Nyctimene Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 Friday evening I took this little scope out for a short look at the first quarter moon. The Skywatcher Infinity 76 is a small 76/300 Newtonian scope with a parabolic mirror, designed as an entry scope for children; my wife named it at first look "Blue Penguin" for its colour and shape (it looks like a crossover breed of space shuttle and pregnant penguin). It showed surprisingly good views at deep sky objects, described in another thread here ("Taming the Blue Penguin" in Observing - Reports, Dec. 30). For 30 minutes I scanned Mare Imbrium with the supplied 10 mm erecting eyepiece at 30x. Starting from the crater Archimedes, I spotted crater Bancroft (diam. 12,5 km) easily and bright. I went to the terminator and was able to make out the two craters Beer and Feuillée (both measuring about 9 km), as an oval crater structure, not separated. Some crater ring (or central mountain?) tip of Timocharis was lighting up distinctly beyond the terminator, surrounded by the dark. To the north, Montes Spitzbergen showed their very characteristic shape quite obvious; the same went with Montes Teneriffe and Pico. The Alpine Valley showed clear and crisp. Whilst the Cassini main crater structure hardly could be made out, the inner crater Cassini A was easy. After that, my fingertips got numb despite of two pairs of gloves (-15° C!), so I ended this to me coldest session ever. The little 76mm f/4 mirror again seemed to be excellent (I don't know anything about Skywatcher's QC). There were minor flaws with the 10 mm eyepiece, some chromatic aberration (which got better, as it seemed, at the end of observing - temperature adaption?, I had taken it out from indoors); and some field curvature, which could get corrected by focusing). But what am I complaining about? It's a scope for under 60€! Shortly I was thinking about dismantling the little scope to get the mirror and fit it to a Firstscope 76, which has a better mount, finderscope and 11/4 " focuser. But when I looked at the Penguin, sitting on the desktop in front of me, clumsy, innocent and blue, with it's Swedish yellow "bridle": - butchering it - ? -- ??? - no!! There are enough scopes of all sizes in my shed; I'll keep it as a second grab-and-go scope. (At 15x, you may use it in cold nights for some desktop indoor stargazing through double glazed windows- I know, it's forbidden, but give it a try; still better than TV!) (-by the way: penguins can fly, - just underwater - ; as excellent apnoe divers going deep down below 500m (Emperor penguin ) - did you know that?) Thanks for reading Stephan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverAstro Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 10 hours ago, Nyctimene said: Shortly I was thinking about dismantling the little scope to get the mirror and fit it to a Firstscope 76, which has a better mount, finderscope and 11/4 " focuser. But when I looked at the Penguin, sitting on the desktop in front of me, clumsy, innocent and blue, with it's Swedish yellow "bridle": - butchering it - ? -- ??? - no!! There are enough scopes of all sizes in my shed; I'll keep it as a second grab-and-go scope. (At 15x, you may use it in cold nights for some desktop indoor stargazing through double glazed windows- I know, it's forbidden, but give it a try; still better than TV!) (-by the way: penguins can fly, - just underwater - ; as excellent apnoe divers going deep down below 500m (Emperor penguin ) - did you know that?) Thanks for reading Thanks for posting ! Very interesting, I now have an observing list for g-daughter to match in a wee while All we need now is a compatible barlow ? ! with a bit of luck, on Mon. morning a Penguin will be winging its way to us , , and I had similar thoughts, if all else is no good I could gut it for its mirror and flat ( it has been getting good reviews in that optical respect by you and others) the question is - can Pengins be equatorial, and I dont mean via Humbolt ! (more later) fly underwater - yes - and there was a time when young scientists that could not afford wind tunnels would fly model aircraft underwater with crystals of potassium permanganate attached to explore wind flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro Imp Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Excellent report Stephan. I'm pleased you decided against butchering this poor little Penquin, he/she will give you loads of pleasure. Good luck and enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laudropb Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Rey nice report and I am glad that I do not have to start a save the penguin campaign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyctimene Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 Thank you all for your kind replies! SilverAstro: I never heard anything about a Barlow for the Infinity 76. In a former production line, you could get a threaded 6mm eyepiece, giving 50x; but it seems no longer available. I've looked for it quite a while, never found one. Maybe, that the 20mm eyepiece you'll get is out of that line. Going equatorial - probably not. There is no possibility to attach the scope to a tripod or mount. Of course, you could start a DIY project, but I doubt if it's worth the effort. Money and time will be spent better, when you'll upgrade to your next scope for your granddaughter and yourself ( how about a Heritage 130P Flextube?). It will give you much more possibilities to use good standard eyepieces, filters, Barlows etc. Alan, in a German Astro forum I've found a meticulous description of the process of dismantling the scope, richly illustrated, by someone who wanted to start a DIY 3" Newtonian finder project. If you are interested: astro-foren.de/index.php/Thread/16562-Gleichgerichteter-Winkel-Sucher-für-Newton/ When I looked at the pictures, I decided against gutting..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverAstro Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 42 minutes ago, Nyctimene said: If you are interested: astro-foren.de/index.php/Thread/16562-Gleichgerichteter-Winkel-Sucher-für-Newton/ When I looked at the pictures, I decided against gutting..... Thanks for all your info. and the pointer, looks like Rudi had some fun ! The link is broken, missing a bit off the end, try this :- http://astro-foren.de/index.php?thread/16562-gleichgerichteter-winkel-sucher-für-newton/&postID=72459 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverAstro Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 57 minutes ago, Nyctimene said: Going equatorial - probably not. There is no possibility to attach the scope to a tripod or mount. Of course, you could start a DIY project, but I doubt if it's worth the effort. Probably not This is what I was thinking ( somebody already invented the wheel ! LOL ! ) http://www.sff.net/people/j.oltion/trackball.htm and more big penguins here :- http://ix.cs.uoregon.edu/~tomc/Hobbies/Astronomy/ATM/SudiBall/cloverball/Chuck_Lott_cloverball.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyctimene Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 SilverAstro, thanks for correcting the link! The two links you sent me look very inspiring; I'll read them later in detail. Thanks, and good luck/clear skies, when the Penguin arrives! Stephan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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