bosun21

Out with the 10" dob on Saturday night for a tour of the globular clusters and a few galaxies before the moon waxes larger.

I think you have that the wrong way round.

From what I have read it should only be tightened until sufficient force is subjected onto the individual collimation springs. It shouldn't be loose. I'll try and find the article in which I read it

That seems ideal Steve, and as you say focussing while at a distance from the mount is far superior. I will have to have a look at the Astronomy Shed forum. Thanks.

Unfortunately the Synscan doesn't seem to have any facility for solar system alignment procedures unlike Celestron which does. You could use one of the apps like polar align pro and do as @PeterStudz has detailed. Focus is crucial as has been said.

I did consider fitting a dual speed focuser to the visual back but decided not to at this point. I can also use my laptop to focus with the 4tronix controller but as the SW motor isn't a stepper motor I don't see the point. I also didn't want to add more weight at the rear of scope as it's basically at the end of the vixen dovetail as it is with the diagonal, heavy eyepiece and finder etc. I also don't remove the belt for manual focus I just merely slip it aside off the teeth of the pulley. The pulley has been made to facilitate this with additional room for the belt. In saying all this, further down the road I do intend to fit an external dual speed Baader Steeltrack focuser along with flocking the tube and baffles, fitting a losmandy plate with rings. I don't like the Vixen rail as it is. I will definitely be doing these mods in the near future however my focus is on saving for a decent refractor of between 120-130mm for visual and EAA

Fitted the Skywatcher motor and the 4tronix controller to the 3D printed bracket and relevant fittings kindly shipped from Portugal by Vasco Ribeiro. I have previously obtained kits for my 127 and 150 SW Maksutovs as well as a Celestron 8SE (C8). He can also supply the motors and controllers with the mounting kits if you so choose. I like the fact that I can just slide the belt off the pulley teeth and use the manual focuser for large adjustments to the focus point. I also like the 4tronix controller as it allows me to adjust the minimum speed that the slowest selection button normally provides. This is great for planetary imaging where the smallest tweaks are desired when teasing out details of the planets surface. I have still to adjust the controller for even slower speeds. The most important factor is no more vibrations or batteries. PXL_20240514_140622368.TS~2.mp4

Interested to hear how you get on with it. I am thinking of getting a black one for night observing.

I do like galaxy season and galaxies in general. I enjoy them in the eyepiece despite being underwhelming to a lot of observers. I also like them as EAA targets watching the image develop after each subsequent frame is stacked.

Looking at the above post by @Vroobel it reminded me that I received the parts that I need to attach the SW electric focuser motor and 4tronix controller to my 180 Maksutov.

Lovely sketches @SwiMatt.

This was my experience from Oxford as well. On Friday night it was bright though, but as you say mostly monochrome apart from subtle hints of colour.

I must be lucky as I have barely had any image shift with the three Maksutovs I've owned. I do however fit electric focus kits to them. I have just received the kit for my new 180 which I will fit later. The only image shift I seen in the 180 was while collimating it at 432x. Even then it was really small just moving it off the direct centre. 🤞

Sounds as though you had a very enjoyable night. I am also a fan of M27 and as well as observing through the eyepiece i am also looking forward to doing some EAA on both it and M57. I was up till the small hours the night previously so I was wasn't running on a full tank so to speak.

That's great news Kostas and a nice capture of M57. Where did you manage to order a motor from? Just incase I ever need one in the future (touch wood).

Lovely photos of the Aurora @Sunshine. I went to bed at 1am and missed it. At least I saw it the previous night.

Out again last night only this time with the 10" dobsonian. Once again I gave it several hours to acclimatise while it attempted to get dark. I say attempted due to the sky being illuminated for hours with the heavenly display that was on show. Call me slow, but I had totally forgot about the aurora despite reading post after post on the forum that day indicating that the likelihood of aurora was extremely high. Here i was wondering how it wasn't as dark as the previous night. High cloud cover and moon more or less the same as last night and yet it wasn't as dark. My brain froze to the point that I was running around looking for sources of extraneous light. It was while I was sat at the eyepiece I actually saw the sky brighten in real time that the penny inevitably dropped like an anchor. How could I be so slow to catch on? I obviously blamed it on last nights late session depriving me of sleep. I abandoned the telescope and sat back in a chair with my phone taking it all in for several hours. Ah that's the joy of getting older i suppose.

I have a few ideas in mind. I won't be sticking anything to the scope either. I'm just waiting for the electric focuser mounting kit to arrive then I can get on with the insulation.

For my 12" when I owned it I made a cardboard one with a cut out that was inside one of the four spaces between the spider veins. You only need that small area of solar film.

Oh no Kostas! Something else for me to try 😂. Fantastic images. Was this using Baader solar film?

Yes, it's just that M13 was the best I had ever seen it. I'm going to put the insulation on this weekend whilst it's cloudy. I'm just thinking of how I'm going to insulate the rear of the scope 🤔.

A wooden clothes peg was my choice before fitting an electric focuser.

This was my first light for my 180 Maksutov and also first use in the field for my AZ-EQ6 mount. I made sure that it was cooled properly as I needed to check the collimation accurately before covering the scope with Reflectix insulation. I set up the mounts home position and balanced properly with scope and its accessories etc about 5pm to give it plenty of time for acclimation. Aligned my RDF which I swapped over to from the RACI. Polar alignment is a lot easier with a 90° adapter fitted. Once I did the customary 3 star alignment I went straight to Arcturus to check collimation. It was ever so slightly out, but not enough to really notice with the views visually. But now that I knew about it i had to sort it. I used a reticle eyepiece to ensure that the star was centered each time before adjusting the collimation. Several adjustments later and the magnification increased to 432x I was happy with it so locked it down. Final check and all was well. The transparency was good and the seeing pretty mediocre. I tried to capture a hand held photo with my phone but Arcturus had slightly moved off centre or it's the angle I'm holding the phone. I then was amazed at the resolution and detail that I could see on M13. The stars were easily resolved and could even start to make out the propeller. I then shifted to M3 next door for an equally impressive view however I immediately returned to M13 to soak up the view. Next was M57 which I'm glad to say was centered in the eyepiece. The go to was extremely accurate and everything was held solid. The mount is heavy but it's a price I'm more than willing to pay for NO vibrations. CA and vibration are my nemesis. M57 was well defined in the eyepiece although I do like to use a UHC filter on it which I forgot to include in my gear. I then had a look at Albireo to get a look at the colour differential which was lovely. Up to M51, M63, M81 & 82. The galaxies although dim were easily seen in the eyepiece. M103 in Cassiopeia next followed by a return to Hercules and M92. Finished the night off with a final look at M13. I am pleased with both the 180's performance and the overall solidity and accuracy of the AZ-EQ6 mount. I bought the 180 mainly for lunar, planets and double stars but it's also pretty capable on some of the brighter DSO's like clusters and PN's. It's now 1am and time to put the kettle on.

Both my Stella Lyra dobs held collimation very well. Once I upgraded the springs I barely tightened the locking screws as the springs held the mirror well. It also didn't change collimation when nipping the locking screws.

Yes I am going to cover the back as you say but I want to wait for its first light to check the collimation with a star test. Thanks.