WADAS (Wakefield and District Astronomical Society)

[astrotyke]

I got this scope as it was offered at a really bargain price, along with the 2 x CCD cameras (which had never been used), and the scope had only been used half a dozen times in the guy's back garden.

I always forget who everyone is on here, is it Scott?

You are more than welcome to pop down to my house (I live in Horbury) to have a go at the scope before you decide what to buy.

I haven't managed to get it set up and aligned perfectly yet, as I have only been out with it 3 times, so objects gradually fall away when it is tracking, and it does seem to have a bit of vibration when it is tracking.

It is quite a heavy scope, but I am new to all this and I have no experience of any other scope other that the little 80mm frac I have been fixing up on a new mount ready for DSO imaging.

If you are at the next meeting on 19th you can see me then, or pop me a private message and you can arrange to come down to have a "play" with the scope and see what you think. I am at home most evenings 

Thanks for the offer Vicky, I might take you up on that sometime. Ive only seen these scopes in the shops, and dont know anyone personally that has one, I need to fairly portable as I have to keep it in my house, i just dont trust my wooden garden shed as a safe storage area (not that I live in a bad area) but its just how I feel, so storage and potability is an important consideration and these scopes seem to tick all the boxes. Does anyone else here have experience of both the 6se and 8se? Horburys not far, and I work in Ossett during the day. 

[Soupy]

Horbury has the 4se which I used there when I worked there. That is very portable but just a little too small. The 6 is obviously bigger and one would hope better but I am not sure if it has a wedge built in like the 4se has. And I am sure the 8se doesn't have this neither, so for longer exposure pics those mounts would not be any good as you would get field rotation. For shorter exposure and planets this wouldn't matter too much.

[astrotyke]

Horbury has the 4se which I used there when I worked there. That is very portable but just a little too small. The 6 is obviously bigger and one would hope better but I am not sure if it has a wedge built in like the 4se has. And I am sure the 8se doesn't have this neither, so for longer exposure pics those mounts would not be any good as you would get field rotation. For shorter exposure and planets this wouldn't matter too much.

Hi Soupy,

I hadnt realised the 4se and 6se had different mounts. I didnt know the 4se had a wedge built in, im presuming the 6 and 8se dont have this then?

[Vicky050373]

No, the 8SE does not have a wedge, although one can be bought (at a considerable extra cost).

It is easily stored as it is not a bulky scope, and it's fairly portable.

I can manage to lift it, but it is quite awkward sliding it onto the dovetail bar when the tripod is raised.

I tend to put it on the Goto mount, then get the tripod outside at the right height, then lift the scope and top part of the Goto onto the tripod and tighten the screws after.

It only takes 2 minutes to get set up though, and it is an easy scope to use.

It's finding the objects once I've put the camera on that's the problem LOL

[astrotyke]

No, the 8SE does not have a wedge, although one can be bought (at a considerable extra cost).

It is easily stored as it is not a bulky scope, and it's fairly portable.

I can manage to lift it, but it is quite awkward sliding it onto the dovetail bar when the tripod is raised.

I tend to put it on the Goto mount, then get the tripod outside at the right height, then lift the scope and top part of the Goto onto the tripod and tighten the screws after.

It only takes 2 minutes to get set up though, and it is an easy scope to use.

It's finding the objects once I've put the camera on that's the problem LOL

Sounds like good fun, setting up my old 115mm reflector was good fun in the dark, but wasnt too bad at all. I still the the OTA, sadly the cheap equatorial mount broke so had to go. I dont think it will go on this nexstar mount though, might be a bit heavy for it?

[Soupy]

Hi Soupy,

I hadnt realised the 4se and 6se had different mounts. I didnt know the 4se had a wedge built in, im presuming the 6 and 8se dont have this then?

It's not a proper wedge, but due to the small weight you can tilt the top of the mount around the fixed hinge and secure it it position with the altitude bar on the mount thus doing the job of the wedge. Does the job just as good. The 6 and 8 are presumably too heavy for this to work so don't have it.

[astrotyke]

It's not a proper wedge, but due to the small weight you can tilt the top of the mount around the fixed hinge and secure it it position with the altitude bar on the mount thus doing the job of the wedge. Does the job just as good. The 6 and 8 are presumably too heavy for this to work so don't have it.

Ah right, got ya. im not sure my budget will quite stretch to the 8inch scope, so i might get an se6. Ive already been booked in to do one Astronomy talk this summer for about 40 brownies lol  so the scope will come in handy ive not had a scope for a few years now, ive just been using bins.

[Soupy]

Ah right, got ya. im not sure my budget will quite stretch to the 8inch scope, so i might get an se6. Ive already been booked in to do one Astronomy talk this summer for about 40 brownies lol  so the scope will come in handy ive not had a scope for a few years now, ive just been using bins.

If you need any help from society members for the talk I am sure some of us can come across, and maybe bring more scopes!

[astrotyke]

If you need any help from society members for the talk I am sure some of us can come across, and maybe bring more scopes!

Cheers Soupy.

Its not till August, ive been asked to help with there stargazing badge that there doing on there summer camp. My daughter just got hers this week and when they found out what my hobby was they asked me if I wanted to come along to there camp for an evening. Im already thinking maybe a projector connected to my laptop as both the introduction perhaps for what we can see in the night sky tonight, and also as a plan B in case the weather is bad for them and we cant go outside and use the scopes, something along those lines anywhere.

The camp was/ might still be at York, but now there also thinking of going to the space centre at Leicester, so they said they may rethink the location as York is obviously further away from leicester so there coach hire would be alot more. If there all as keen as my daughter has been over these last few weeks then it should be a good session.

[Soupy]

Sounds great if they do camping then they could go anywhere... Perhaps even to Kielder, suppose it depends on how many of them there are and how big a bus they need.

the only problem is skies won't be dark in August till late, but I'm sure we can come up with something. We have already done something for a primary school in Highburton so it's no great shakes to amend the presentation or even come up with a new one tailored for their badge, then we can offer it to other guide and scout troops, would be great for our outreach.

[astrotyke]

Sounds great if they do camping then they could go anywhere... Perhaps even to Kielder, suppose it depends on how many of them there are and how big a bus they need.

the only problem is skies won't be dark in August till late, but I'm sure we can come up with something. We have already done something for a primary school in Highburton so it's no great shakes to amend the presentation or even come up with a new one tailored for their badge, then we can offer it to other guide and scout troops, would be great for our outreach.

sounds good  

I think they tend to go to specific camp places, at least the camp place at your was like that, a mixture of outdoor camping and bunk beds indoors. As for whats up in the nght sky that week (its the last week of august) it looks like saturn is up in libra and also theres a gibbous moon. plus any deep sky objects

[Vicky050373]

Just having a quiet half hour with my astro magazines. You know you've got the astro-bug when you spend as long reading the pages of adverts as you do reading the articles!

[astrotyke]

Just having a quiet half hour with my astro magazines. You know you've got the astro-bug when you spend as long reading the pages of adverts as you do reading the articles!

Same here, 

i was sat down with last junes copy of AN mag lol

[Vicky050373]

Same here, 

i was sat down with last junes copy of AN mag lol

I knew you would dig them out and look through them again

[astrotyke]

I knew you would dig them out and look through them again

Lol, this was one my dad brought round a few months ago for me, ive just not got round to reading it. The others are in the loft but i may be tempted to have another read through them at some time.

[nicks90]

Just realised I am not going to be able to make the meeting on the 19th March - its my wifes birthday.

Is there any chance I can meet up with whoever has some solar film and pinch a little bit? I was going to bring my camera to the meeting and get a patch made for my 200mm lens, as my plan for friday morning is to do a whitelight timelapse over the main hour of the eclipse and stitch it together in to a movie using virtual dubmod. Looking at taking one picture every 5 seconds for the hour and that should hopefully give me a 40 second film of the eclipse.

[Soupy]

That's a shame Nick, who are we going to get to clean lenses?

[Mark62]

Just realised I am not going to be able to make the meeting on the 19th March - its my wifes birthday.

Is there any chance I can meet up with whoever has some solar film and pinch a little bit? I was going to bring my camera to the meeting and get a patch made for my 200mm lens, as my plan for friday morning is to do a whitelight timelapse over the main hour of the eclipse and stitch it together in to a movie using virtual dubmod. Looking at taking one picture every 5 seconds for the hour and that should hopefully give me a 40 second film of the eclipse.

That seems like AP to me nick. Are u sure u want to go down that road [emoji6] ha ha ha

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[mapstar]

Interesting news and from Nasa's Dawn probe which is just about to spend 14 months imaging Ceres. Looking forward to seeing what the two bright spot's are in one of the craters? 

[Mark62]

Interesting news and from Nasa's Dawn probe which is just about to spend 14 months imaging Ceres. Looking forward to seeing what the two bright spot's are in one of the craters?

If u look sharp with ur mirror u can see for ur self [emoji4]

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[Soupy]

I heard Harrison ford crashed his plane this morning, could one of them be the millennium falcon?

[Mark62]

I heard Harrison ford crashed his plane this morning, could one of them be the millennium falcon?

I heard c3po was getting on his neves again. I know he gets on mine

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[Mark62]

Interesting news and from Nasa's Dawn probe which is just about to spend 14 months imaging Ceres. Looking forward to seeing what the two bright spot's are in one of the craters?

Having had time to look at the photos again it could be sunlight reflecting off of ice. We will find out soon I hope

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[mapstar]

Having had time to look at the photos again it could be sunlight reflecting off of ice. We will find out soon I hope

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The science team had suspected that it had had a recent impact uncovering fresh ice underneath but that could be codswallop and Soupy may have hit the nail on the head.

[astrotyke]

Isnt all this space stuff filmed in a studio now these days anyway? Ice sounds like a good reason for the white spots, maybe caused by a recent impact