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jimlennie

By jimlennie
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jimlennie

jimlennie

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Hi All,

I've been lurking around here for about 4 weeks and have now joined. I'm a 'born-again' amateur astronomer having got back into the hobby about 18 months ago. I bought a Skywatcher Evostar 120/f8.3 refractor on a HEQ-5 mount and have found that the enthusiasm I had for observational astronomy as a youngster has returned !. A short while after the Evostar purchase I bought a Skywatcher ED80 refractor on a AZ3 mount as I wanted something more portable and 'grab and go'. Last Saturday ( Lunar Eclipse night ) I received my new 10" Skyliner Dob and despite the 'new scope curse' got first light 4 hours after putting it together !!. I think I'll write a review of this scope and post it to the appropriate section of this board soon. It really is a superb instrument.

Pleased to meet you all and no doubt I'll be posting some questions soon and I may be able to help others too.

bye for now.

Jim

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barkis

barkis

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Ah!, one of those lurker chappies hey?. Let me be the first to welcome you to SGL Jim.

You have certainly got some great gear, and with all the advice and help you might ask for from the very knowledgable guys here, you will surely get the very best results from it.

Great to have you with us.

Ron. :)

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Vega

Vega

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Hi Jim

Welcome to the forum (as a poster). Me included there are a quite a few Evostar Skywatcher 120/f8.3 fraccers lurking around in this forum so welcome to that little club too :)

Very much looking forward to the 10" dob review

Matt

ps Lunator your avatar is darn sexy :)

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jimlennie

jimlennie

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Welcome to SGL Jim. They're not bad those big frac. things are they?

Captain Chaos

Yes, they are brilliant value for money and the one I've got performs well. I have fitted it with a Burgess dialectric 2" diagonal and an electric focuser. Planetary views through it are excellent with negligible ca. It always shows more than my ED80 semi-apo but as I have it mounted on a HEQ-5 gem it needs to be a good night for me to set it up. With the ED80 I can go outside with minimal notice and effort and start viewing immediately. If the seeing is good and there is no evidence of clouds coming my way I'll then haul out the Evostar, the views along with the stability of the mount make it worth it then.

Thanks for the warm welcome !

Jim

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jimlennie

jimlennie

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Hi Jim

Welcome to SGL

Nice collection of scopes you've got there... I'll be keeping an eye out for your review of the dob as I'm thinking about getting one of the smaller skyliner dob's for my first scope.

Scott

Hi Scott,

My review of the 10" Skyliner Dob will be done shortly, I'm hoping to get some viewing time with it tonight for 'second light'..... it's looking promising. I hope it does clear though as I'm anxious to test the dreaded collimation of it's optics, as they were a fair way out on delivery ( my cheshire centre spot was about 6mm away from the mirrors centre mark. ). I have struggled with this most of today as I cannot see any of the six mirror clips when I view the primary through my cheshire or my combined sight tube/cheshire when centering the diagonal. If I view with my eye only to the eyepiece holder I can see them clearly in the reflection of the primary in the secondary ???. Still stumped. ( It's almost if the Orion sight tube is vignetting the secondary mirror preventing me from seeing the whole reflection, the same with my cheshire ! )

Jim

Jim

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Cloudgazer

Cloudgazer

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Hi Jim

Have a look at the thread below...

http://stargazerslounge.co.uk/index.php?topic=8280.msg89084#msg89084

I think this might be the one Captain Chaos was thinking of... and as CC suggested it was the position of the focuser that was the problem (suggested by CC on that thread aswell :salute:)

Hope you got it sorted (and some clear skies to try it out).

Scott

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jimlennie

jimlennie

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Jim, this clip visibility thing can happen if the focuser is too far in or out (forget which), maybe a twiddle and you're sorted? I seem to remember Caz. had an issue with this.

Captain Chaos

Hi Captain Chaos,

Thanks for your help but I think that the problem is that I don't have enough focuser in-travel for the cheshire or sightube to work properly. I unscrewed the eyepiece tube from the 1.25" to 2" plate and placed my cheshire flush with the plate and now I can see all 6 clips clearly. Now I need to make an adaptor to take the cheshire eyepiece central and secure to the plate. Fortunately my laser must have done a good job as the collimation was perfect, I shan't forget the view of Saturn I had last night it was simply stunning.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

10" Dob review should be done today.

Jim

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jimlennie

jimlennie

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Hi Jim

Have a look at the thread below...

http://stargazerslounge.co.uk/index.php?topic=8280.msg89084#msg89084

I think this might be the one Captain Chaos was thinking of... and as CC suggested it was the position of the focuser that was the problem (suggested by CC on that thread aswell :salute:)

Hope you got it sorted (and some clear skies to try it out).

Scott

Hi Scott,

Sorted the problem, killed 2 birds with one stone since I fitted a Crayford focusser this afternoon to replace the original rack and pinion unit. Now I can see all 6 clips with the focusser fully in and cheshire in place. Collimation seems to be spot on already. Now must try and do a review of this scope now that I've finished fiddling with it !!

Thanks for your help.

Jim

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