Show us your set up in action at night.

[badhex]

On 09/08/2023 at 11:31, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Haha... The carbon fibre tube combined with the handle does make the the ota easy to wield. For me the tube is no more difficult to move around than the 4" f7.

The AZ5 with the mount arm moved to the alternate vertical position just about did the job but I'll likely sell it in the coming months and pick up a Skytee II style mount.

I did a rudimentary star test and to my very amateur eyes the optics showed no spherical abberations or false colour out of focus and in focus the stars sparkled... 😀

 

Scope looks great! I was just going to ask how the AZ5 was handling it. The Skytee should have no issue with it; I've briefly tested a big, heavy 6" achro on the Skytee plus EQ6 tripod and it wasn't going anywhere. 

Edited August 12, 2023 by badhex

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

5 hours ago, badhex said:

Scope looks great! I was just going to ask how the AZ5 was handling it. The Skytee should have no issue with it; I've briefly tested a big, heavy 6" achro on the Skytee plus EQ6 tripod and it wasn't going anywhere. 

The AZ5 handles the SM125 OK and I had no issues balancing, but much like the 4" f7, focusing vibes are too much as one increases magnification. I imagine an aftermarket saddle may improve things but I have resolved to get a Skytee 2 or better.

As stated in my last post, the AVX is probably the perfect mount class for the scope. Although last night I did experience a diagonal and tripod leg collision, so next time I'll mount the scope further up the tube rings and maybe swap to one of my 1.25" diagonals.

[badhex]

20 hours ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

The AZ5 handles the SM125 OK and I had no issues balancing, but much like the 4" f7, focusing vibes are too much as one increases magnification. I imagine an aftermarket saddle may improve things but I have resolved to get a Skytee 2 or better.

As stated in my last post, the AVX is probably the perfect mount class for the scope. Although last night I did experience a diagonal and tripod leg collision, so next time I'll mount the scope further up the tube rings and maybe swap to one of my 1.25" diagonals.

The Skytee is a great mount, although I'd agree with the late, great John Handleby's assessment that it can be a little "agricultural" in build quality 😂 I do eventually need to give mine a strip down and fix a few minor issues with backlash etc., but honestly it's really not bad; as has been discussed on enty of other threads, if you can put up with it potentially not being 100% perfect out the box you really cannot beat the price/performance ratio. Can't remember if the variant I bought came with saddles but I bought new Primaluce ones for mine. You're probably already aware that the ones supplied can have some issues I think with the clamping bolt stripping over time. 

If you have the cash, I guess the obvious better choice would be an AZ75 or AZ100 but obviously the cost is the limiting factor there! 

[Paz]

I was out for hours last night, the first night out in some time, checking out the StellaMira 125ED and testing it back to back with an Altair Starwave ED102R, concentrating on bright stars, close doubles, and globular clusters.

To make sure I have an accurate recollection I used a dictaphone to take notes, and ended up with nearly half an hour of notes!

[bosun21]

Out for a few hours last night with a 150PL on an EQ5. This was its first light and all went well apart from dew stopping the session. Dew shield now purchased for this scope.

 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

42 minutes ago, Paz said:

 

To make sure I have an accurate recollection I used a dictaphone to take notes, and ended up with nearly half an hour of notes!

 

I'm looking forward to your episodic observation comparison! 😄

[AstroGS]

Took with me a full setup to Greece and finally shooting under a bortle 2 night sky. 
 

Here is a Redcat61 on a AM5, with full LRGBSHO Antlia filter set on an ASI2600mm. 
 

My main target and goal is the SH2-129 + Squid that, is almost impossible to shoot from Northampton where is seems that is permanently cloudy. 

[Olli]

First time using my scope after a long time out , unfortunately clouds came in a bit quick but managed to see some meteors which was a bonus! Apologies for the poor quality.

[Peco4321]

I started this post years ago as a bit of fun, I come and go on this forum as I’m sure many others find I use other social media forums for different purposes. Anyway, here’s my current set up, same scope Skywatcher 150p on Heq5 pro / Altair 269c / SV Bony 50mm guide scope / ASI178mc guide cam.  
 

Quick question, I’m looking at buying a 150pds and seen one second hand, the fittings near the focus wheels are gold as is part of the finder, he says it’s 3-4 years old but not seen them before. Is it even older?

[maw lod qan]

Area 51 this morning.

That was how high Jupiter was in the sky.

Orion was just rising over the horizon. 

[Vroobel]

Hi, 

Last night was quite good, excluding rain at the end...

 

[NiCo10]

This is the little one, the grab and go version. The big lad (200p) often stays inside now.

[Sunshine]

On 19/08/2023 at 04:22, Peco4321 said:

I started this post years ago as a bit of fun, I come and go on this forum as I’m sure many others find I use other social media forums for different purposes. Anyway, here’s my current set up, same scope Skywatcher 150p on Heq5 pro / Altair 269c / SV Bony 50mm guide scope / ASI178mc guide cam.  
 

Quick question, I’m looking at buying a 150pds and seen one second hand, the fittings near the focus wheels are gold as is part of the finder, he says it’s 3-4 years old but not seen them before. Is it even older?

Almost eight years on and a hundred+ pages it’s still going strong! a great thread we can all thank you for!

Edited August 25, 2023 by Sunshine

[Stu]

On 19/08/2023 at 11:22, Peco4321 said:

Quick question, I’m looking at buying a 150pds and seen one second hand, the fittings near the focus wheels are gold as is part of the finder, he says it’s 3-4 years old but not seen them before. Is it even older?

That normally happens if the scope has been left out in the sun for a while, if the black anodising is not the best then it goes gold. It’s not a problem that will affect performance in any way, as long as you don’t mind how it looks.

[RT65CB-SWL]

@Peco4321

Do your garden lights play/dance/react to Close Encounters of the Third Kind? 

 

😂🤣

Edited August 26, 2023 by RT65CB-SWL

[Dark Raven]

Another year, another Visnjan observatory summer visit.
Equipment:

Telescope	Astro-Physics 110mm f6 StarFire GTX (110GTX)
Clear Aperture	110mm  (4.33")
Focal Length	native 660mm (26") and 550mm (21.65") with 110TCC
Focal Ratio	native f/6.0 and f/5.0 with 110TCC
Mount	ZWO AM5
Camera	ZWO 6200MC PRO

More about the OTA:

 

 

[powerlord]

High hopes for jupiter tonight..but seeing terrible, and loads of high clouds. Called it quits at 3.30am.

Ive got some video, but it's not great.

Took a few consolation super moon shots.

 

[IB20]

The AZ75 holds it like a baby. 
 

 

[paul mc c]

Pointing out the obsy door at Saturn 

[Swoop1]

RVO Horizon 72ED on HEQ5PRO. Did a bit of lunar and planetary imaging last night and finished off with half an hours visual- finding a nice double as a target for tonight hopefully (Albireo looks much sharper and colourful through the 72 than my Newt or SCT).

The laptop is on a platform I threw together the other day as I find I prefer standing whilst aligning, focusing and launching a capture run.

[Dan_Paris]

My 200/800 Newtonian at dawn, after a night of imaging, in Drôme Provencale (not so far from @ollypenrice's place)

 

 

 

 

[Vroobel]

The 55mm back focus turned into 53mm, so I came back to... ZWO Evoguide 50ED (as my friend called it). 🙂 No more OAG with the FMA230. 

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Vroobel

[josefk]

First "dark" session last night since the last week of May!!! (excluding Venus in the daylight/twilight). Also the shakedown session for new kit - Takahashi FSQ-85 on a Manfrotto MVH612 video head. I am going to really get on with both 🙂 though i probably need to find a yoga class if i'm going to keep trying to get behind that straight through finder!

 

[melsmore]

APM140 pointing at Rasalgethi

[IB20]

Got the 7” out tonight…