I hope i have made the right choice ..

[theskipper1961]

 Hello all

Well I am new to this site so still finding my way around – I posted recently re: sky watcher  8” or 10 “ , and then did some research over Christmas and purchased myself  a nice used sky watcher sky max maksutov , I just hope I have done the right thing the reason for this choice was basically space and ease of use and portability – I am impressed with the whole set up  including the sky watcher sky t 2 altazimeth mount)  – mind you I haven’t used it yet due to the poor sky conditions .

A question I do have is what is the largest aperture reflector tube I could put on this mount alongside the Maksutov .

Many thanks Steve

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

These small catadioptric Cassegrains  (SCT or Mak) are very nice portable scopes, and very capable indeed. I could take my 8" SCT places with our little Peugeot 106 that a dob would never have seen (unless I put the missus on the roof rack ). People often say they are "planetary scopes", but they are fine on DSO visually as well. Which size Skymax did you get?

[ronin]

These small catadioptric Cassegrains  (SCT or Mak) are very nice portable scopes, and very capable indeed. I could take my 8" SCT places with our little Peugeot 106 that a dob would never have seen (unless I put the missus on the roof rack ). People often say they are "planetary scopes", but they are fine on DSO visually as well. Which size Skymax did you get?

In Holland they sit of the rack of a fiets so just a small step to the rack on a Peugeot. :eek:

OP will need a nice wide eyepiece to locate things, the field of view of a Mak more or less makes one essential.

Especially as the mount is not a goto.

Have to say from experience I would not have gone down that route, a 90mm refractor like the Rother Valley ones would to me make a more usable rig. I have one of the WO EZ Touch mounts and the Megrez 90.

[theskipper1961]

Thank you for the replies

The sky max is the 6” , I guess the reason I changed my mind in the end was the space factor as we only have a small car , and my original plan was to keep the small 80mm sky max – this is now on eBay

The eye pieces I have is the Celestron Luminous 82 deg 7mm  and  a B S T - explorer 27mm – I have also replaced the viewfinder with a  Telrad  unit to help me find what I am looking for .

Even the wife is taking an interest in the new scope .

We  just need some clear sky now

[ronin]

My comment was because as best I know the mount is fully manual, you find and folow things.

The Mak will deliver a narrow view of the sky, implying locating and following objects is made more difficult.

This is the reason for the long focal length eyepiece and obtaining as wide a view as possible.

When I got my first Mak I sort of squeeked in realisation of my problem and went the next day and bought a 40mm plossl. Not good quality but the scope is a goto I just wanted the alignment stars in view - sharp or blurred I did not care, just in view. :grin:

[theskipper1961]

My comment was because as best I know the mount is fully manual, you find and folow things.

The Mak will deliver a narrow view of the sky, implying locating and following objects is made more difficult.

This is the reason for the long focal length eyepiece and obtaining as wide a view as possible.

When I got my first Mak I sort of squeeked in realisation of my problem and went the next day and bought a 40mm plossl. Not good quality but the scope is a goto I just wanted the alignment stars in view - sharp or blurred I did not care, just in view. :grin:

Hi Ronin, Yes thank you all views / comments are much appreciated and I wish I had visited this site before, I have already made several mistakes though actually in a way it’s a big learning curve as I haven’t lost any money I have moved everything on and in doing so got other folk interested in stargazing – so that has to be a good thing. Do you think the eye pieces I have are a good choice for this scope the B S T is  flat  27MM – 53 deg it seemed to work really well with the 80mm maksutov.

So this is the only low power eye piece I have.

I have had the scope 10 days now and no clear sky to date so have not been able to try anything out yet – you are correct the mount is a manual but it is lovely and smooth with no back lash .

[nightfisher]

Nothing wrong with a 6" skymax, very good scope, take a little time to learn how to get the best from it, top scope for lunar and planets and with a revelation 42mm 2" eyepiece not bad for dso

[theskipper1961]

Nothing wrong with a 6" skymax, very good scope, take a little time to learn how to get the best from it, top scope for lunar and planets and with a revelation 42mm 2" eyepiece not bad for dso

Thank you Nightfisher

That’s great because that is my next investment -- to purchase a lower powered eye piece with a wide field of view as both mine are 1.25” .

Nothing wrong with a 6" skymax, very good scope, take a little time to learn how to get the best from it, top scope for lunar and planets and with a revelation 42mm 2" eyepiece not bad for dso

[nicoscy]

 

A question I do have is what is the largest aperture reflector tube I could put on this mount alongside the Maksutov .

Many thanks Steve

Steve,

I have seen up to a 10" newtonian set up on a Skytee 2. Given that I used this exact same mount for a 6" refractor which fully loaded was about 13 kilos, it is a high capacity mount.

Just make sure the tripod is rated for the weight of the Mak / Newt, counterweights and mount.

[theskipper1961]

Many thanks for that info Nicos.

The tripod I have will do it I believe – I know it’s the heavy duty stainless job they use on the EQ5 & EQ6 – I was originally told that the vixen porta 2 mount would do the job,

However I’m glad I took the advice from the wide screen centre here in the UK, and I am most impressed with this SKY TEE 2.

Steve,

I have seen up to a 10" newtonian set up on a Skytee 2. Given that I used this exact same mount for a 6" refractor which fully loaded was about 13 kilos, it is a high capacity mount.

Just make sure the tripod is rated for the weight of the Mak / Newt, counterweights and mount.

Steve,

I have seen up to a 10" newtonian set up on a Skytee 2. Given that I used this exact same mount for a 6" refractor which fully loaded was about 13 kilos, it is a high capacity mount.

Just make sure the tripod is rated for the weight of the Mak / Newt, counterweights and mount.

[nicoscy]

Hi Steve,

Simon at the WSC knows his stuff 

Now I will tempt you. Imagine parallel mounting with your Mak one of them 80mm skywatcher achros. Wide field low power views to complement the Mak...

[theskipper1961]

Nothing wrong with a 6" skymax, very good scope, take a little time to learn how to get the best from it, top scope for lunar and planets and with a revelation 42mm 2" eyepiece not bad for dso

Thank you Nightfisher

I have just purchased the Revelation 42mm x 2” a good buy at £36.00 – delivered , (Amazon from telescope house ) the one issue I had with my set up which I think I have sorted now is the 150 pro mounted on the top of the sky tee 2-- I found it  very difficult to balance, the counter weight I had machined is 60mm x 125mm  round bar = 2.5kg , my next plan is to lay my hands on 80mm block to get a little more weight , I think this would give me an extra kg .

But I found that the scope felt better mounted on the side and it seems stable enough , what are your thoughts on this as I see you have this scope and mount – I made a little blunder too as I mounted my telrad bang dead centre and so with it mounted in the upright position its right in the way and easy to hit ones head on it , this problem also goes away with the scope mounted at 90 deg / side of the mount .

[nightfisher]

I added a second finder scope shoe to my 150 mak so i can use it on the HEQ5 or alt alz mount, i use my mak on the top mount on the skytee, so now i dont need the extra finder shoe, but this worked well when i had the AZ4 mount

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi Steve,

Simon at the WSC knows his stuff 

Now I will tempt you. Imagine parallel mounting with your Mak one of them 80mm skywatcher achros. Wide field low power views to complement the Mak...

Damn good excuse for owning a refractor, Mak & SCT like me!