bosun21

I'll say a prayer for you 🙏.

Yes I should have mentioned that the amount of light passing through is an indication of the condition of the coating. A small amount of pass through is acceptable however a lot will have a detrimental effect on the views produced.

I'm not saying don't use your 90mm but you shouldn't expect too much. Video is the way to go for the planets with as high a frame rate you can achieve. Using the ROI will increase the frame rate and make the target larger on screen. This is lucky imaging which allows you to select the sharpest frames captured for stacking. Good luck.

Shine a torch into the rear of the mirror and if you can see light coming through the other side then it needs re-coatinng.

Did you use the ROI to increase the planets size on the screen?

Yes it's also possible with a 50mm but still not a good choice.

You will probably need to fit an extension in between the powermate and camera. Your scope is f6 and the pixel size is 2.9 so a 2.5x barlow is much better suited. For average seeing you want roughly 5 x pixel size which is just under 15 so a 2.5x is bang on. You could also use a 2x barlow. You can use the ROI to increase the planets size on the screen. A 90mm scope is not a good choice for planetary imaging due to the small aperture.

The first vinyl album i bought was The Yes Album, by Yes of course 🙄.

I presently have a Williams Optics Zenithstar II 80mm and a Skywatcher 80ED both of which the mount handles easily.

Lovely sketches of the solar activity.

Yes it was completely sheared off hence I reversed the worm gear shaft to allow me to attach the cable to the side that was broken.

Hold your phone over the Cheshire sight hole and snap a photo or two. When you adjust the centre screw on the secondary you always have to adjust the tilt screws to compensate for moving the mirror up or down the tube.

A warm welcome to SGL Dave 👋.

All sorted now. The fall or knock which snapped the end of the worm gear shaft also slightly buckled the shaft itself. That's why I was experiencing a tight spot on each revolution of the slo mo cable. Anyway I managed to turn it around and regrease etc. All reassembled and working great.

Thanks. I think that the mount has taken a topple previously snapping off one of the worm gear ends. I want to reverse the worm gear so that both my slow motion cables are on the same side of the mount which at present they are not. This makes operating them awkward.

How do I remove the worm gear sleeves? I removed one of the grub screws and had to drill the other one out as the grub screw was seized solid and someone previously has destroyed the hex attempting to remove it. How do I get the worm gear out? I can't seem to remove the sleeves. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Out once more on Wednesday night with the 10" dobsonian. Going to have a prowl around Cygnus.

Thanks for your detailed reply @Paz. I was also looking at the 1.25" and 2" Lunt as they have the standard 90° eyepiece orientation. And as you said I already have all the filters so no point in buying them all over again. So did you use the 1.25" Lacerta with your SM 125 without any problems?

How have you found the Lacerta wedge David?

Thanks. Yes I am now just going to go for a 2" wedge. I do like Baader in almost everything they make but as i already own all the filters in 2" I see no point in buying them again with a Baader wedge. I'm looking at either the Lunt or Lacerta and maybe even the Starfield Wedge. Some people swear by the Brewster design of the Lacerta. Decisions, decisions 🤔.

What would I gain from buying a 2" wedge as opposed to a 1.25"? I'm thinking of giving solar another go as I gave up all too easily the last time I dipped my toes in. I would be using it with my 80 and 120mm ED refractors. I have been looking at the Lacerta (Brewster), Lunt in 1.25" and the same with the addition of the Baader in 2". The difference in price is substantial so what exactly would i be gaining?

Stunning location Kostas. Soak it up while you can.

Welcome to SGL 👋. Nice big scope to start out with. I also have a 10" go to dobsonian among my scopes. A small word of advice is that maybe you should think of putting tensioning cords on the DIY shroud as it appears to be sagging into the light path in the photo. Good luck with your new hobby.

I give another 👍 for a Mak, especially if it has tracking. They allow you to point and track without having to do an alignment. One of the small Virtuoso models would be ideal. If going for a reflector I would advise getting the Ursa Major 6" dobsonian. It's a full size scope so no table required. It's only an additional £69. If it were my daughter this is what I would get her. My first telescope was a Charles Frank 4" reflector and it certainly got me hooked for life. Unfortunately none of my children showed any interest in anything astro.

Another 80mm refractor delivered today. This time it's a Skywatcher 80ED. I recently bought a Zenithstar II 80mm but I am not entirely happy with its performance visually. I think it's just an outlier as they are known as great scopes. Just giving it a go in daylight to check the focuser etc. I'm hoping to get a proper first light tonight. This is my recently accrued grab and go setup.