bosun21

Myself included, until I reread it again.

My most used scope is the Starfield 102 and a snap of the 6”CC which I am hoping to get its first light tonight 🤞. Just got to fit and align the Starsense unit on the Skytee II.

That will handle it nicely 👍. I believe the iOptron is rated for 15kg so you have capacity to spare.

Yes, and all the blue tube models I’ve seen are the same as yours.

I messaged FLO today asking this question about the 102. I was told that the 102 purchased as an OTA can be collimated whereas the ones supplied with a mount have a fixed primary mirror.

Both the mount bundled 127 I owned (all black) had collimation screws as did a previous black and white model (pro). I have never come across any SW 127 that couldn’t be collimated. I’m not entirely sure about the old blue models although the ones I have seen could be collimated as well.

Type II Diabetes can be completely reversed with diet change. I was diabetic (type II) for many years on insulin and metformin. I started getting neuropathy in my feet and left hand. What finally kicked me into action was I awoke one morning and my vision was blurred. I have now been insulin and metformin free for 2 years now with a fasting BS of 4.2mmol and 5.7mmol after meals. This is a massive reduction compared to previous intervention levels. My high blood pressure also returned to normal and now hovers about 117-120/ 70. There are a lot of Professors and medical doctors who as well as sorting themselves out now apply this method to their patients. Big pharma are trying to pour water on this as there’s no money to be made by diet change. Something to consider Michael.

PM me if you want to borrow one to try out for yourself. Just let me know which one.

The 9mm Morpheus is a handsome eyepiece and optically great as well.

There’s illuminating a car park sensibly and there’s your case of going completely over the top. Point one is that it doesn’t require the excessive amounts of lumens being used here, and secondly the lights should be downward projection types preventing all that wasted light being shot frivolously into the sky. This has obviously not been thought through with these points in mind during the initial design stages.

Looking good @JeremyS. Where did you source the adapter from? Just incase🤔.

You should try taking shorter exposures like say 10 seconds and taking more of them. This will greatly help with the star trailing and won’t blow out the centre of your image.

Did you ever manage to rollback the update on the asiair that caused you some problems? I’m curious as I’m thinking of rekindling some serious EAA. Thanks.

Thanks for clearing up the collimation question regarding the Skymax 102. I had no idea of this difference in the 102 models. I will now seriously consider buying one for myself as a quick G&G with a lightweight Alt/Az mount. I wonder why they decided this change between them. More than likely a cost saving when bundled with a mount.

Reading all the observing reports from you all showing me what I have missed. I have spent the last four days incapacitated with severe stomach pains and severe stomach cramping. Been taking a hot baths every few hours to try and get some relief. No idea where this came from but its put the total brakes on any observing. Going to the A&E in the morning. Had to occur during a clear spell. Sigh 😔.

Yes that’s the downside of the asiair system. You are tied to using ZWO products exclusively. I just happened to have all ZWO products unlike yourself therefore went in that direction. Being in your shoes I would have probably followed a similar path to yourself.

Buy an asiair plus and don’t look back. I had done zero AP whatsoever and even I managed to set up my guide camera, main camera (585MC) EAF and auto focus, multi star guiding. I then watched my images stacking on my tablet while capturing them on a USB3 memory stick. After the session I just downloaded from my memory stick to the laptop for processing. It’s basically plug and play.

Not all SW Maks have the dovetail in the same place. The all black models have the dovetail bar 90 degrees offset from the black and white pro models.

If you want the full 127 aperture then go for the Bresser 127 Maksutov. It’s F15 and has a slightly oversized mirror to allow the full 127mm to be used. The 102 is another viable option but don’t complain if you give it a heavy bump knocking the collimation as there’s no way to rectify it. Just something else to bear in mind.

If there’s a place on your mount that moves congruently with each axis movement of the telescope then that would just fine like some of the Celestron DX mounts.

When I owned a 127 Mak I just plopped it in the garden 1 hour before dark and it was just fine. What I also liked was the fact that the stars are almost frac sharp and if the clouds did encroach it was a one arm pick up to bring it back indoors.

Do you think the 102 is operating at its full aperture? I highly doubt it. I know that the 150mm is operating around 142mm. I also heard that it’s the 180 being the only model operating at full aperture.

It looks as though I’ve dodged the off kilter azimuth control knobs you describe. As I said I just had to slide the R/H knob out a little. IMG_1460.MOV

The reason they stopped at the 5” for that particular mount was that they deemed the 6” too heavy for the mount.

Great set up for those humongous binos. I could quite easily fall asleep in that position being lullabied by the star fields above 😂.