HollyHound

Thanks 🙂 I was tempted into one of the 2" Skywatcher SCT focusers, but that really wouldn't have cleared the Mak 127 focuser knob and likely been very very back heavy!

Arrived just now, and in excellent condition of course, courtesy of @johninderby... a TS-Optics 1.25" Crayford Focuser For Mak / SCT 😊 This is going on the Mak 127, to address (minor) mirror flop and just make it a bit easier focussing in general, as the focus knob is at the top when on my mounts 👍

I have the 4mm, 7mm and 16mm, and the 7mm and 16mm work well in both my C5 (same focal length) and Mak 127. Never got a chance to try it in my Mak 102 (first scope), as I sold it on, but I’m sure it will be excellent 😊

Many thanks to @FLO for all their efforts over the last months. Every order I’ve made has been dealt with super quickly along with any questions 😊 Cheers to you all and good luck 🤞

Agree with this, my (admittedly limited) experience of M13, was a much more like a glowing "fuzzy" ball of light, and by averting vision slightly I was able to detect points of light within that ball. I've been specifically testing between my current scopes recently and can confirm the view was very similar using a Mak 127, ST120 and 80mm ED (very slightly dimmer view). Even my little ST80 (used as a big finder) was not too shabby either. The photo will likely be worse than you can see with your eyes and of course I don't know how dark your skies are. I think mine are Bortle 4 around here. At the moment (as Stu says), it doesn't really get super dark, although I found Tue was a good deal darker than Wed night around 2am (perhaps the distant lights of Bristol weren't on fully that night!). I do recall pushing the magnification as far as I could until the view started to suffer, then dropping back a bit (exit pupil?), gave the best view... Good luck 🤞

Tested the StellaMira mounted on SkyTee on the Skywatcher 1.75” steel tripod (as photo). Fairly light weight setup and reasonably stable, but I think the the SkyTee works better on the Berlebach Uni 18. I have also tried it mounted on the AZ5 and same tripod. This combination takes too long to settle during focussing and takes 3 or 4 seconds to settle when the scope is tapped gently.

I love the SkyTee mount. I usually operate with an ST80 on the left (used for widefield and effectively a big optical finder) and either Mak 127 or (recently) StellaMira 80mm f/10 refractor on the right. I’m using the top saddle to hold (perfectly) a TelRad finder, which can be adjusted using the SkyTee adjustments to align perfectly with the scopes. I have (like most others) upgraded to ADM saddles on the right and left side. Worth noting that the SkyTee I got from @FLO recently, already had holes to mount the left side additional saddle. Note that it will need the M6 bolt ADM saddle only, whereas the main (right) saddle puck can take either M8 or M6 bolts (I have put M8 on for additional peace of mind). I did have the SkyTee on a Skywatcher 1.75” steel tripod, but it now lives on a Berlebach Uni 28. Both work well, the Uni 28 is more stable, but the steel tripod is a lot lighter. Cheers Gary

Hi, In case it hasn’t been considered, I find the iOptron TriPier to be absolutely rock solid and stable, when used with the AZ Mount Pro: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ioptron-mounts/ioptron-tri-pier-portable-pier-tripod.html If I tap the scope, even with high magnification, it “twitches” for maybe a second then still again and focussing doesn’t give any noticeable movement of the image. I have this adaptor that will allow my SkyTee to be fitted to it, but haven’t given it a go yet (must try sometime). Adaptors for other mounts are available too: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ioptron-mount-accessories/ioptron-tri-pier-adapters.html I’ve used both this and Berlebach Uni 28 (EQ5 head) side by side and found them almost equally as stable, with a possible very slight edge to the TriPier. The advantage with the TriPier might be however that it would allow clearance for your refractor (being a pier), thus not needing an extension. It’s also worth noting that the pier column is 6” diameter and it has vibration suppression pads as standard. There is also a pier extension too if needed: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ioptron-mount-accessories/ioptron-mini-pier.html I tend to sit, but if standing that would help, although it is still decently tall. My SW 1.75” steel tripod is not as stable as either of these two, but then it’s only supporting an AZ5 with C5 on it. Cheers Gary P.S. I am resisting strongly the temptation to get one of these AZ1000 mounts, until I’ve got a lot more hours under my belt.. I have more than enough bits for now 🤣

I literally received one of those week before last to put the AZ5 on. You will definitely notice the difference from the stock tripod (same as I had on my Mak 102 kit) 👍 P.S. We seem to be slowly getting the same kit 🤣

Did this very thing last night and saw M57 for the first time (Mak 127, Panoptic 24mm), I was really surprised how visible it was even staring at directly. As you say, like a very small smoke ring 😃

Nikon Monarch 5 8x56 - The binoculars that got me back into astronomy after 40 years away... initially bought for general use, but then I turned them towards the night sky 😊 Pentax SP 20x60 WP - First purchase from @FLO specifically for astronomy. I was going to mount these, but decided to get telescopes instead... Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 - Use these when out walking and for holidays, but they do give nice wide field view of the sky too.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Cheers Gary

Hi Gary, Welcome to the forum. Hope you have fun. Cheers Gary (another one 😊)

Good point. Luckily, last night the moon was still quite a thin sliver and dropped below the horizon early, so that must have helped. Suspect tonight it will be up a bit longer but still not too bright 🤞

I can confirm that I saw those very things (M13 and M57) last night around 2am here. I was using the C5 and ST120 (both approx 120mm aperture) and had the best views of them yet, as they were visible without averted vision (although they improved a bit when I did that). For reference, I’m supposedly in Bortle 4 (possibly 5) here, and at that time, the Milky Way was quite clearly visible. Oh and Jupiter and Saturn were amazing again 😃Suggest you give them a go if you can see them (they are quite low). Edit: Just seen your post about the trees, so planets are out unfortunately... that’s a shame ☹️ Good luck Gary

Arrived this morning, in time for more (hopefully) clear skies tonight... Tele Vue Panoptic 24mm 🙂 This should work nicely in all my scopes, being 1.25" 🤞

Thanks 🙂 Well, I still absolutely love the Nirvanas too (apart from being quite wide field of view), but in a side by side test, and for me, the Tele Vues seem to work really well. The DeLites felt very relaxed, the Zoom is so very useful and if the Panoptic 24mm performs as well as I've read, then I have pretty much all I need for now 🤞

If you go for either (or both) of these, then make sure to get the heavy weight tripod: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tripods/sky-watcher-38-stainless-steel-tripod.html Steer clear of the basic tripod: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tripods/sky-watcher-tripod-for-star-adventurer-mini.html unless it’s a very light load. It was just usable with my Mak102 (my first scope... they came together as a package) but that was about it! I have the AZ5 on the steel tripod and it’s very steady for all my scopes, although admittedly I don’t have a reflector yet.

Love these photos. You're inspiring me to try the same sometime. Good luck with the recovery 🤞

This 9x50 straight through finder arrived today (thanks to the SGL For Sale ads) and either this or my existing RACI finder will be fitted to the finder bracket and rings that arrived last week (after recommendation from @johninderby) and should hopefully fit nicely onto the StellaMira 😁

In common with everyone else it seems, it's been about a week before the last reasonably clear sky, and as it looks quite good for the next few days too, I thought I'd try spending a couple of hours last night comparing my current bunch of scopes, along with some recent eyepiece purchases, to get a feel for their capabilities against my recent acquisition (the StellaMira 80mm f/10). On the SkyTee, I had the ST80 and ST120 and on the iOptron AZ Mount Pro, I had the Mak 127 and the StellaMira. I had it all setup before it got dark and then waiting until at least it was reasonably dark before viewing anything. Being the longest day of the year, the length/amount of darkness was probably going to be quite limited anyway. The iOptron alignment was very rapid as always... ensure it's properly level (easy with the adjustments on the TriPier head) and then quick alignment on Arcturus and that was it. Selected Vega and it was pretty much centred. With the iOptron you can then (re)align quickly to this new star and the accuracy improves further. I then put the TV DeLite 18.2mm in the Mak (82x) and 13mm in the StellaMira (62x). Straight away it was very apparent that whilst the Mak gave its usual crisp (clinical?) view, the StellaMira just looked gorgeous again. I'm sure I will get used to refractors, but it still seems so "vivid" looking at anything with this scope. What was also very apparent, is that panning around, the stars remained very sharp to the edge off the field in both scopes. I'm also finding that 62 to 68 degrees field of view, seems to be the sweet spot for me, having used Nirvana 82 degree eyepieces (16mm, 7mm and 4mm) so far and having a quick switch back to those, I am now finding it an effort to move my eye around so as to see right into each corner of the field of view with those eyepieces. I appreciate the extra sky visible, but the smaller FoV just seems more relaxed to me now. Moving across to the two Skywatcher refractors, I tried the same range of eyepieces in these too in and around Vega, immediately obvious is that they have a lovely wide field of view, but the stars towards the edge now seem quite blurry by comparison. They provide good context, but it's very noticeable when stars get around 60/70% towards the edge, that the start to distort and blur a bit. The ST120 did (of course) show more and dimmer stars. There is also a little of of (expected) false colour, but that's to be expected and doesn't really bother me too much. I did really enjoy both the 18 and 13mm DeLites in these scopes too, just panning around and enjoying the view🙂 Moving on to Albireo, this time I wanted to fully test the TV 6-3mm Zoom on all scopes, just to see how far they could be pushed. As mentioned previously, I'm starting to find doubles very interesting and whilst I've looked at a few, I'm hoping to standardise on one (possibly two) scopes as the instruments to use for these going forward. The ST80 and ST120 quite happily took the full range of the zoom to give magnifications of 66x to 133x (ST 80) and 100x to 200x (ST 120). Albireo and it's companion looked fine, but it was a bit tricky trying to differentiate the colours of the two stars, as they both looked (mostly) blue (particularly on the ST120). I should probably repeat this with the Semi Apo filter as a little experiment. However, they both remained reasonably crisp and I wasn't unhappy with the view through these scopes. I have seen quite a few easy doubles through these when I first started, and although these scopes might arguably be viewed as "wide field" only, they do perform quite well indeed. The Mak 127 went from 250x to 500x(!!), the colours were good, but again the view was "clinical". In addition, the rings around the stars (Airy disks ?) seemed quite obvious, a bit obtrusive and they made the stars look very slightly "false". At 500x the view was quite dim and restrictive, but it was still very possible to see the two stars split widely across the eyepiece. I quite liked this view. What was also very good to see was that the rings are perfectly equal around the stars when central, so I guess the collimation is pretty close to perfect (I have never touched this, it's as delivered!). The StellaMira gave range of 133x to 266x and again the colours were strong, seemed more vibrant and (even at the higher magnification), there seemed to be a bright focus of light in a central disc with only a faint additional ring this time. I think there were other rings but only the first was very visible). I was most impressed that the central point of light remained solid and vivid right through the range. Yes it got dim, but never seemed to break up in the same way the Mak did. There was an equal ring around each star with no lopsidedness at all, so again, this must well aligned (can you collimate a refractor ?). I recall that FLO check these before they send them out, so this isn't a surprise. I had a quick view of the Double Double with the Mak and StellaMira and again very clean and excellent views in both. I guess the Mak and/or StellaMira will make good double star scopes. I then just spent the rest of the time cruising around, enjoying the view through the StellaMira (after all this is supposed to be fun using these wonderful tools 🤣), before calling it quits. Note to self, it takes a good while to pack down all this kit, so this is very much an occasional thing to do, but was worthwhile to get a feel for the differences. However, I'm not 100% sure that I need both the ST80 and the ST120 now that I have the StellaMira. I got them both second hand within a few days of each other, when my only (first) scope was a Mak 102. I've seen a good many firsts with these, including a comet (C/19) and good views of some galaxies too. However, having now obtained a C5, Mak 127 and now the StellaMira, I don't want either of them to just sit around unused. The ST80 is mounted in guide rings, which make it very easy to calibrate against a primary scope on either the SkyTee or the second saddle on the iOptron, and as such makes a fantastic "finder" and wide field scope using a PanaView 32 or Nirvana 16mm. I'll keep using all of them for now and see how it goes. Likewise, I'm going to keep swapping between the 62/68 and 82 degree eyepieces, but I'm leaning towards the reduced, but more comfortable (for me) views of the slightly smaller FoV currently. In addition, after enjoying the TeleVues so much, I've now ordered a PanOptic 24mm too. I did a good bit of research on here (and elsewhere) and this eyepiece seems to get universally recommended as a very versatile eyepiece which (being 1.25") can be used across my range of scopes. I will of course give it a good test when it arrives... Ramble over... here's to more clear skies 🤞 Cheers Gary

Hi Jeff, Welcome to the forum. Cheers Gary

Hope it’s not too late to post... Berlebach Uni 28 being used as “grab and go” with C5 mounted on an AZ5. This tripod was way more than the scope or mount needed, so it has now been moved to support the SkyTee, but I still think it made a nice simple setup at the time, along with an old guitar stool😊

Hi Ed. Welcome this very friendly forum. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have already. Cheers Gary

Thanks, that makes sense. I’ve found previously when using the Mak 127 (FL 1500mm), that going from the Nirvana 7mm (x214)to the Nirvana 4mm (x375) achieved very little except a bigger but much dimmer image. This must be the aperture related practical magnification limit I’ve read about. It’s certainly good to have the option to try higher, but then back off when that limit is reached.