Meade Infinity 102

[Ray of LIght]

There is a book I bought called "The Soul of the Night" by (last name) Raymo. It explores our relationship between us, God and the Universe (and of course Astronomy). I taught religion for 7 years but I am not a holy roller. What you said before touched me. We may be ill but the Universe is open to us through our instruments. I have other hobbies (including guitar) but this one has really helped and enlightened me. Thanks Mak, talk later✨

[Mak the Night]

Yeah, the cosmos is really out there. I think that's one of the big attractions of astronomy, it makes us feel a little closer to the universe, whatever any of us actually believe. Last summer I set up my 130mm Sky-Watcher Explorer on my back lawn in daylight to try and catch the setting Jupiter and Venus. Also, as my right arm was almost totally paralysed then, I had to set up a metre long OTA and an EQ 2 mount all with my left (non-dominant) hand and arm. I had to practice doing this for days earlier. I got to see Jupiter, Venus and later, Saturn rising inter alia. Of course, I'd forgotten to take using the reflex finder and slo mo controls into account, so I was a bit limited with some things. Actually putting the thing together and observing was a personal triumph for me though. I stood under a beautiful canopy of stars for hours feeling that I had the whole cosmos to travel in, even though I can barely walk on Earth. I could have cried with joy at the sight of all those stars looking back at me and I felt alive again for the first time since I had been discharged from the hospital.

You should check out Celestia, it runs on Windows & Unix, to give you a feel of travelling in space. It's a useful program for astronomers as it puts things into perspective spatially.

Celestia Homepage

I don't think I'll be playing my 1978 candy apple/black scratch-plate, bullet truss, limited edition Fender Strat anytime soon. I can still hold down a chord and play scales but I think finger picking arpeggios are a bit ambitious yet. Maybe after more FES ... lol!

Oh yeah, I put the original draw tubes back on those Celestron eyepieces as Don Pensack (on the CN forum) informed me that they can often deform brass compression rings permanently if used for a period of time. This can then make actually inserting eyepieces or draw tubes difficult. I have much better quality EP's for my 90mm Mak anyway.

Five of my grab'n'go EP's in their new home (an old Celestron AstroMaster Kit box).

The 19mm Pan, 6mm Hutech and Vixen EP's are in another box with the 2.5x TS Optics (GSO) & Omegon Barlows. I think that they should suffice ... for now.

[Ray of LIght]

Would you believe some people never even look up at the sky? Your story was great and I feel I know exactly how you feel as I live in pain most of the time and have breathing issues I am trying to get figured out. Fender Strats are one of my favorite guitars BTW. I play acoustic guitar and own a Taylor GA3 and a Martin DX1. The Taylor is my favorite. So, will see how I feel and how the weather is tomorrow night. Saturn and Mars should be coming into view soon. The Meade is landing today, as Dave would say! I will touch base after the Opthamologist, can't wait for new glasses! May go to order them this weekend if possible as I may be laid up for a couple of days after the Angiogram. Will let you know how the build is on the Meade 12mm. Talk later ✨

[Mak the Night]

I know about pain lol. Although my doctors and therapists think astronomy is doing me the world of good, what with all the physical aspect of manipulating astro kit and the like. Saturn and Mars seem only about 25-30° apart in the sky at the moment, if that.

Although at the moment they aren't reaching Transit until between around 02:00 and 03:00 BST for me. Mars is looking very bright but if I remember from last year Saturn wasn't at its best until late May/early June. If you can see M4 clearly (I can sometimes see it with the naked eye) it can be a good indication of the seeing conditions. It will be interesting to hear about first light with the Meade. Good luck.

[Ray of LIght]

Eyes dilated, lucky I could see the moon from the Lowell Observatory right now, lol! Could never see M4 from my driveway, maybe from rear.  So Meade was delivered and will check it out when I get home. By then my eyes should be ok! Weather seems to be changing for Saturday night every five minutes. All will be well soon I'm sure. Will check in when I un box the Meade. Still have to field test the Starguider, my goodness, lol! ✨

[Mak the Night]

They are selling sets of Meade 5000 Series at Amazon for around £430 (620 USD?). They look well made.

I don't know if these are the like the one you've bought. They look pretty good and I think are quite highly rated. I'm reluctant to buy many wide angle EP's nowadays after the Luminos. Unless I particularly trust the manufacturer. Although I bought the Luminos primarily for the Explorer I ended up using it more with the 102mm Mak. At first I got some great views of Saturn with it. One night I tested it out on an almost Full Moon, so I expected some glaring. At 10mm it gave me 130x so I thought that was a safe enough medium-high power for a bright Moon. The 82° FOV was impressive but it seemed to virtually white-out any lunar features. I had a Wratten 0.9 ND filter back then but I can't recall trying it. I was puzzled about the performance of the Luminos and decided it must be the conditions or something. So I put a 2x TV Barlow in the diagonal with a 19mm Panoptic, basically transforming it into a 9.5mm EP for around 137x. The 19mm Pan is half the weight and size of the Luminos. It was then that I realised that it wasn't the conditions and that the Luminos just wasn't cutting the mustard. It's shame as it's a lovely looking EP. I thought I could get a budget 82° FOV Nagler. In the end, I bought an actual Nagler.

[Ray of LIght]

Well, the Meade is a georgeous eyepiece. Figured  out how to send images (my son is smart!). It is kind of hefty but lighter than the Starguider. So far so good. Let me know if you got the photo. That is my telescope BTW lol! Will send more images in a bit. I am hoping that I am happier with this Meade than you were with the Luminos ✨

[Mak the Night]

That looks cool Ray!

[Ray of LIght]

That makes me feel good! Thanks Mak, means a lot coming from you!  Will send more later ✨

[Mak the Night]

8 minutes ago, Ray1103 said:

That makes me feel good! Thanks Mak, means a lot coming from you!  Will send more later ✨

The ensemble just needs being pointed at something astronomical now!

[Ray of LIght]

Yeah, this weather just won't quit, some Omega Block or something. Will be nice the night of my Angiogram. Big deal. Have to send a picture of some of my stuff in the morning ✨

[Mak the Night]

There will be good nights, there always are. Talking of pictures, I have a new RACI:

[Ray of LIght]

Wow! Is that illuminated? Very nice. What is that going on? I am sending a couple of pictures of my stuff, not sure how good the pictures are. I will be replacing a couple of the higher magnification Omni Plossls (a couple not seen), I have a lot of stuff put away as rejects but would probably serve someone with good vision well. I ordered the GSO correct inage Amici diagonal from Agena mostly because I am hoping it has a better eyepiece retaining set up than my stock one, I also hope it works good too! I think we spoke about the reasonable price. Will let you know how it looks. Hopefully talk later ✨

[Dave In Vermont]

If you really like that scope, Ray, you might look into getting it an expensive gift: a Crayford dual-speed 10:1 focuser.

I can guarantee the improvement would knock you over backwards! But so would the price-tag.

These critters are 2" with a high-quality 1.25" adapter. All done with brass compression-bands to hold your eyepieces, instead of little screws.

Agena and ScopeStuff carry these, along with adapter-rings to fir 'em to the OTA of your 102mm.

Food for thought,

Dave

[Ray of LIght]

I took a look at the Agena site and did a little research. The GSO96 Crayford fits the Meade Infinity 102 and uses the existing screws to boot. It may or may not need an extension, per Agena. Couple of questions if you have time: I may have missed this but is this thing battery powered? I know nothing about these things but they sound like a vast improvement over the stock focuser. They want 155 US for that model (it is dual-speed, not sure if single speed might be ok?). Very interesting indeed. I assume my 1.25 diagonal with filters will fit right in? Do you know of any a little bit less pricey? Thanks for pointing these out, i learned a lot. Look very cool. Now if I ever get my tax refund! Hey Mak, any input? I need all the help I can get! Oh, from what I can see my Rigel Quickfinder could stay where it is but the stock RDF would not. Thats ok because I have only been using the Rigel. Thanks again Dave!

[Mak the Night]

1 hour ago, Ray1103 said:

Wow! Is that illuminated? Very nice. What is that going on? I am sending a couple of pictures of my stuff, not sure how good the pictures are. I will be replacing a couple of the higher magnification Omni Plossls (a couple not seen), I have a lot of stuff put away as rejects but would probably serve someone with good vision well. I ordered the GSO correct inage Amici diagonal from Agena mostly because I am hoping it has a better eyepiece retaining set up than my stock one, I also hope it works good too! I think we spoke about the reasonable price. Will let you know how it looks. Hopefully talk later ✨

The Meade looks good Ray, and I recognise the Big 25 and the GSO 2.5x Barlow we both have as rebadged. That RACI will go on the Big Cat when it arrives. It is illuminated and has a quick release plate.

Just a caveat about brass retaining rings in diagonals, Barlows or adaptors. Things are more complicated than they seem. Tapered draw tubes like I put on these Celestrons below

can often permanently distort brass rings if used for a length of time.

Flared lower undercut lips like the TV Plossl on the left are OK with both brass rings and set screws. Smooth draw tubes like the Celestron Kellner in the centre work in anything and conventional undercuts as seen on the Omni (extreme right) can hang up on brass compression rings on extraction.

I may start using this T-adaptor more as my WO binoviewer has a tapered nosepiece and my quality diagonals have brass retention rings. Plus ALL of my filters seem to fit this adaptor and it may make life easier than swapping out the diagonal occasionally. The downside is that it adds around 37mm to the height of the eyepiece holder, this may not always be disadvantageous though.

[Ray of LIght]

I took a look at the Agena site and did a little research. The GSO96 Crayford fits the Meade Infinity 102 and uses the existing screws to boot. It may or may not need an extension, per Agena. Couple of questions if you have time: I may have missed this but is this thing battery powered? I know nothing about these things but they sound like a vast improvement over the stock focuser. They want 155 US for that model (it is dual-speed, not sure if single speed might be ok?). Very interesting indeed. I assume my 1.25 diagonal with filters will fit right in? Do you know of any a little bit less pricey? Thanks for pointing these out, i learned a lot. Look very cool. Now if I ever get my tax refund! Hey Mak, any input? I need all the help I can get! Oh, from what I can see my Rigel Quickfinder could stay where it is but the stock RDF would not. Thats ok because I have only been using the Rigel. Thanks again Dave!

[Mak the Night]

Have a butcher's at this Wiki link about Crayfords Ray. I believe they're used a lot on big Mak's.

[Ray of LIght]

Thanks as always Mak! I guess these are mechanical, I'm stupid ?. I read the link and perhaps, since this scope is staying with me, this might be a great upgrade. I am slowly converting this little telescope into a nice instrument, I hope! Not sure I can afford it but maybe when I get my IRS refund. Is it worth it? I respect your opinion highly. I'm thinking it might be but I can use the reassurance, lol! Will be home all night. Ordered my new glasses and found I have astigmatism! I guess I did the right thing with the long eye relief eyepieces so I can observe with my glasses on. What's your take? Thanks so much for everything Mak! ✨

[Mak the Night]

I guess it depends on whether you feel the need for a finer focuser or not. My 90mm Mak has a very fine focuser, so I'm OK. I do have a WO Amici with a helical focuser for fine focus adjustments though, it might be a cheaper option.

[Dave In Vermont]

8 hours ago, Ray1103 said:

I took a look at the Agena site and did a little research. The GSO96 Crayford fits the Meade Infinity 102 and uses the existing screws to boot. It may or may not need an extension, per Agena. Couple of questions if you have time: I may have missed this but is this thing battery powered? I know nothing about these things but they sound like a vast improvement over the stock focuser. They want 155 US for that model (it is dual-speed, not sure if single speed might be ok?). Very interesting indeed. I assume my 1.25 diagonal with filters will fit right in? Do you know of any a little bit less pricey? Thanks for pointing these out, i learned a lot. Look very cool. Now if I ever get my tax refund! Hey Mak, any input? I need all the help I can get! Oh, from what I can see my Rigel Quickfinder could stay where it is but the stock RDF would not. Thats ok because I have only been using the Rigel. Thanks again Dave!

The dual-speed is not electric-powered. They are manual. I sincerely doubt you'd even think about an electric-assisted motor-drive doo-hicky for a dual-speed Crayford on a 102mm Refractor. It would be smooth enough as is. One my 127mm AR5 F/9.3 Refractor (by Meade), they didn't have Crayfords available when I bought it in 2003. And the focuser it cam with was a standard-issue R & P. I outfitted it with a JMI-MotoFocus back then. It's been very nice ever since. But now I'm getting a dual-spd. Crayford for it, so the JMI-MotoFocus will be removed. I'll likely toss it on Astromart (used astro-goods).

The only improvement you might consider for a dual-spd. Crayford is a large fine-focus knob such as this:

http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_focf.htm

As for the single-speed: They're quite good. But with the dual-spd. available, I'd suggest saving up and going for it. Rather than kicking yourself later on.

All the best -

Dave

[Ray of LIght]

Looks like what the doctor ordered Mak. If I understand this correctly, you first do your focusing (coarse or whatever) and the Williams Optics diagonal has a fine focus (helical) mechanism to provide fine adjustment? I wish I knew about this before I ordered the GSO diagonal! I would have 31 dollars towards the WO diagonal! Anyway, let me know if I am correct because I can have fine adjustment and save money too ?. This proves that my ignorance is not bliss, lol ✨

[Ray of LIght]

4 minutes ago, Ray1103 said:

Looks like what the doctor ordered Mak. If I understand this correctly, you first do your focusing (coarse or whatever) and the Williams Optics diagonal has a fine focus (helical) mechanism to provide fine adjustment? I wish I knew about this before I ordered the GSO diagonal! I would have 31 dollars towards the WO diagonal! Anyway, let me know if I am correct because I can have fine adjustment and save money too ?. This proves that my ignorance is not bliss, lol ✨

Oops, but it's not correct image, is it? Boy, I can't win, lol!

[Mak the Night]

33 minutes ago, Ray1103 said:

Oops, but it's not correct image, is it? Boy, I can't win, lol!

Yes, it's an Amici prism so RACI. It's very high quality. Amici prisms have a distinctive roof that distinguishes them from a regular prism diagonal.

The Celestron prism diagonal above has no roof and is not a correct image.

[Ray of LIght]

I went back to the Agena site (about ten times!) and I see what you mean. I was just concerned because I didn't see the words Amici or correct image anywhere in the specs. This looks to be a great compromise monetarily and still provide some fine focus ability. The GSO diagonal will be a great back up!