Scopes at least outside

[Seafury]

Hi for the first time in nearly two years scopes are at least outside as proved by the photo, if only I can remember how to set them up lol

cheers Gordon

[nightfisher]

Hi Gordon, how are you liking the Lyra 4"

[AustinR]

What took them so long?

[Seafury]

Hi Jules I don't know it's the first time I have had it out

[Seafury]

Hi Austin, where would you like me to start, bad back, loss of interest, lazy, bad weather, but mainly bone idleness lol

Gordon

[toilandtrouble123]

Last week was the first time I had mine out in 2 years too! Seems a lot of people are dusting their tubes off of late

[DaveS]

Mine's out too, but I reckon the collimation's still way out, even though (Or because? ) I had a go at it this afternoon.

Hope I get better subs than last time, but it's not going to get dark till 10 o/c (Blummin' "summer" time).

[ScottS]

Can you prove these are not just 2 year old photos?  

[LukeSkywatcher]

Instead of packing away my gear this year for the summer, i've kept it out, cleaned it all down and am ready to do some BST observing. Looks good right now for tonight but clouds tend to roll in after dark.

[JamesF]

Not tonight for me.  I've been watching the fog slowly build over the other side of the valley to the north east and it's only a matter of (not very much) time until it gets here.

James

[Davey-T]

Ah the fog, hope it's not the one with pirate ghosts in 

Dave

[Seafury]

Scott you are a very wicked man

[Seafury]

Jupiter with the Lyra and revelation diagonal and  Celestron X CEL LX 7mm looks good with very little colour that I can see now to compare with the Bresser 5 inch if I can remember how the damn mount works

[Seafury]

well at this moment in time the Lyra has it in spite of being a smaller scope everything getting pretty wet now so packing in for now

[Seafury]

tried the Revelation diagonal in the Bresser which improved the view, there's not a lot in it, obviously the subject is a little bigger in the Bresser but I think the image in the Lyra is a little sharper and brighter 

[DaveS]

Been getting in subs of the Leo Triplet, 12 x 4 min binned 1 x 1, now getting a few 6 min subs. I don't think the conditions will stand anything longer even with an Astronomik CLS filter.

Guiding looks good though.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Hi Austin, where would you like me to start, bad back, loss of interest, lazy, bad weather, but mainly bone idleness lol

Gordon

Last week was the first time I had mine out in 2 years too! Seems a lot of people are dusting their tubes off of late

I'm a member of this club too, when I set my scope up for the Solar eclipse, the date in my handset was 2013!

Matt.

[toilandtrouble123]

I remember us chatting two years ago actually I was in Oxfordshire then x

[nightfisher]

Glad to hear the Lyra gave good views and held up so well against the bigger frac

[Seafury]

Hi Jules, I think I may just keep the Lyra and sell the Bresser, it is certainly no better than the Lyra and a good deal heavier to manage, the only thing that lets the Lyra down is the focuser and the fact that I can't seem to modify an electric focuser to work with it

[nightfisher]

Hi Jules, I think I may just keep the Lyra and sell the Bresser, it is certainly no better than the Lyra and a good deal heavier to manage, the only thing that lets the Lyra down is the focuser and the fact that I can't seem to modify an electric focuser to work with it

Why does the focuser let it down, they have a good reputation

[gtis]

Last week was the first time I had mine out in 2 years too! Seems a lot of people are dusting their tubes off of late

Hi it must be a least three years since mine has seen light of day

Or should that be dark of night waiting for Saturn

Neil

[Seafury]

Hi Jules, it just felt odd, not smooth sort of springy difficult to describe really

[Dave In Vermont]

It was back in 2002 that I bought a Meade AR5 127mm F/9.3 refractor. Was on a LXD55 mount. I kept the mount itself, with a few minor mods, and got a really nice handmade wooden tripod that I improved in a few, small ways - with an assist from the guy who made them.

In Meade's inimitable fashion, the optics were/are superb. And the human-interface bites. Most notably - the focuser. I don't know how they do it, but at least they're consistent. So I got a JMI Motofocuser, or some such name. It worked really well right out-of-box. Very slow and smooth. Stops on a flea, no spurts or freezing. Just scalpel-sharp action. And it wasn't until about a week ago that I took it off, opened it up. Disassembled it for a good cleaning. Which I did by way of sending a small river of 91% iso-Propyl Alcohol over the parts. Then blew the thing dry. Then I reassembled it. It works like it's fresh from the box again.

I very much suggest one of the JMI product be given a close look at if you are looking to buy a motorized-focus mechanism. This one runs a long time on a standard 9v battery.

Clear Skies & and a little sound of gears running,

Dave

[Seafury]

Hi Dave thanks for that info, it is the focuser on the Lyra that I would like to motorize but I will have a look because I have also got a motor on the Bresser

cheers Gordon