position in the garden today and had a look at Vega. Again it looked very good as previously. A bright white circular image, The 4 defraction spikes were visible as was the same line going through the center of the star. I unfocused until Vega was a doughnut and noticed that the washing line was just creeping across the unfocused image! Needless to say the washing line is now laying on the grass and I need to go sort that out shortly 🙂 However when focused on Vega, No extra line going across! Thanks you @John for putting that one into my head! I let Vega drift across the FOV and it was stunning, Until I got to about the last 3rd of the way across. Then small lines of light started to appear from the edge of the star which I assume would be from the scope/eye piece combo? By 10.30pm still only Vega & Arcturus visible! The wind had picked up, Clouds started rolling in and I was falling asleep while waiting for darkness! Its been a very busy week with work so I ended up packing up and hitting the sack. Not an ideal session but certainly good to learn a couple of things about the scope. I have flocked behind the secondary mirror, Put my Dual speed focuser on along with the right angle finder and the scope is now getting to how I want it. I am wondering if it is worth flocking the bottom half of the tube or just leaving? I havent had a huge amount of viewing time with this scope yet, However the time I have had at the eye piece I have been very impressed with the results so far, Even with a couple of niggles to resolve. The scope it self is of very nice quality, I am particularly impressed with the az bearing that comes with this scope, It really does glide freely and I would quite like to purchase the roller bearing kit for my 200p! If the weather is good I might try to get up at 1-2am for some views of Jupiter & Saturn! Thanks all. Baz

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dew-prevention/astrozap-light-shroud-for-skywatcher-flextube.html It is an AstroZap Shield. purchased from FLO. It looks like they only go down to 200mm currently. Perhaps they will make a 150mm soon now with the arrival of the new Skywatcher! A quick look down my finder and it certainly looks much darker!

All dew shielded up! Go away clouds please!! 🙂

Hi all. Thanks for all the sound advice provided, it's appreciated. My astrozap light shield is due tomorrow so I look forward to fitting it and seeing the difference. I have also been reading another thread about collomating a 300p and the short cheshire eye piece came highly recommended. I have ordered one as I don't fully trust my laser. I had a brief session with my 200p last night and had a look at Arcturus, it looked very similar to my 300p images, just much smaller. As expected the 4 defraction spikes were present but the main difference was there was no big point of light running through the star. Next Time I get the 300p out I am going to let it cool longer. It is also possible that it could have been an artifact from the camera, I will have a look to see if it is there with the naked eye. I also checked the focuser position on the 200p and the tube is roughly about 1cm further in the tube than what my 300p would be, based on that I'm guessing there is nothing wrong with the way the 300p is focusing? I look forward to trying out the above to see what difference it makes! Im liking the pics of the cats eye above, I'm predominantly getting the central star and the oval shaped nebula running from 9 to 3 o, clock, and also some of the nebula at 12 o'clock. I haven't seen any of the larger outer ring yet though . Perhaps when the scope is fully tuned and darker sky's return? Thanks again all. Baz

I have had a look at the stock 300p focuser and my skywatcher DS model. They are both measuring 65-70mm the marked areas above. I would go as far as to say the actual focuser bodyis identical and it's just the gears, nobs that are replaced to create the 10.1 speeds. I could be being ott but I do feel something is not quite right with the 300p focuser area. 🤔🤔🤔 🤔🤔🤔

Thank you John. Im outside now setting up the 200p to cool. I will check the height of the standard 300p focuser aswell. I won't be using the 300p tonight. Its just started to brighten up after a downpour. I am not confident that it is going to stay dry, I need something I can put away quickly 😁

I am pretty happy with the view so far. They have been very good all around and sometimes exceptional. My main concern is to find out if the focuser is out to far as I have very little outward focus left available currently. Cheers

That's interesting. The scope was out for about 30mins approx cooling before I started viewing, Perhaps it wasn't quite at the optimal temperature.

Hi Merlin, I did a collimation but there wasn't a huge amount of adjustment. I was going to check my collimation last night after setting up, However I couldn't find my laser anywhere, Naturally it jumped out in front of me this morning and was looking at me the whole time! I will double check it next time i set up the 300p The sky is clearing a bit here now after a mega downpour, I might get the 200p out tonight! Baz

Afternoon Don, Thank you for your informative posts, They have been of great help. It actually the other way around. My focuser is pretty much all the way out to gain focus. I used the term back focus so hopefully that is correct. Anyhow, The blow pic is the position my focuser is in to achieve focus. In my opinion it seems to far out, There is hardly any of the focuser in the tube to obstruct the mirror. When I put on my DS focuser there was a spacer between the standard focuser and the tube, As seen in the pic. I put this on to my DS focuser as I assumed it was required to fit the 300p? I am now wondering if this is having an effect? Thank you Barry

That the view I had on the O-III, Useful for The Veil and the North American nebula. I look forward to my 1st views of them. As the Cats eye shows very nicely without a filter I assumed the O-III would worsen the View. I will give it a try though! Don't get me started on the Blinking planetary! I tried to hunt it down for quite some time last night but had no joy.

That's a really smart looking bit of kit. I hope you enjoy it. We look forward to some reports 🙂

Afternoon Niallk Sorry I missed your post! I do have an O-III filter, I havent used it on planetary nebula yet. Perhaps I should give it a go to see if I can bring out anymore detail. So far my best views of the Cats Eye have been with my 12mm at x125 mag. The detail at this power is very good. the central star shows constant and the nebula has a small amount of structure to it. Very impressive. I tried my 8mm x 187 mag but lost quite a bit of detail and it started to look fuzzy. Thank you Barry

Hi Geoff, Thanks for the confirmation. Your description is exactly what I am experiencing. Only the brightest stars show as per my pic. And to be honest my pics dont really do much justice. They are very clear bright orbs?! Have you changed your focuser on your 300p? If so did you use the spacer that came with it. I only ask as I do feel I am using quite a large amount of the back focus currently as per my pic. Cheers Barry

Thanks JOC. I did think these stars were showing more like planets. Being inexperienced I assumed that it was down to the scope resolving them larger. I did note that all the smaller stars were producing more of a point of light but they are giving off a small spike on one side, If that makes sense. I also did note that to gain "focus" I am using a large amount of back focus, It is not totally maxed out but not far off. Please see attached pic. I am using the 1.25 adapter for my BST Eye pieces and also the 2" adapter for my 30mm - I do feel like something is wrong to be honest. But having said that, I have enjoyed some great views of the Cats Eye? Magnification wise these pics were taken last night with my 8mm BST x187 Mag. It was also dry last night so no dew forming on the mirrors. One thing that might be a factor, When the scope arrive I swapped over the standard focuser to my Sky watcher Duel-speed model. on the standard focuser was the white spacer that can be seen in the pic between the tube and focuser. I put this on the back of my duel speed and reattached as I thought it would be requirement on the 300p. Perhaps I dont need this spacer with the duel speed model? Sorry for the mistaken identity! Thanks for your input JOC, Its greatly appreciated. Barry

Morning Andy, For reference this is what Arcturus & Vega look like at focus for me.

That's quite reassuring to hear John. I didn't really know how much the BST range would be affected by an F/4.9. I also didn't realise how poor the viewing conditions had become until my neighbors security lights came on and I could see the mist and moisture in the air. I was having to much fun viewing The Cats Eye 🙂 Hopefully tonight stays clear and I can see what the scope/eye piece combo is capable of! Baz

I believe so, I did note to myself that these two stars were the only ones which had this appearance. In my limited experience I put that down to them both being larger and brighter than than most other stars visible. In the grand scheme of things anyway 🙂 All other stars did show as a points of light some looked ok and others not so. After taking on board the opinions on here I put this down to very poor skies rather than the eye pieces themselves. Having said that, Even on a poor night i have never seen the Cats Eye look so good, It blew me away. I am looking forward to another session testing the scope in hopefully better conditions. It might also be worth mentioning that I haven't received my AstroZap Dew/Light Shield yet as they are on an extended lead time. I will be interested to see if this also helps with contrast and viewing. Baz

Thanks Steve, I am hoping to get out tonight again to give the bst range another try, As you mentioned above the high powers may perform better under improved sky conditions. I may also find that more of the range also perform well in the right conditions 🙂

Hi all. I have been having a think today and am unsure if i should go for the 9mm or 12mm Morpheus. As pointed out above the 12.5 will give around x120 or x10 per inch of aperture which is a nice benchmark for Galaxy hunting apparently. (I wouldn't know because i am useless at hunting galaxy's down 🙂 ) My preferred objects to view are Planets,Planetary Nebula, Glob & open clusters. These seem to be where I am getting the most viewing enjoyment. I also enjoy double star viewing. With that in mind would I be better off with the 9mm as it would give x166 magnification and hopefully show some great detail in these targets at a medium power. On the subject of double stars. I attempted the double,double in Lyra with the 3 BST eye pieces that work ok in the 300p - I could not split them at x150 or x100 they were clear but the split would just turn into two oval shaped points when i focused on them. I assume this is an example of the BST'S not being ideal for a 300p as i can split the double double with these eye pieces in the 200p Thank you