at last! i've finally got there!

[mike bacanin]

hi everyone,like most of us on this site, we go through long and winding roads to finally get where we want to be!

in may last year i decided to fulfill a dream and used most of my savings to buy a new tmb 130 apo.this was on an eq6 with denk binoviewer and nagler 16 ep's. the lunar views were stunning and jupiter was lovely, great contrast, very relaxing with two eyes. but,life never goes smooth. due to dropped hints at work i feared that i could not rely on the company car forever, so sadly i sold the tmb in december and bought a car.

i thought long and hard about what to have scopewise,certainly nothing like the tmb financially! i decided a c8 was ideal as i wanted good aperture,easy portability, and having owned 2 in the past, i knew what to expect.

i finally found a nice c8 xlt in mint condition.i decided to replace the great but heavy for me eq6 with the heq5.

it is perfect for the c8,rigid but alot easier to manage! to fine tune the setup i've added a black and orange WO 2 inch crayford, a WO 2 inch dielectric diagonal and a pair of pentax 12mm xf ep's, and a right angle finder to ease the agony of neckache!also a custom made sliding dovetail counterweight.

all this involved lots of running around to sell part exchanges to end up with what i really wanted but i feel very pleased with the final setup.

as it so happened i lost my job 5 weeks ago but at least i still have my scope, and it helps to keep a bit of calmness when everything becomes stressful.i;m just waiting to test it all out on saturn asap!

regards to all

mike

[MartinB]

Sounds great Mike. Are you binoviewing again then with the 2 pentax EPs.

Sorry to hear about the job and hope you get sorted soon

[John]

I'm glad you have found a nice C8 Mike - at the moment I'm wavering between a C8 and an ED100 - I'm very tempted by the aperture of the SCT but I also know that I love the sharpness and contrast of the ED100 - trouble is I can't have both

Sorry about your job but at least viewing the heavens is some consolation while you pick yourself up again.

BTW how does your C8 compare to the ED120 you used to have (hope I right in saying that ?) ?.

John

[mike bacanin]

Hi martin

yes i still have the denk, and have a pair of 12mm pentax and a pair of 9mm orthos, good thing with the denk is with powerswitch you get 3 powers, .66, 1.15 and 2x

forgot also a pair of 32mm nexstars for the lower powers,

regards

mike

[mike bacanin]

Hi john

never actually had chance to try the 120 on lunar/planetary but i would imagine it would be nice.

however i have had alot of experience with the c8s, had a stunner around 1985 and a wonderful celestar 8 in 1996, and with prefect collimation the planetary views were superb.

you dont get the high contrast of a refractor, but the resolution of detail can be be very good indeed.

i recall a view of quarter moon in the celestar that was incredible at x190 with at the time a televue 10.5 plossl.

i have kept a observing log and the actual detail seen on ocassions matched the tmb 130.

i have to say the views with the binoviewer are even better due to very relaxed viewing.

critical things are quality of the optics and absolute spot on collimation coupled with excellent diagonal and eyepiece

[MartinB]

In good seeing I can just make out the Encke division with my NS8

[mike bacanin]

martin, thats very good indeed,its a difficult object at best of times.

[MartinB]

Well, it happened once - quite exceptional seeing rather than good. Took this on the same night with a toucam.

God bless C8s

[John]

Thanks for the feedback on C8's - I've just made an offer on a Celestar 8 :D

John

[mike bacanin]

john, an interesting little post for you- see www.astromart.com

on the header page there is a post on the celestar c8.

regards

mike

[John]

john, an interesting little post for you- see www.astromart.com

on the header page there is a post on the celestar c8.

regards

mike

Thanks Mike,

Thats an encouraging review on the whole - my offer has been accepted and the scope I will be getting has been upgraded to a full wedge and heavy duty, adjustable tripod in place of the original wedgepod and non-adjustable tripod so that's good.

I'd like to get a nice 2 inch diagonal like you have for yours - is there any advantage to using a push fit diagonal plus adaptor over the screw fit type diagonals ?.

BTW what, in your experience of C8's, is the average cool-down time ? - would 45 mins or so do it ?.

John

John

[mike bacanin]

hi john

with regards to the diagonal, its a matter of personal preference.but the advantage of a push fit is that you can always use it on another scope. if you decide to go the push fit route, the william optics 2 inch sct adapter (also fits the ZS 66) is a superbly made item with compression ring. i also found out with gordon copestake's help that the best diagonal to use is the william 2 inch because of how it uses a taper instead of undercut on the nosepiece.this allows a perfect grip without any side play issue. you would find a used one on astrobuy or this site used at a reasonable price.hope this helps to save you the time and money that it cost me!

btw i also use the push fit because of the crayford focusser i've fitted.

as regards cool down, depends on temp difference between house and outside. i found around 1 hr it was settling nicely, also a dewcap is pretty much a necessity with these sct's, a flexi version is ok.

regards

mike