Tiny Clanger

For some interesting vid.s on small maks,have a look for Jenham's Astro on youtube, and this site has interesting info, mostly about the 102 rather than the 90 http://www.waloszek.de/astro_sw_mak102_e.php Heather

Perhaps the factors of 'scope type / tube length along with the AZ5 arm orientation contribute a lot to the variation ? After all the thing is a fairly simple , hefty lump of metal . As I said, I'm fine with the 127mak on mine, but was rather surprised at the way the similar weight 102 refractor I recently bought vibrated on the same mount . And then there's where you approach the mount's steadiness from : I started with the heritage dob, so compared to that the AZ5/127 mak was a little vibration prone, but no nudge, slo mo blessed , which made me happy with that high mag instrument. If I'd started with a 'scope on an AZ3, I'd probably have been hugely impressed with the AZ5 in comparison . If I'd had the opportunity to play with one of those delightful looking Rowan mounts everyone is drooling over , then looked at the AZ5 I imagine my opinion of the AZ5 would be rather different ....

Because I have the AZ5 'backwards' with respect to the 127, with the arm set to vertical the rear plate of the mak (not the diagonal, the actual back of tube metal plate ) clears the AZ5 base ( the part with 'sky watcher' written on it' by a height of maybe 10mm . If your 150p can physically be coped with for weight and diameter by your ingenious setup, I'd have thought the 150L would too, if it is the same diameter . Although I'd suspect the longer tube and (I assume) greater weight it involves might present problems

That's interesting. Because I use my AZ5 with a 127 mak, , I have always used mine at the 'tall' setting simply to give enough clearance for the body of the 'scope to attain a decent alt., * if I get to the point where the diagonal is obstructed by the slo mo , I just drop the diagonal out and replace it 🙂 . I suppose it might happen that a view might require me to take the slo mo off instead , but that's not happened yet ! Heather * Because the dovetail is on the 'bottom' of the OTA I effectively have to use the mak 'backwards' on the AZ5 to have the finder shoe anywhere useful.

Did you follow any of the links to other altaz heads I provided in the other thread ? There are several alternatives which occupy the price range between the AZ5 and the Rowan, and I looked at the pros and cons of each of them when searching for a mount which vibrated less than the AZ5 does with my 102mm refractor I've ended up with a mount which cost less than the AZ5 , but which I prefer for that telescope. It's still not perfect, but the flaws are acceptable ones to me for the price. My AZ5 stays permanently under the 127 mak, the wide field refractors are used on the TS AZ6, You made no reference to price originally. Had you said the AZ5 was 'probably the strongest AZ mount with slo mo controls you can have at that price point' I would have agreed with you, I've owned my AZ5 for a year now, and it has been used hundreds of times. It's good with a 127 mak. With astro kit there is always something better, and it always costs more.

I recently mentioned several altaz mounts I investigated after finding my AZ5 fine for my mak 127 but poor for my 102 'frac due to vibration in the threadI l link to below. I ended up buying a mount which is very similar (in terms of vibrations ) to the AZ5, but is far lighter and more compact , therefore serves my purposes better with the refractor . The other mounts I investigated (Skytee, Giro Ercole and Berlebach_models ) are all better but expensive , I'd suggest you read the very new thread on here about the Rowan 75 too ...

Thanks Zermelo, yes, I'd read that .

I'm waiting for the OP to come back with some extra info on the storage possibilities and environs of the cottage , no point in elaborating on ideas without that . A lot also depends on what kind of people their target renters are : families/couples/casually interested 'normal' people / astro hobbyists / astro photo enthusiasts ? Will the expense of the kit be worthwhile ? This is a business , and any money spent needs to show a return. The theft/damage/careless use possible problem could be minimized by offering a 'scope as an additional extra , with a payment (and maybe a security deposit as well ) which underlines the value of the object. Heather

Aha! That I can see 🙂 Even more relaxing with the delightfully smooth rotation added to the bird song , you could market that as an anti-insomnia vid, with sweet dreams of lovely altaz mounts promised for the viewer after it takes effect ... Heather

I'll be interested to read what you make of this 'scope Francis, it has been top of my list of relatively affordable upgrades to my 102s Bresser achro now I've established that this size of refractor suits my purposes as a grab & go really well. Heather

Comparing alt az mounts to EQ ones is like comparing apples and oranges, apart from the fruit's weight (or for the mounts. the weight capacity) there's no equivalence , the numbers are just labels, although within the skywatcher ranges the numbers do denote ascending cost and capacity. The Pronto doesn't get a number, wonder where it would be , altaz 3.5 ? 🙂 I spent a lot of time looking for a reasonably priced , smaller and lighter alternative to the AZ5 for my 102 'frac. The skytee is heavier than I wanted, takes two 'scopes (which I didn't need it to do) and has a poor reputation for the quality of the clamps , and the metal the thing is made of has been known to shear ... all for double the cost of an AZ5. Nope, the skytee was not for me. There's the scopetech mount zero which ticks all the boxes for me apart from the price at £380 ... I rather liked the look of the Berlebach castor , but they seem as rare as rocking horse droppings in the UK, and importing a 200 euro one from TS would attract VAT and import duty and carrier's charges ... similar problem with the very nice looking 250 euro giro ercole mini. (which would also require buying a saddle plate) Again, both of those take two 'scopes. Then there was the Berlebach spica , which I couldn't find much info on , and £180 is a lot to shell out to find out if something's any good ... Then I saw the TS optics AZ6 , noted it was below the threshold at which VAT , import duty etc are levied by UK customs & excise (£135 last time I checked ) so the 100 euro ish price would be all I'd have to pay. It appears to be the less red & shiny, extension and counterbalance bar free, version of this offering from Altair which is priced at £180. Given my choices seemed to be either waiting an eternity for a second hand spica, castor or ercole to come up at a sensible price, or go for the TS AZ6 I took a punt on the little TS AZ6. It copes OK with the 102mm, but it's at the edge of what it can comfortably manage, which TS claim is 4kg without a counterweight ( and Altair say is a lot more). What I conclude from hours of research on altaz mounts for middling size 'scopes , is that anything bigger, heavier and longer than my fairly modest 102s would need a serious mount, the very cheapest of which is the skytee, but if I was shopping for such I'd prefer one of the more refined bits of engineering like the berlebachs or giro ercole mini . Just buy a dob ! Heather

It claims to play on my win. laptop (running firefox browser with all manner of ad. blockers) but I get no visuals, just some nice relaxing bird song ... 🙂 Heather

And the met office, Beeb weather, and clear outside all offer variations on 'patchy cloud' round here, until total cloud cover arriving around midnight . I'll be prepared (I was in the Brownies after all) but without a high level of expectation ... Heather

And a planisphere (with some indication of where North is for the extremely navigationally challenged) . Most cottages I've stayed in have a few books around, you can find loads of beginner-type general astronomy books in second hand /charity bookshop, or online, most will have star maps, moon maps and general observing advice. Heather

There's a few factors in direct opposition to each other here : you want something easy to store move and use, but not easy to quietly vanish into someone's car boot at the end of the stay (relatives ran a B&B for many years, it's astonishing what some folk can fit in a suitcase) You want something robust and easy to use for all ages and experiences, which will withstand careless handling, but a good , worthwhile instrument, not a toy. I assume you don't have much astro experience yourself, and any maintenance and/or explanation of how to use the kit would be down toyou. You didn't say how much you want to spend , but I'd assume the lower the outlay the better, and you also don't mention if it's a tiny cottage with little storage space, or has outhouses where a 'scope might be stored, or if it is a property for 2 rented to adults, or a family holiday venue where all ages need to be catered for. A 150 dobsonian would be cheap, and challenge the most enthusiastic kleptomaniac as far as smuggling it out would go, but it would need space to store it, would be vulnerable to damage by anything dropped down the tube. I don't think collimation would be any kind of problem, because if the optics went a little out of alignment, a beginner wouldn't even notice, and an experienced user would simply sort it out (as long as you included a cheshire collimator with the kit) There's even a company who rent dobs out by the day, and they seem to survive the onslaught of beginners ... https://www.darkskytelescopehire.co.uk/ Ypu can get a decent 150mm (6") aperture dob for £250 https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-6-f8-dobsonian.html A refractor would be more the sort of thing a visitor with no astro experience might expect and be comfortable with, but then it's almost too portable / steal able and a reasonably priced one will have bits which can be fiddled with/broken/lost , lots of screws, bolts and adjustments which attract interfering fiddlers, and breakable plastic accessories. For the same price as the 150 dob you could get something like this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-pronto/sky-watcher-evostar-90-660-az-pronto.html Easy to use , not too big or heavy , not too great an expense. Binoculars would be a cheaper option, and their advantage is the all-in-one nature of them, no bits to lose, but the theft possibilities are endless , and they would likely be taken out for the day as well , which might exacerbate the chances of loss or damage. Is there a garden or yard with a good view adjacent to the cottage ? If so, I've an idea ... Heather

I find the AZ5 is good with my mak on it, but I parked my 102s Bresser on it to use it (before it's own mount arrived) and found that even though it is about the same weight as the mak, the greater length of the 'frac tube allowed an annoying amount of vibrations to occur. Mechanically , the AZ5 can bear the weight, no problem, it's the way that weight behaves that was the problem. I know that Basementboy found the AZ5 didn't work nicely with his refractor, and asked about it here

I made a 3 legged, equilateral triangle table it from bits of a broken down Ikea sofa. you can see it in some of the photos in my thread about the chair I made from the same reclaimed wood later:

Not more comfortable, no. It's the instant set up and portablility I like the 102s for, and it helps that a nice photo tripod raises the viewpoint when fences round a small garden interfere . If I'm using the dob , I have it on a custom made low table tailored for it, and use the adjustable observing chair I made to sit very comfortably at a seat height exactly right , it helps enormously , both in keeping my eye in the right spot over the EP, and, after a solid half hour gazing at Jupiter or whatever, I no longer get the feeling I may never stand up straight again Heather

I have it on a tiny compact AZ6 from Telescop-Express in Germany, it's pushing the mount's capacity rather, but I'm happy to put up with that to get light weight and portability . It's all on a manfrotto 190 tripod

I'll happily act as international courier for it and donate my time for free, as long as the buyer pays for my return ticket , I've not visited that part of the US yet 🙂

For detailed info about what I just saw, I find stellarium invaluable , you can set the time to yesterday, zoom in, and see which moons of Jupiter they were, and check if a satellite was what zipped by ... You can also set up a plugin called ocular view to show you an approximation of the view with your 'scope/eyepieces, handy to show the star patterns around an object in the orientation you do in the eyepiece , for instance, this was Neprune 9pm yesterday with heritage150/32mm plossl : I found Neptune underwhelming in the 150 heritage dob too, it was only a few weeks ago when I was absolutely 100% certain I had identified which tiny dim grey pinprick really was the planet . Have a try at Uranus, that looked distinctively greenish coloured to me, far easier to pick out. For a printable PDF with plenty of realistic targets, with brief info on each as well as how to find them, check out the Loughton List , I've linked to it lads of times, a search (top right) on here will find the pages. Heather

Lovely report, thanks for reassuring me there's something to see behind these clouds 😞 Actual photo's hitting the eye, that's the stuff 🙂

As condensation occurs when moist air comes into contact with a surface that is good at conducting heat (like glass or steel) , I'd guess that flocking would act as an insulating layer, and actually decrease the chances of the sides of the secondary dewing up . As the back of the secondary is facing space, and losing heat , it is going to be colder, and more prone to dew than the front of the secondary. Heather

In the course of several purchases from Alan's own site (which is cheaper than his ebay shop) I've had several email conversations, and one 'phone call with him. nice chap, extremely helpful and honest. Heather

And then I had to pop the covers off all of them, and get the blower and the wonder stuff out and clean the lenses ...