Stardaze

3 hours ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

That's actually a great book. Good arm exercise too.  Enjoy the read. 👍

I’ve been listening to it on audible and enjoyed the series so thought it worth adding to the collection. 

A few days late but had this and human universe off the mother in law for Christmas. Full of pretty pictures for a simpleton like me 🙂 

10 hours ago, StarryEyed said:

Visiting my sister and she got me this. 

Probably my favourite book I’ve read this year - excellent!

48 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Yes, but the views...👍

Cold weather usually brings clear skies, gotta love it!

Yeah, I guess there is that. Do your scopes freeze over in the sea can? 

2 hours ago, jetstream said:

Nah, just my yard its -24c right now as the sun is rising and we have a couple of weeks of sub -20c happening.

How about this- you bring your boots and I'll wear mine and we'll observe in the middle of January- maybe meet in Quetico to observe? It should be -30c or a bit less by then.

I’m such a wuss! That sounds insane Jerry 😂

Good thread. Going to buy some new boots this week but what about hands? I bought some north face gloves recently but they’rea bit of a let down. Was going to try a runners type glove underneath or maybe just buy a new pair, any recommendations? Probably try a usb harm warmer too.

16 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

EDIT< Sing the first line below as "five gold rings! "

Five star bins

Four pairs of glass

Some quality filters

Other bits and bobs. 

And a partridge in a pear tree 🤣

Yes santa came early to steve bomber's house but sadly he brought cloud to the whole of the UK with him.... sorry guys. 

 

They look awesome, look forward to hearing how they perform. 

It's just been the worst month I remember for along while. 

On 16/12/2021 at 01:00, johninderby said:

The CC8 plus a 125mm APO make a nice combination. 🙂🙂🙂

I never tire of that picture John.... drool 😊

7 minutes ago, Stu said:

Don’t you believe it 🤣. I’ve had quite a few Vixen GPs over the years, all bought used probably for between £150 and £300 depending on spec and condition. No idea why I keep selling them 🤪. Latest one is a GP-DX which was off here for £400 but came with a couple of Skysensor 2000PC controllers and cables etc.

I do think a lot depends on your observing habits and favourite targets. If you are a lunar/planetary and potentially solar junkie then a simple dual axis driven EQ makes a lot of sense. If you tend to observe a wide variety of objects in an evening then I would either go AltAz (with or without slo mos depending on your preference) or if wanting EQ then I would personally opt for Goto but that’s due to my inability to think in RA when finding stuff! 🤣

Again, all very valid points. I’ve been quietly surprised this year in how much I’ve enjoyed the planets. I have even started to observe the moon, which I had very little interest in previously. It’s a funny old game! 

2 minutes ago, IB20 said:

This is one thing that does put me off from getting one of the f/7 4.5-5kg 4” scopes. The weight soon starts to add up with something like a steel tripod and skytee. 

Ah, but the cunning plan is that it looks a little smarter than the dob, so hopefully SWMBO accepts it so that it can sit at the back door ready to go. 😉

5 minutes ago, Stu said:

Can we just remember that this is a thread to help the OP choose a mount for a 102mm scope. It is not an EQ vs AltAz argument, nor a ‘who has the biggest AltAz’ thread, so let’s keep it helpful and relevant please.

We are not trying to convince the OP, merely inform of the options.

Thank you 👍

It’s fine @Stu, I was all for Alt/Az but I have overlooked EQ. Though, yours will be bigger (deeper pockets probably) 🙃

7 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

There are some equatorial/atazimuth hybrids out there but they aren't cheap. The real beauty of the old Vixen mounts is that they had manual drives. Most modern equatorial rely solely on electric. The EQ5 is an exception, although you'd need to do a little adaptation with a hacksaw to get it to convert into Altaz mode. I have to say though, that like Mr Spock, I find a lightweight German equatorial to be just as easy, if not easier to use than an altazimuth. Polar alignment doesn't need to be spot on accurate for most visual purposes, and just aiming the polar axis towards Polaris is generally accurate enough. (You don't necessarily need to see Polaris). They really are dead easy to use, and are mostly hands free if they have an RA drive. If you can't find a Polaris mount, I'd suggest a standard SW EQ5 with RA drive or equivalent,  and you'd be set to go. Although I have several altazimuth mounts myself, I rarely use them unless it a field trip, but even then if possible I'd prefer to use an equatorial.

 

 

Thanks Mike. It's interesting to see a few visual observers praise EQ mounts, my perception (for visual) was the opposite. Perception based largely on the regular members here owning many fancy alt/az mounts. After all of this, I'm inclined to think that I might need both.....

4 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Is it me or when the ✈️ where grounded in 2001 or in lock down the seeing was better? 

Apparently not according to a source I read last week but I have to say that we had months of superb seeing.

2 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

I find with the poor seeing this year if I use a tracking mount I can focus on the those good moments of seeing. Also at high magnification less wobble when floating around over the moon.

A good test would be how much more you can see with an AZ100 with and without tracking enabled. I'll leave that up to others to discuss in the future....

My eyes are far too adept at tracking the clouds this month 😂 Are they ever going to clear? 

In all of this (and a thank you to everyone for their help) I'm inclined to ask: if the Vixen Polaris was the 'jack of all trades,' how come that idea didn't catch on? You'd think that would have been copied?

41 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Another benefit of EQ mounts is that they are usable in the ‘dob hole’ - the area around the zenith where the seeing tends to be the best, altaz mounts cannot do this. Then again observing at the zenith with a refractor is not always a lot of fun anyway. 

You just move a bit to the left, no....? 🤣

I don't think anything is very good straight up to be honest, but yes, an EQ is best there. It's fun with a dob! 

1 hour ago, Stu said:

I agree with this and although I enjoy both Alt Az and EQ mounts I tend to use them for different purposes.

If I’m star hopping or even just looking at a lot of different targets in different areas of the sky, I prefer a manual or push to Alt Az mount. They are very easy to setup and use, either with or without slo motion controls. With slow motion controls you are still adjusting an Alt Az in two directions to keep targets centred so it does take a little concentration. At low and mid powers it’s a non issue, and even a higher power it’s quite possible to track whether with or without slo motion controls. If without slo mos, a lot depends on the balance of the scope and quality of the mount as to how smooth the motions are. One benefit of slo mos is that the mount maintains position when changing eyepieces and is generally less susceptible to balance changes.

I prefer EQ mounts when I’m doing planetary, lunar or solar observing, and generally staying on one or two targets for the session. An EQ mount is trivially easy to setup for visual; no need for polar alignment, just plonk it down level and north, with your latitude set correctly and it will track accurately enough for visual. I’ve often found myself spending the day popping in and out to observe the sun, with the mount happily tracking away so the target is always in the fov when I go back to it,  then swinging the mount back to the East to catch the rising Moon and observing that during the evening. With dual axis tracking, no Goto alignment is needed and it just quietly tracks away. I sold a Vixen GP which I probably shouldn’t have done 🤪, and typically have now bought a GP-DX with Skysensor 2000PC to replace it!

My brain does not function well in RA/Dec though, so I find star hopping almost impossible with an EQ, and prefer to have Goto on it if looking for lots of different targets; as said at the beginning, I find star hopping and moving the scope around the sky a lot easier with Alt Az, whilst staying on or near the ecliptic for a whole session makes EQs very easy.

Horses for courses as always, and you need to work out what works best for you

That's a great post @Stu - thanks! From past experience, I agree with the tracking for lunar and planetary, that's where EQ mounts do help for visual. I'll have a ponder on that. The EQ5 is so cheap that it wouldn't break the bank to start there if I wanted to anyway. I have plenty of time to digest it all as I'm going to purchase into next year now anyway. 

17 minutes ago, Dave1 said:

One mount that I failed to mention yesterday, if slow motion controls are important to you, is the Losmandy AZ8 Losmandy AZ8 Alt Az Heavy Duty Mount - Rother Valley Optics Ltd

Ah yes Dave, probably a bit rich for me that one 😆

31 minutes ago, John said:

I've owned several equatorial mounts over the years including the excellent Vixen SP, GP and GP DX mounts. As purely a visual observer though, I have now moved wholesale to alt-azimuth mounts, with and without slow motion controls (two with and two without currently) for my refractors and my newtonians.

That's just my preference though, of course. You can really only find out what you prefer by tying things out I'm afraid. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks John. Be interested to know specifically what do you prefer with alt/az mounts? 

46 minutes ago, Franklin said:

Find a used GP/SP for under £200. Never need stripping and regreasing, smoothest slo-mo's, RA drive upgradable and easily still grab n go. Set up is not an issue, having set your latitude just point it roughly North. I've had SP/GP EQ mounts for visual over all these years and have never looked through a polarscope in my life. One point to bear in mind if going down the alt-az route, is that at some point you will want to upgrade your eyepiece collection to super wide fields and that can be expensive. EQ and Alt-az observing requires different observing techniques. With an alt-az you allow the object to drift across the field whilst observing, hence the need for extra wide field eyepieces but with an EQ, once centered, the object stays put in the center. High powers and small fov is of no issue with an EQ, nightmare with an Alt-az. (IMO-YMMV)

It is a good point regarding higher mags. At the moment, my EP's are 100 deg WA from 10mm down, and XW's in 5 & 7 - so not too narrow. Forgive me for being slow, what do you mean by GP/SP?

41 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

EQ5. I can't cope with having to track the scope manually. It's just more faff. Bung it outside, switch it on, and away you go. You can concentrate on what you are looking at instead of fiddling with the mount 👍
That rotatable focuser means you never have to get in an awkward position. Perfect!

PS. What diagonal did you plumb for with yours?

46 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

The Scopetech zero as well. I also have an AZ100 plus other mounts as well, but I think for grab n’ go best option given it’s weight… Has slow mo, just need to attach the cables.

I was thinking that the weight was on the limit for a scope tech at 4.5kg?

28 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

EQ5. I can't cope with having to track the scope manually. It's just more faff. Bung it outside, switch it on, and away you go. You can concentrate on what you are looking at instead of fiddling with the mount 👍
That rotatable focuser means you never have to get in an awkward position. Perfect!

Interesting as this is where I have two thoughts. They are excellent value for money and seem to show the ALT/AZ's as being over-priced by comparison, especially the sky tee. They must be the best value mount for a medium-sized scope. But it's really interesting in that you like an EQ mount for grab and go, which contradicts my reasoning. When I did have an EQ mount (early days granted) I'd always get caught up in aligning and trying to have it working as it should. I guess you can point and shoot, to a point.

9 hours ago, johninderby said:

Can’t beat the Skytee II for value. Not exactly a precision bit of kit but performs far better than the sum of it’s parts.. 👍🏻

They seem a bit over-priced to me these days John? The fact that it will need stripping and re-greasing for a £300 mount, kinda puts me off a little.  I'm thinking that I'd like something that doesn't need any faffing with. I'll probably save a little initially with some stainless legs but some wooden versions later on will inevitably happen I think. AZ75 does look worth the extra is my thoughts. 

4 minutes ago, John said:

I've had positive experiences with the AZ-4 and 4 inch refractors as well. It's not quite stable enough for an F/9 (in my opinion) but it handled my Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 well. Currently I use a Skytee II or an Ercole with my 120mm and smaller refractors:

 

 

 

 

When do you use the ercole over the skytee John? I like the look of them. The Skytee seems bombproof but isn’t the smoothest, from what I’ve ready. 

9 minutes ago, Dave1 said:

There is plenty of choice in the Alt/AZ mount range. It all depends on your budget. You have Tele-Optic Giro mounts, Rowan AZ100, Altair Sabre II, APM AzMaxLoad, TeleVue Gibraltar, AOKswiss range. 

The Ercole and sabre II style look like possible options but hadn’t seen any good reviews of either? The new smaller AZ75  looks the biz but no slow mo controls. That’ said, I haven’t a preference as very little experience previously so I’m sure I’ll just get used to whatever I get. 

6 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

As a grab and go basic but sturdy Altaz, I think the AZ4 is a fairly stable option that won't break the bank. It may only be a simple push/pull mount but I've used one for years and love it.

I also use a Tak Teegul Altaz that has slow motion controls, which is great for high power tracking but it is quite a bit heavier than the AZ4.

Then theres the option of advertising for an old Vixen Polaris mount, which is both an Altazimuth and an equatorial. Superbly solid with slow motion controls, but only available second-hand.

 

That vixen looks nice Mike, it’s a new one on me. The AZ4 seems to support more than the AZ5, which is a little confusing.