seven_legs

Lovely setup, look forward to your impression and first light report.

lovely shots.

6 hours ago, apaulo said:

nice pics, i like what you are doing, but would have liked to see pics with no touching or tweaking of any kind, just straight of the camera, with or without a telescope. 

I also like to see single shot, none stack photo's. I wish there were more out there. Would be nice to have a Thread for single shot images

Lovely image, thanks 

Nice images,

Whats equipment did you use?

lovely shots Steve.

What scope did you use theses images?

6 hours ago, seven_legs said:

Looking forward to more updates and reports from Mr. Spock about this scope.

Ken from Orion Optics US has a great youtube video on the 8" and i think the 6" CC which is branded Orion but its Stellayra. I bet i watched the 8" video about 10 times.😄

18 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Collimation is easier than you think. I used a laser to check the primary - it was spot on. Then used it for the secondary - it was only close and a bit faffy and uncertain. A star test soon put that right. Once the primary is sorted it's just like an SCT, you can get close indoors but they both need a star test to get collimation perfect. With three hex head bolts rather than screws adjustment is easy. With the C9.25 I had, I had to fit Bob's Knobs to facilitate easier collimation - this doesn't need them.

You are alot more skill than i am, i think.

Watching videos, i get the impression the secondary looks rock solid.

For months i was tearing my hair out,(if i had any🤣) trying to decided which scope to get the 8" stellalyra CC or the Skymax 180.

I love the look and build of the stellalyra CC. I wanted a scope for doubles, planets and lunar viewing and both stellalyra and the Skymax are great at that. Both scope have the pro's and con's but i ended up with the Skymax, which will complement my Starwave 152mm F5.9 V3 Red Tube refractor.

As Mr Spock mentioned about collimation put me off the 8" CC.

Anyway look forward to more reports about your 6"cc, seems a real nice scope.

I would just get used of the scope first. You might find you are OK with the focuser.

With hold spending until you know what you need.

40 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Hi There  and welcome to SGL.

Go with the Skywatcher 6" is my advice as it is within your budget, and will  show you so much it will keep you happy for years. You do not need to worry about the larger aperture, it will not make a massive difference and certainly not enough to warrant  twice the price.  The 6" is a very capable scope and was always promoted by the late great Sir Patrick Moore. I used one for a decade and a half, a long time ago, before I felt the need to go to a larger size.  

The money that you save will be better spent on a few better quality eyepieces and for very little money Starguider/ BST  will set you up.

Enjoy your scope when you get it and don't spend excessive time worrying about bigger and better.....not for a good while anyway..

This is good advice. 

1 hour ago, Philipdo said:

I have a SkyMax 180 that I use frequently on the sun. Ik think it represents a sweet spot: Big enough to capture fine details in the sunspots and granulation and not to big to be hampered to much by mediocre seeing. Make sure to use the Baader solar film, not a glass filter that will strongly reduce resolution. You could use a full diameter glass filter only if its made of perfectly plane optical glass.but you don't want to know the price.... When you want to image make sure to obey the 5X rule: pixel size X 5 should approximate the focal ratio of the scope. In the case of the Skymax go for a camera with a pixel size of appr. 3 micrometer. 3 X 5 = 15 which accords to the f/D 15 focal ratio of the SkyMax 180. Personally I get quite satisfactory results with the ASI 462 MC (pixel size = 2.9 micrometer)

 

Philip

thanks for that, i was thinking about the Baader ASTF: AstroSolar Telescope Filter OD 5.0, i think 200mm OD Filter would be the right size, not sure.

great image by the way.

With all the Solar activity going off at the moment it has got me interested in to viewing the sun.

So, would my skymax 180 pro + front white light solar be a good combination or not a good one?

cheers

Some nices views there

lovely, i do like a nice widefield image

just recieved my new Skymax 180 pro this morning and this scope was on Skywatcher leaflet.

Anyone?

Does skysafari 7 work with the Ioptron AZ Pro mount?

Would be using it with a Android devices.

Thanks

I'm surprised there not more images of Double Stars in the forum.

Or I'm i not looking right

23 minutes ago, Ags said:

Great info, thanks @seven_legs!

The scope would be set up permanently in my dobservatory, so I think I should be able to keep the mirror clean.

I thought straps were the usual thing for large mirrors, to prevent pinching the optics?

Can I ask how the scope performed at mags above 300x?

To be honest i mainly used my 31mm Tele Vue Nagler 82º Eyepieces type 5 eyepiece which gives about 59x mag. But that yielded great detail on many objects. It was a shame that, at the time of my ownerships most planets were not in view. The only time was when mars was at oppostion,( i think.) i got one chance to see it low down, of course there was a massive dust storm that covered the planet. Even then the planets disc seem large in the field of view.

As for the straps, you may be right, i don't know.

I had Explore Scientific Ultra Light 16" Dobsonian Telescope Gen II awhile back, its a great scope with lots of pros and cons.

the primary mirror box i could carry myself easily, but it is easier with two.

The Pros:

The easiest and quickest telecope i have ever collimated.

The scope can be set-up in about 10 minutes at most.

The Views are amazing, 

I found the balance of the scope was fine and the scope movement was smooth.

The Cons:

I did not like how the primary seemed to be held in by straps. If you tried to stand the main box on its side you could hear the mirror move.

The mirror is like a grass and dirt magnet even when using a lightshroud.

The primary mirror cannot be removed from the box for cleaning, or i could not see a way of doing it due to the straps. So i would clean the mirror within the main box itself, which was not a big deal really but i would of prefered to be able to take out.

My main gripe was the upper secondary assembly holding the secondary mirror is an open design and the scope lightshoud does not cover it. So i used flocking to fill the gaps which work very well. I got the idea from a youtube video.

Conclusion:

Great scope, the cons are minor niggles. If you are good with your hands then this scope could be a modders dream.

Of course there are better designed scopes out there but might cost more.

The only reason i got rid of the scope was because i lost my job during Covid and had to sell for finanical reasons.

hope that helps

2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Heretic!  TeleVue rack and pinions are excellent; smooth, light and capable of holding heavy eyepieces without slipping. (This is a visual focuser, single speed.) I still have one on a 30 year old Pronto and the one on my merely 10 year old Gensis was perfect as well.

Everything about the build quality of TeleVues is designed to see the scope outlive its owners. They are fully repairable and adjustable as well.

I'm sure Magnus is right in that this is the F8.6. It certainly isn't one of the F5 scopes which are remarkably short, physically. (Edit: I took my F5 'Pearl River' Genesis onto a plane as carry-on.)

Olly

Oops, sorry lol, 

Like I said, I've never had experience of these scopes

The rak and pinion focuser seems a bit cheap.  But I've never had a Tel Vue scope so I may be wrong.

11 hours ago, MartianHill said:

It may be worth bearing in mind that this forum is open to all ages, experience and ability levels.

It costs nothing to be positive and polite.

+1

looking at the 200pds, (which looks a nice scope.) on FLO it weighs 8.8kgs so its light enough to handle.

Anyway look forward to your first light and thoughts.

I thought SCT or CC was better on planets than Newt of the same size because of the longer Focal lenght, F10 to F15.