Pixies

If you watch this vid - at about 9:50 it shows how there is a way to make a slight adjustment to the primary. It's a slightly different scope, but I assume the mirror cell would be similar.: I would assume this would void the warranty.

I agree. Contact the seller. Unless SW can suggest how you should adjust it - I can't see how any adjustment of the secondary will help: your eyehole appears to be centered within the doughnut. Perhaps there has been some movement in the focuser alignment?

Does the primary mirror have a doughnut marked at the centre?

Most of the major manufacturers use a standard mount ('Synta'). You can get plenty of brackets (sometimes called 'shoes') that can be attached to the OTA. One popular one is: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/baader-universal-quick-release-finder-shoe-base.html Although there are plenty of other. you just need to find one that can be attached to your OTA with the minimum of drilling. I'm not familiar with the TAL scopes, apart from using a friend's a few years ago, so I'll await others for suggestions. How does your current finder attach?

Be aware that the Hyperion zoom barlow isn't one you can use like your standard type. It has a fitting for a DSLT T-piece, but otherwise you have to attach it to the nosepiece of a 1.25" EP using the internal thread.

But I think these conditions are tied in with the great seeing we've been having. Planetary viewing conditions - and that's bourne out with the reports of fantastic Martian detail and some amazing images, recently.

Hi. Looks like @WatcherFhasn't been around for a few months.

A new Japanese Mars observing tool. Thanks to Azrabella.

I'm getting itchy for another shot at Mars, but it's looking like Thursday will be the earliest we get clear skies here. I've a new EP arriving soon, hopefully it will get here in time - a Vixen LVW 8mm . I've also got a phone holder ordered at last. I thought I'd have a go at imaging Mars too.

😭 Clouds!

Exactly. How do we know that Barry's not been taken over!

Hang on - somethings wrong with this picture!

Didn't realise that those Morpheus eyepieces were so chunky!

If you can see the Cassini division in Saturn's rings, I think your collimation is spot on. Why not try this:

What altitude was Jupiter at the time, can you recall? I imagine that Texas is a little further south than you are. Big apertures suffer more under poor seeing, don't they?

Over to the east side of Scotland, the transparency had been pretty poor for the latter half of the week. Still air with a lot of moisture meant a haze and the sky was blue towards any light pollution, much like a northerly horizon in the summer. Actually, the still atmosphere meant that the seeing was great!

have a look at this fab image: You can see the 'fingers' as described. You can also see the pale shades along the N-NE limb (well -I think it's NE). I've seen it mentioned that this is a Martian morning 'mist'

This is what I saw:

Hi. Yep, I was seeing those 2 dark fingers two nights ago. The image from Skysafari isn't the best to compare with visuals. Best have a look in the imaging section to see what those guys have been putting up.

The clouds came in late here, so I thought I was going to get a 3rd clear night in a row, but they rolled in an hour ago. But before then, when looking up, even Vega and Deneb were 'twinkling' - which isn't a good sign.

Clear skies tonight? Let us know how it goes

yep - that's for doing it with a simple collimation cap. Bear in mind - the secondary alignment stage is not done very often. It should only lose alignment after a knock, disassembly, etc. Although you should check it occasionally. It's the final adjustment of the primary that is done more often.

Hi. Hard to see exactly - but it is tricky to get everything visible and in focus in a photo. You need to start with the coloured paper - and make sure that the secondary is rotated and aligned under the focuser so that the outside circumference is concentric with the end of the Cheshire. Like this: Nezt you remove the papers and then use the secondary adjusters to fine-tune the tilt of the secondary until the doughnut is under the cross-hairs. This means the secondary is now aligned with the centre of the primary (you don't have to worry about seeing the mirror clips when using a Cheshire) And finally you adjust the primary so that the little black dot of the eye hole is centred within the doughnut. You will need to make sure the side-port of the cheshire is illuminated, so that the eye hole is contrasted against the bright side-port. Does that make sense?

A Vixen LVW 8mm. Primarily for Mars this year, and planets generally. Will give 150x in my scope - so good for some planetary nebulae and globulars too.

2 clear nights! We're getting spoilt. Again it was a cool still night. A little damp too, but not as bad as yesterday. No real dew issues. The seeing was good, but perhaps not quite as good as yesterday. My now usual test of trying to split epsilon lyrae with the zoom lens - 93x today. Yesterday was 87x. Transparency was poor again. The light pollution in the damp air looking more like a bright summer horizon. Anyway. The first target was M57 - nice and clear. But a fail after that: M101 (the Pinwheel) was not there. Then the planets. I had a late session last night, so wasn't going to spend a lot of time on Mars. It was looking good, though. Yesterday was my first ever observation of Uranus - and now I can add Neptune to that list. I saw both this evening. Both looking similar, but Uranus is slightly bigger and a little less blue. Both were conspicuous disks and easily viewed at 150x As I was in that area, I had a shot with M33 (the Triangulum galaxy) but it was another miss. I have yet to observe this one, but it wasn't to be tonight. I consoled myself with a new open cluster, NGC752. I finished on Iota Cas - a triple I first saw earlier in the year. Back then I had trouble splitting the tighter two at 100x - this time I managed it at 75x. I love the colour differences and the difference in relative sizes. It's much more pleasant to view than Epsilon Lyrae, say - which I find more of a sight-test. I'm finding myself using the Hyperion Zoom EP a lot now, this evening is was exclusively. But a new purchase winging its way to me shortly might change that.