Illuminated Reticule Eyepiece help

[Kai]

Can anybody recomend a eyepiece so i can get to grips with drift aligning please.

Does the focal lenght of the scope (C8=2000mm) effect which one i should go for ??

Are the Rigel ones good ??

Many thanks

[peonic]

The Rigel I had worked well (until I threw it at high velocity into the patio - which killed it somewhat). Nice brightly illuminated grid - which can be focussed easilly. You also have adjustment thumbscrews to tune the positioning of the grid. Solidl feel to it.

I went for the 6mm, mostly for getting really tight allignments, but should be perfect for drift allignment (not something I've tried - just do a good polar allign and then guide personally).

When I destroyed the first, I was more than happy to replace it with another Rigel.

Cheers,

Chris

[SteveL]

Whatever you do, never ever get the Meade ones. I have had two... the illumanator didnt work on the first one, so got the entire unit replaced with another one... and then two weeks later, the switch in the illuminator broke and it was either off or on, nothing in between. Utterly useless!

[centroid]

Whatever you do, never ever get the Meade ones. I have had two... the illumanator didnt work on the first one, so got the entire unit replaced with another one... and then two weeks later, the switch in the illuminator broke and it was either off or on, nothing in between. Utterly useless!

Hmmm, I've had my Meade 12mm illuminated reticule for something like 5 years or more now, its never failed, and I've not yet even had to replace the battery.

Dave

[lunator]

I've got the Celestron Microguide which is indentical to the Baader one

and a Vixen double cross-hair one with is the same design as the Celestron.

Both are excellent quality as I would expect with a Japanese Ortho design

Cheers

Ian

[FLO]

Are the Rigel ones good ??

For the money, yes. Unfortunately supply has dried up recently and it'll be at least a month before we see any more

[Albireo380]

Being an impatient begger, when Steve told me he couldn't get a Rigel illuminated Reticule EP, I went to Ian King and have ordered the Antares 12mm one - Ian said it would be fine for drift aligning - it should arrive in a few days, and as long as the weather is okay, I hope to try drift alignment for the first time next week. Quaking in my boots a bit, as although what I read on the net makes it seem straight forward, I have this feeling that it may be one of the "dark arts" of astronomy.

[FLO]

Ian is one of the good guys so will be pleased to help if necessary

[peonic]

Got a webcam Albireo?

If so, get WCS - drift allign for dummies

http://wcs.ruthner.at/index-en.php

Cheers,

Chris

[Albireo380]

Thanks to both Steve and Peonic - Steve, I may end up banging my head against the wall re drift alignment, but knowing that Ian will try to help my stumbling steps is reassuring. Peonic, I haven't dipped my toe in the webcam waters yet - still feeling that i like to look through the 'scope, or attach a "real" camera to it - old fashioned I know, but that's how I feel at the moment. However, once I have reached screaming point with what I can (or can't) do with a DSLR, I will end up with a webcam + Laptop in the back of the car, along with the rest of the gear (I live in the city and need to drive for 45 mins to get to a dark(ish) sky site).

Cheers

Tom

[Astroman]

My illuminated reticle EP is the Meade 12mm. It has always worked, but has some problems. Not even close to parfocal, battery dies in hours and it's very, very faint. Other than that, it works fine. :scratch:

[barkis]

I bought one from Astronomica because it was cheap. I got the 12mm fl one but they do 6mm fl too. They were £59 last time I looked.

[barkis]

In the early days of my imaging with film cameras, my drift alignment was done with a codged up eyepiece. I made a disc out of a piece of a music cassette case and I scribed a line across it's diameter. I then rubbed my dirty thumb across it a few times to blacken the line.

I then inserted the disc into a 12mm orthoscopic EP adjusted to get the line focused. I used something like what would be called Blue Tack today. This was a temporary arrangement, just a means to an end. There was no way I could afford a guiding eyepiece.

Then of course I had to rely on finding a suitably bright star On the meridian + - 10 degrees of the equator, . Also the same thing for the East or West. part of the adjustment.

The stars when defocussed were sufficient to illuminate the etched line on the plastic disc. Then by slowly slewing the scope back and forward to enable orientating the disc so that it bisected the stars diameter. It was crude, but it worked. You of course would be using your main scope for this work, but if you wanted to use a refractor as I guide scope, then you could etch another line on to the disc at right angles to the existing one, and thereby giving you a crosshair. Or you could etch double lines, and have a small central box for the guide star to sit in.

Illumination of the eyepiece could be done by clipping a small wattage red painted bulb in the dew shield of the refractor. You could incorporate a potentiometer to control the light intensity. This glow will fall on the crosshairs and it will be seen clearly against the faint light. You will also be able to see the stars.

After all this you may still wish to buy one, but this method works because I did it.

Ron.

[Keith Howlett]

Yep, I'm happy with my Meade 12mm - I could just be lucky but mine has been working well for almost 10 years. (And, re the other part of the question my scope focal length have all been in the 3000mm - 3500mm range.)

Cheers,

Keith