HollyHound

Nice 👍 I've just ordered a pair of the 6mm Orthos for my binoviewer... can't wait to try them out 🙂

Nice scope. Welcome to the forum and happy viewing 😃

You'll love this for grab and go... it's similar to my StellaMira 80mm f/10 and I love that scope for lunar, planetary and just plain old "looking around" too 👍

Got to hand(le) it to you John, those really do seem to make a difference in terms of practicality 👍

Likewise my StellaMira is the same 👍

Welcome to the ScopeTech Zero club 😀

I think they're going to have to order some more stock, these things are popular 👍

They go well together... far too well 🤔I am resisting for now😀

As I'm only really interested in visual observing, not imaging, I'd be better off with the CC8" rather then the RC8" ? It sounds easier to use and maintain too (collimation). @FLOIt's not mentioned on the listings, but do these come with any sort of case/storage, or just supplied as bare OTAs ? The StellaMira did come with a nice aluminium carry case, which I do use occasionally, but not a deal breaker.

Not quite the same, but I can confirm that the Report and ScopeTech Zero combo with C5 on top, make a lovely, light (single handed carry) grab and go, and of course manages the StellaMira admirably, so I would expect the CC6" should be lovely indeed 👍 I'm still veering towards the CC8", as I want something with much bigger aperture now and my AZ Mount Pro will easily carry it 🤔

Finally after couple of weeks bad weather and long days, I managed to get some more time on Mars again late last night. This time I wanted to try out the binoviewer on the Mak 127, using a set of Meade 16mm 3000 I acquired months back. I've only used the binoviewer for lunar previously and wanted to see if it made any difference. Using the 2.25x Barlow (from the Hyperion Zoom), I'm not sure what magnification I was actually getting (in excess of 200x though) and the view was lovely, detailed and most noticeably, it did seem to make viewing much more comfortable (for me anyway). I was able to pick out a tiny bit more detail than previously on the Mak, which I think must be down to my eyes being more relaxed, or perhaps they each pick out different detail and get merged in the brain... either way I enjoyed the view. It's supposed to be clear again tonight, am tempted to try the binoviewer with the StellaMira, but as I had a little trouble balancing the Mak with the binoviewer, I suspect that will be tricky so might just give the StellaMira a go on its on again 😀

Exactly, I routinely keep my C5 setup with the f6.3 focal reducer on it, giving me about 800mm (same as the StellaMira) but with 5" aperture... it's "almost" like a 5" APO, but supremely lightweight... I can lift it, the ScopeTech and Report outside with one hand 😀 If I fancy looking at lunar or planetary, I either just quickly take the reducer off or use the Mak 127. I could see these scopes being equally as versatile, or more so.

BTW... @FLO, I love that you've maintained the same colour and logo/brand style across the StellaMira and StellaLyra ranges... I can see one of these being a great pairing with my existing StellaMira 80m f/10 👍

That's great thank you. Good to hear about the collimation, my C5 SCT isn't hard to collimate, but I wasn't sure if this had a primary that needed collimation too... one of these days I am going to have to overcome my reluctance to get a Newtonian and give one a go too 😁 Well this 8" CC is on my wish list for sure now... been thinning down to a good set of equipment over the last month or so and only buying a few little bits, but definitely looking at something around 8" aperture over the next few months.

John, would you recommend this as a good large(ish) aperture scope for DSO observing or is this really more a lunar/planetary scope. I've got the Mak127, C5 and StellaMira right now, got rid of the Mak 150, as I'm thinking of something with more aperture to mount on the AZ Pro... the C8 and Mak 180 were in the frame, but this 8" CC looks ideal. Presumably this need to be collimated like an SCT too ? Thanks Gary

Just seen this, got the 2020 for Christmas last year, and was my first astronomy book since I was a kid... ordered this new one and will keep it for Christmas too 😃

@FLO Love the fact that your stock system, now shows the exact stock level for a product... very helpful, thanks 👍

Funny you should say that 😀 This combination along with the StellaMira, has become my primary mount, or the Celestron C5 onboard it can be moved outside in a minute for true grab and go. The ScopeTech is lovely, smooth free motion with slow motion on demand, no clutches to adjust/lock... in fact I don’t think I’ve touched the clutches for weeks now. It “just works” 👍

Sunday night I had another hour, from around 1am, this time with the StellaMira 80mm f/10. Tried a range of magnifications from x100 to x200. Compared to the Mak 127, the view was a tiny bit more detailed, contrast was about the same, but the colours were definitely stronger. Subjectively I think the view remained a little more stable, but this could have been the nights seeing conditions. I seem to be getting better at pulling more detail from Mars each time, possibly the scope or possibly just familiarity/practice. Either way, it’s a lovely sight still and I like that it’s been a slightly different view each night 😀

Thank you so much for this thread, I had completely forgotten about trying my WO Binoviewer on Mars, just used on the moon so far 👍 I do have matched 16mm and 20mm eyepieces, plus a 1.6x and 2.25x Barlow, so I reckon this could work on the Mak 127... will give it a go 🤞

I can certainly also vouch for the StellaMira as giving fantastic, clean, contrasty planetary views, but have no experience with those other scopes mentioned by @johninderby

I didn't realise until a few weeks ago, that of course due to it's rotation, it will be possible to see different aspects each session 👍

Well, second time on Mars last night was even more successful... just had the Mak 127 out, mounted on the ScopeTech Zero, let it cool down for a couple of hours (probably overkill) and then from around midnight had a look for about an hour. Using just the TMB 8mm eyepiece and a Baader prism diagonal, I was able to get a lovely relatively stable view and this time the polar cap was very visible but also I could observe large dark patches across the planet surface 😃 I found that slewing it to the edge of view and then just letting it drift across, whilst keeping my eye on it at all times seemed to help this time. This is where the smooth slow motion and (almost) zero backlash of the ScopeTech really helped 👍 I think the next time I need to try this much later when Mars is at its highest (and of course it's getting slightly closer every day too apparently) and this time with the StellaMira again 🤞

+1 for this. I love my Mak 127 and given its size, weight and cool down time, I prefer it to the Mak 150 (which I have in fact just sold).

If it helps, I started with an ST120 on my SkyTee, but have since had a Mak127, Mak150 and StellaMira 89mm ED f/10 onboard (sometimes with two scopes in parallel). All of these have proved to be great planetary scopes.