Out of practice!! Not aarf!!

[inspectapart]

I was really excited last ight to be first lighting my new Vixen 102s fl and my new pentax 6.9-19mm zoom. The scope has a formidable reputation as a great vintage apo but the pentax zoom is an unknown to me. Anyway as I hadn`t looked through a scope for over 12 months I decided to set up and align the finder before dark, and charge up the battery and do a rough polar align on my trusty Vixen SP.

As soon as it was dark enough I was out like a rabbit, lined up on Jupiter and away. Problem was the scope just wouldn`t track properly. Jupiter kept sliding out of view just as if the scope wasn`t being driven.I checked everything, the gears were moving o/k clutches tight o/k and I was polar aligned o/k but it just wouldn`t track. Then I noticed that the little thingy on the side was set at 63 degrees instead of 53 so I tried to adjust this by torch light. Big mistake as I dropped the spring onto the grass and it took 20 minutes to find it and re-assemble and adjust to the correct angle of 53 degrees. Once more to the breach / eyepiece but, still not tracking!

Time for a cup of tea and a think. It was whilst drinking said brew that it dawned on me that there is a little switch on the side of the Vixen controller that swaps FROM NORTH TO SOUTH HEMISPHERE!!

I must have flicked this by mistake in the dark, easy to do but as I am totally out of practice and not got my astro head on I missed it.

All`s well tho` that ends well, and I spent the next couple of hours splitting the double double in Lyra, gazing at Jupiter showing several belts depite the the moonshine and damp haze and enjoying the Pentax zoom much more than I thought I would. It beat my 11mm TV plossl for detail on Jupiter and gave an easier split of the doubles, also Albireo was showing a perfect blue and gold.

Seeing was not good last night so I am looking foreward to doing a proper test on the Pentax and a comparison between the Vixen Apo and my other 4" Vixen achromat first good seeing night.

Bob

[JamesM]

Bob, did you have to crane that Pentax into position? - not the smallest of eyepieces. Not to make you feel better, but I'm sure like everyone else who has experienced the recent 'drought' in observing, it took me quite some time to get back into the swing of things, be it the alignment protocol, programming the handset, etc. As I observe away from home, the real tricky bit was not forgetting key kit like counterweights or your power source I am sure they are trying to hide form me when I'm loading the car!

Look forward to your next appraisal of the Pentax.

James

[inspectapart]

You`re right James, the Pentax is a bit heavier than the rest of my ep`s but not overly so. I found that it gives a surprisingly wide field of view at high mag.. I have a feeling that I`m going to enjoy using this eyepiece. I had read that it is a very good lens for use with PST`s, so I was a bit unsure of the quality for night work. Seems good so far.

Bob

[JamesM]

I 'only' have the Baader MKIII which is pretty good for the money but the available field of view, particularly at 24mm is what lets it down a touch. What field of views are you observing with the Pentax and is the level of contrast held though out those focal lengths? Is there a sweet spot?

James

[inspectapart]

Hi James, the field of view seemed reasonably good at 19mm but I didn`t really check what I was getting. Sweet spot from memory was probably about 9mm but again thats only from memory. I will try to give a proper analysys next time out.

Overall I was impessed with this zoom, comparing sharpness to my TV 11mm plossl, the Pentax seemed to have the edge, which suprised and pleased me somewhat. .P.S. I paid £100 for the Pentax and it had never been used so I cant grumble and if I ever decide to sell it , I should get my money back

Bob