badhex

Hunting down clusters in Auriga! 💫

Doing a great job so far 😂

Sorry Paul, I'd love to help if I could but not my area of expertise unfortunately. Hopefully someone with ideas will chime in soon.

Fantastic image, love it!

Yes, I'd have to check again to confirm once I have the scope in front of me but as I recall it does only seem to be screwed into the tube itself; not totally surprising I guess as the 102 is pretty light. I'm hoping someone has already taken the plunge and can confirm that it just unscrewed easily enough.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about these, that might be a good solution - no drilling or potentially dangerous unbolting required! The only issue I could see is whether there's enough clearance under the scope, with the added bracket, but the Zero's Hirsch joint does allow adjustment.

Well, that does solves the orientation problem, but would still require drilling/tapping the tube on the 102 - it doesn't have any additional mount points for a finder whereas I think the 150 possibly already does? If I'm going to go to the trouble of drilling, it would make more sense to remove the mounting block and drill holes for a dovetail.

This is true - however, I'm trying to keep the 102 as lightweight and compact, so though adding rings is most flexible, it will also add weight and bulk.

Hello all, I have a Skymax 102 which is about 10 years old and so does not have a standard dovetail fixed to the OTA, but a ¼" threaded block instead. I've attached a dovetail quite firmly, but still it's only with one bolt, and obviously having a dovetail fixed to the tube itself would be better. The other issue is that the usual way I mount scopes on the Scopetech Mount Zero means the finder bracket is at the bottom of the scope. Thanks to the zero's design, it's possible to mount it the other way, but it does mean the slowmo directions are the opposite way round which can be a touch confusing. I don't have a picture as I'm not currently with the scope but from looking into the OTA it seems like the block is simply screwed directly on with two screws, and not bolted with nuts on the inside. I think, if I have a dovetail with the appropriately spaced holes, I could just unscrew the existing block and replace it with reasonably little effort. The other option which is more intrusive but might be overall better is to drill and tap two holes for a dovetail, which would allow me to fix the dovetail on the other side and have the finder at the top. Obviously this would mean removing (at least) the mirror etc. Has anyone modified the skymax 102 in this way, or have any other thoughts on the matter that I may not have considered?

Damn, just realised it's actually clear but I'm sadly not in a position to observe tonight 😱 I'll have to make do with the fact that I did actually manage a session for a few hours on Tuesday night. Actually, despite all my concerns about observing from home (or lack thereof) I observed from my light polluted balcony with my TS102 - first light since it came back to the UK, with an hour or so on Saturn and about 30 mins on Jupiter before it clouded over again. It gave me hope!

Cheers @John, I noticed the ER was listed on the spec sheet from Baader too, I guess in practice I'll have to see if it works out. I was thinking about our conversation on another thread about comfort at the eyepiece, and one thing I've always disliked about the BCO is the silly eyecup flap which shields you from nothing!

I don't know but it is very attractive. We're getting rather into lickable glass territory as @JeremyS would have it!

Yes indeed, cheers! I have the APM 24mm and the 30mm has been on my list for some time. I seem to collect low power EPs at this point. Maybe I should sell my Aero ED 35mm as I rarely use it.

Bumper day for me! A couple of sales of bits I don't need (thanks @Mr Spock and @adyj1) plus refund for a couple of truly dreadful rail journeys (thanks EMR) have allowed me the purchase of a lovely new StellaLyra 30mm UFF to add to my burgeoning low power EP collection (24mm, 30mm, 35mm, 40mm, 41mm) 😂

I guess we'll find out! 😂

A few bits arrived this morning: SCT > T2 adaptor for my Skymax 102, a couple of eyecups (ostensibly for microscopes) which I'm hoping might fit on the 10mm BCO and provide a slightly better experience in comfort and shielding from stray light.

Oops wrong thread 😂

Sounds like a great session Stu! IIRC isn't there a transit of Io tonight with a very close shadow? Would love to hear if you manage to catch it. Also, (as I'm always saying these days) if you do have another look at Saturn, see if you can catch Enceladus in the 5"! Currently visiting my parents for a family birthday and didn't bring a scope as I expected cloud (logistics notwithstanding) but got back from the pub to find some actual clear skies! I dug out my stepdad's Celestron 70mm achro to be met with basically full cloud as soon as I'd set up 😭 Eventually did manage to get a few holes here and there. Only using basic EPs and so on but in moments of transparency, both NEB and SEB really very distinct, along with three moons close in and one further out. Could be worse!

Delightful setup John. Very similar to my travel setup with ZS73. I also have the AZT6 but it's not my favourite mount. I like the simplicity of it, but the Scopetech Mount Zero is only a touch heavier and I do like the slow motions, so I end up taking that instead. I was using the APM Superzoom with this setup recently, but definitely could do with more power. I'd love the Svbony 3-8mm to fill that role as these small, high quality ED doublets can easily take the magnification which makes them better at planetary than one might imagine - which I'm sure you've found. How does the Svbony zoom fare at the 3mm end in this scope? I can't remember if you've a 24mm UFF but it's very nice in this size of scope as well. I have always taken a 2" diagonal and 40mm Aero ED for widest field views but wondering if I might drop down to a lighter 1.25" diagonal and just use the 24mm UFF in future - but it does mean losing 2.3° TFOV!

They look very long and thin and the wing beats look unusual. Could they be dragonflies, damselflies or other related species?

Thankfully now I've adjusted the eyecups etc to my liking I don't have any issues, and they don't need any further adjusting. I do prefer to have my eye right up to the eyecup as I find hovering quite uncomfortable when observing for long periods, plus they help with shielding my eye from local stray light. I've actually added the extensions to both my Morphs, APM 24MM UFF and APM Superzoom. I posted something a while back detailing the whole thing and asking what other people's experiences were - quite a range of different answers.

Yikes. Sorry to hear that. My home town of Chesterfield which is obviously quite near you has been hit quite badly in places too, and there are certain areas where it basically happens every time there is a storm. These two pictures from family and friends:

Great, thanks. As I recall I was trying to find the equivalents in metric and did eventually find a 51mm, but never finished the project before I moved back to the UK. A bit easier in the UK to pick imperial stuff up. Anyway, looks great and I love that it matches the tripod in white. This is the Geoptik thing, btw. I feel like they have the EP holes the wrong way round, as surely 1.25" will be the most used and should be at the front like yours.

Great solution. I found the same with the steel 2" tripod, and saw that once upon a time Geoptik (I think) made a similar thing to your solution, but I seem to recall it's no longer available. I had actually also planned to make my own solution and got as far as the leg cutouts, but then I seem to remember struggling to find the correct size hole saws - either too tight or too loose. Mind you this was in Germany, obviously imperial hole saws are extremely difficult to find! What sizes did you use for each?

It's a great combo, and is also currently my shortest FL without using a barlow/PM. It took me a bit of faffing to get the eyecups/extenders set up correctly for best eye position (M42 extension ring + eyecup rolled down + thin o-ring = weird combo but it works!). I'm reminded of a great session I had last year with Jupiter and Saturn, the Starfield (well TS102, same thing) and the Morpheus 4.5mm. I recall that I found it to be better than the using a Powermate + Pentax XW 10mm or BCO 10mm, providing a great balance between mags, brightness and definition of the planets. It's a great EP!