SuburbanMak

Nice mini-challenge @Sirius B thank you ! Tried this last night with a Hilkin 60mm, f13.3 using a TS Optics 32mm Plossl, 18, 10 & 6mm Baader Classic Orthos and a Baader Hyperion 2.25x Barlow (the one that twins with the Zoom). Transparency was patchy, seeing quite steady. 25x Hint of elongation in wider pair (TSO 32mm) 44x Notched wider pair. (BCO 18mm) 80x Split wider pair, notched 2nd pair (BCO 10mm) 100x Split both pairs (BCO 18mm, 2.25x Barlow) 133x Split both pairs (BCO 6mm) So my minimum magnification for a 60mm f13.3 was 100x - although by far the nicest view was at 80x. Might try this again with this scope when transparency is better + will repeat the test with other scopes.

Hi Marvin - I am fairly certain it was a cloud band rather than shadow, looked like a lower contrast version of the bands on Jupiter. Was quite faint and present only for a few seconds at a time but did see it multiple times over about an hour. From @Stu’s diagrams above (thank you for those excellent stuff!) I would say I was looking at the North equatorial belt. I could see the Cassini division but not distinguish between the B&C rings. Again this came and went with the seeing. Also Titan and one other moon very evident (there are a few around 10th magnitude, not sure which I was looking at that night).

Hope you got to see it Nik - I baled out at about 1.30 as a school night! What software are you using to predict? Am yet to see the GRS & would love to be able to work out timings.

Update on “project widefield”. Well it certainly works Had this out Friday night sweeping through Cygnus & South Easterly clusters. Most importantly I was able to achieve focus with all the eyepieces with in the end plenty of infocus to spare. ( @John - thank goodness! ) The view with the 36mm Baader Hyperion Aspheric is HUGE! Something like 5.6 degrees & with 12.9 x mag. On the downside there is edge abberation in something like 15-20% of that field and it’s quite marked at the very outer edge. However the majority of the field is sharp and the overall effect amazing on wide clusters and the Milky Way. The Hole in the Cluster area, Cygnus central area, M39, Summer Beehive all quite stunning & this was the desired effect. Even with some fuzzy edges the star field is engaging and criss-crossing satellites become an attraction in themselves. There are just so many stars… The view is quite bright and very suspectible to local light pollution - neighbours security lights had a big impact especially when looking low down toward Ophiuchus and Sagittarius later in the evening. I also need to find a way to attach the RDF as the shoe went with the old focuser - weirdly the view is so wide & rich that it’s a bit bewildering so an RDF would be very handy. Can’t wait to get this out somewhere really dark though. Otherwise the focuser itself is a marked upgrade on the SW factory fit. To my relief it’s gone on nicely and collimation may even be a little better than it was before - in two minds whether to tinker further with this as it’s not material to enjoyment and Might go the other way! Everything is locked securely in compression rings and and the 2-speed monorail gives smoothness and sensitivity that really add speed, accuracy and reduce vibration when focussing. I tried the Baader Classic Orthos & 2.25x Barlow in the 1.25. converter and was able to rack up magnification to 150x and achieve precise focus to successfully split the Double Double and Epsilon Bootis - not something I’d normally bother trying with this scope. In summary I feel it was worth doing, it’s made the scope as a whole much nicer to use and the super wide field option gives a whole new kind of observing.

Hi and welcome! I use a Skymax 127 on an AZ GTi as my main scope & love it. Congratulations you have picked a brilliant, portable & high quality instrument and will be able to see tons of amazing things! The more I use it on a wide range of targets and look through other instruments, the more I think it’s very tough to beat at this price point & you want grab and go capability. Anyhoo…on upgrades, here’s my tuppenyworth… Dew shield - a must, or some of your sessions will be a bit short That big concave curved lens on the front is a dew magnet. I have the Astrozap dew shield which is great and is yet to fail me in UK conditions. Equally though, I forgot it one night and used the cut-up bit of camping roll mat I use to pad the scope in its go-bag, gaffer taped on and it did a fine job! Finders: you can’t overdo it here as the Mak’a field is a bit on the narrow side - I have a Skwatcher 9x50 RACI finder (ie same way round as the Mak view) and a Telrad (like a red dot finder but with “gunsight” rings). I would make both these upgrades before any eyepieces - the SW 25mm that came with the scope is really crisp. Being able to find stuff easily massively improved my enjoyment of the scope. Eventually you’ll want an eyepiece that gets the max field of view out of the Mak - just over 1 degree. That’s probably either going to be a simple 32mm Plossl with a 50 degree field (which range from £20 up to the Televue at £130) or a 24mm multi element giving 68 degree fov. These are going to be a bit more money - I have the Baader Hyperion 24mm and can wholly recommend, super sharp & contrasty and at £97 a good mid point between the Plossls and the high end (the Televue 24mm Panoptic being the apex of this type). This gives 63x magnification in the 127 and super views - I am just over half way through the Messier list and have used this EP as my principal DSO Hunter, pairs really well with a Baader Neodymium filter for even more contrast - it’s my galaxy spotting rig & I’ve spent many sessions using only this EP. For higher magnifications I opted for an 8-24mm zoom + a 2.25 Barlow lens that turns it into something like a 10.7 - 3.5 mm for those super clear nights and targets that will stand very high magnification. I have the Baader version which was £189 & FLO did a bundle with the Barlow that made the whole system £239. Any zoom will give you tremendous flexibility and although it’s nice and warm at night right now, constantly changing eyepieces when it’s minus 5 isn’t fun! If you wanted to stick to lower priced single eyepieces I can also recommend the Baader Classic Orthos - the 18mm and 10mm both work superbly well in the Mak and pair really well with the little Barlow that goes with the Baader zoom. They also have the advantage of being £49 each. These have been brilliant on Saturn & Jupiter the last couple of weeks. I hope that’s helpful and not just too much information Clear skies and have fun!

Wow - those are some high magnifications. I did crank it up to around 300x last night for a while but got much more detail un-Barlowed at lower Mag.

That looks amazing - I will keep an eye on the transit timetable, well worth staying up for (always going to work so much better for me than getting up at 2 am, once I’m out that’s it!).

Thanks Stu - it looked more like your first screenshot by the time I saw it and was further West. (L in Mak) Trying not to kick myself for missing the merge as it was so amazing anyway & I had no idea it was happening. I will definitely be in the lookout for visible transits future, quite a mad thing so see when you imagine it’s a total solar eclipse happening half a billion miles away!

After a mixed but fun night of south easterly cluster sweeping & wrestling with neighbourhood security lights I got an amazing hour of planetary viewing. I had the ST80 in wide field mode and Hilkin 60mm f13.3 out earlier, but the crisp view of Saturn in the Hilkin sent me scuttling inside at 2am to fetch the 127 Mak - so glad I did. Amid sonetimes bobbly seeing I got occasional periods of really stable viewing allowing me to see the Cassini division for the first time, at times on both sides of the disc but more reliably to the W. I could also sonetimes see a band in the Northern hemisphere. Both features were much easier to spot when I remembered to switch the Neodymium filter over. Best view was at 150x with a 10mm Baader Classic Ortho. Views improved markedly after about 20 minutes as the hurriedly deployed Mak cooled from its semi-outdoor store to a chilly pre dawn level. Stepping back for a rest, Jupiter was really blazing away by now so I reluctantly tore myself away from Saturn and had an amazing view. Multiple bands & something on the Western limb that I at first thought might be the GRS but with careful focussing and prolonged viewing I became convinced was a shadow transit. I watched until local ground mist started to impede seeing, & by this time contrast was fading a bit with the lightening sky (amazing as only just gone three!). Coming inside and checking online I realise there was a special merged shadow transit tonight - I only caught it after the shadows were one but feel incredibly exhilarated nevertheless. A session I will never forget!

Always mildly alarming when an expert uses the word “interesting” I am getting to focus on my reference church spire about a quarter of a mile away with over an inch of in-focus to spare so am optimistic this will be workable. I’m prepared for a degree of aberration in the outer field, the view is so massive that for my eyes the field stop is already in my peripheral vision, however as you rightly say, the acid test will come under a clear sky! Hopefully I can test this out later, there is currently a break in the murk over Hampshire…

Thank you - I did look at whether it was worthwhile hanging in for an ED scope but most seem to be f7.5 so you’d end up with a similar TFOV to the ST80 with a 1.25 . Will put a note on here as to how it turns out.

Posting the latest iteration of my ST80 system - I’ve gone for a TS Optics 2inch focuser and a Baader 31mm Hyperion Aspheric. All goes together beautifully solidly and in daylight at least delivering the desired sharp, bright, widescreen TV effect. Now need some clear skies to star-test

I only did knowing it was a bank holiday weekend and that if I wanted to I could spend all day on a sun lounger, although as it turned out I was mainly paddle-boarding

That looks superb! Congrtulations - enjoy

Thanks - not as far as I can see no, there are lots of Hex bolts aligned radially but I think they are holding the housing together. I think it will be a matter of trial and error and differential tightening of the mounting screws. In its existing form mine shows very slight signs of mis-collimation on bright stars, I do know that the old focuser is a bit sloppy with some play in it no matter what i tighten. Hoping that with a bit of fiddling and with everything nice and tight & new this can be improved. Tried the 31mm the other night just with the 1.25 focuser and it was pretty huge & in daylight it was practically 3D, so am very much looking forward to having a go and reporting back!

The postman brought a wide field upgrade bundle for my ST80. Ready for summer Milky-Way surfing! TS Optics monorail dual speed 2in focuser & corresponding 2in diagonal, LP filter. Baader Hyperion 31mm Aspheric 72 degree. Should be like a spacewalk!

Really enjoyed reading this report and the sketches thank you! Like @Zermelo I couldn’t quite drag out another late one having stayed up Messier hunting & waiting for Saturn & Jupiter the night before - did look like a lovely night though… Here’s to more clear skies even if they are a bit light!

Thanks Nik & glad you got some good views. I busied myself with some Messier action earlier (M27, M57, M13, M56, M29, M39, M14, M24, M23) and then got some lovely views of Saturn with I think 2 moons above and Jupiter showing nice banding and 4 moons spread out to the Eastward side. Seeing was quite variable as looking across lots of rooftops but stunning nevertheless. Snoozing on a sun lounger beckons…

Completely agree with the “highlights sweep” to end a session - like you in winter this was the Pleiades & for me the Double Cluster, the Beehive sneaked in there too. Right now it’s been the Ring Nebula, M13 and Albireo . Tales of gas giants may inspire me to stay up very late tonight…

Thank you - I have put the Mak out to cool & will definitely have a look for these.

That’s a superb resource - thanks @Stu I fine there’s so much to look at on the moon that I often end up drinking it all in & not looking for specific features. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, just I want to start observing & learning about the topography in a slightly more structured way. This will be tremendously helpful - hopefully CO is accurate and we’re in for a good night!

OK Lunar-types any tips for what should be good to look at tonight?

They really should have an “envy” emoji - maybe a green smiley… Edit - pale Tak green obvs.

Part 2 of my “minimum glass” system for classic eBay refractors. Baader Classic Ortho 10mm & 18mm. Already have the 6mm which is super although eye relief a little short. Have tried these so far only in daylight on the Hilkin f13.3 and in an ST80 for solar white light + solar continuum filter. Very crisp engaging views. Tight sunspots, visible faculae and a hint of granularity even at lowish magnification. The 18mm in particular is a joy and pairs really well with the little Barlow designed for the Baader zoom. Build quality is beautiful and together with the Vixen 31.4mm adapter in the Hilkin feel like a simple but appropriate modern upgrade on the murky old .965 Huygens variants that came with the old ‘frac. Also picked up the Baader semi APO filter - certainly cuts out red/blue fringing on high contrast tree branches but gives a yellowy cast in daylight - will report back on how it performs on the moon which is the main reason for bothering. I’m awaiting a TS Optics 32mm & then should have a nice set to do justice to a lovely old OTA. So far though a happy punter.

Wow! That is stunning.