New toy. Very excited.

[Doley68]

Well after trying to talk myself out of spending the cash, I finally went ahead and bought myself my first new scope for over ten years. A skywatcher 180 Mak Pro.

Had a quick go at jupiter the other night and have to say I was gobsmacked at the quality of the view at x225. I had only just got it up on the mount and wasn't really concentrating so there must be more to come when I have time to tease out the detail a little more.

I fitted a skywatcher sct focuser as a standard upgrade but the built in focussing knob seems silky smooth with no vibration or flop but will spend more time with this soon. Maybe I can remove the sct focuser. I'll see.

Proper first light report will follow soon hopefully.

Chris.

[JamesF]

Very nice. I don't think I've ever seen someone who's owned a 180 Mak criticise it and I know of a number who have sold one and then wished they hadn't so I think you've got a good scope there.

On a slight tangent, any chance of a few pics of the mount in daylight at some point? It looks quite a beast. I'd love a proper view of it.

James

[sologuitarist61]

Excellent Chris - looks to be a nice piece of kit - enjoy

[A McEwan]

Yep they're very nice scopes but bit of a sleeper really. That looks very fine - but as above, I'd like to see more of the mount too! Is it made from farm machinery? I presume it's home made?

Have a great time with that scope and can I suggest you invest in some form of dew prevention; either a dew shield or a dew heater strip - or both. You WILL need something to keep it at bay.

Clear skies,

Ant

[Doley68]

Very nice. I don't think I've ever seen someone who's owned a 180 Mak criticise it and I know of a number who have sold one and then wished they hadn't so I think you've got a good scope there.

On a slight tangent, any chance of a few pics of the mount in daylight at some point? It looks quite a beast. I'd love a proper view of it.

James

Hello James,

Yes, it is a bit of a beast. It was built by an astronomer/engineer in Dorking and I bought it from him about ten years ago. I think he said he had built it a few years before for a 16'' newt! It is free standing but weighs an absolute tonne so is going nowhere. It has slow motions on both axis and driven on one by a worm wheel & electric motor.

I have been tempted a few times to retire it and get an EQ6 or something but I just can't bring myself to. I could hang my house off it, and as a visual observer the drive is plenty accurate for my purposes.

I'll take a few pics next weekend.

Chris.

[Doley68]

Yep they're very nice scopes but bit of a sleeper really. That looks very fine - but as above, I'd like to see more of the mount too! Is it made from farm machinery? I presume it's home made?

Have a great time with that scope and can I suggest you invest in some form of dew prevention; either a dew shield or a dew heater strip - or both. You WILL need something to keep it at bay.

Clear skies,

Ant

hi Ant,

Just spent the morning at work making a big dew shield from some dark grey matting material. I heard they are dew magnets.

[nightfisher]

Excellent scope, the dew shield wants to be about the length of the ota, when viewing Jupiter i tend to use an 18mm BGO @ 150 mag, with the option of dropping a barlow in for 300x......dont ignore deep sky objects with it

[VigdisVZ]

Congratulations on your new scope. Hope it brings much joy, I know my new scope is

[Jessun]

Nice setup!

[Doley68]

Nice setup!

Thanks Jesper. You might recognize part of my new setup. .

[Jessun]

Sure did! Clear skies!

[Ewan]

I almost went for the same MAK before settling on a the C8, don't know why i just did, very nice set up there