Jump to content

SkySurveyBanner.jpg.21855908fce40597655603b6c9af720d.jpg

New Finder / 70mm Travel Scope


Recommended Posts

Hi Guys

I'm delighted to report that my finder difficulties are over!

image.thumb.jpeg.22b3b834560f22892d93e5d7d231fd17.jpeg

My problem is that I can't use normal 10x50 finders without glasses. I observe without glasses and the normal glasses juggle ever time I go from finder to eyepiece is a real chore. The crunch of glasses under a booted foot in the dark is getting particularly tiresome. The proposed solution was to nail a small easily focusable scope onto the side of my Dob.

A Celestron 70mm Travel scope - £40 (brand new off the popular auction site). Tube rings were a bit more of a struggle on a budget (EBay to the rescue again) and a Telrad (you can see the base in the picture).

I tried it in anger for the first time at the DIYPSP last weekend and was blown away by the results. The Telrad gets the target into the finder fov in seconds. Then the little Celestron does the fine tuning. For the brighter targets I could pick them out in the finder, eg M51, M81/82 galaxies. I found the view pleasing in it's own right. 

It should be noted that the stock eypieces are a disgrace. The worst that I have ever look through!! And, you get similar views by hand holding as you do mounting the little scope on the accompanying tripod..... However, mounted on the side of a solid Dob and equipped with a 25mm Televue Plossl, things looked a lot better. The focuser is plasticy but works for low mag and light eyepieces. I haven't tried any high mag views. But, the wide fields were great fun. After spending an hour buried in the confined big Dob view, hunting for fuzzies on the edge of vision, the little scope's M81/82 view was wide, bright and brought a grin to my face!

Paul

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Chris Lock said:

What a result! The big Dob and little travel scope/finder sound like a great combo :) Can't believe you can see m51 in the 70mm, I would love to see m51 with my own eyes one day.

My Dob didn't feel very big next to the Dob Mob's canons - Damien's Dob has 6" clear inches on mine ???

I was surprised to catch M51 in direct vision through the 70mm. Was expecting to spot the familiar stars, aim and hope! But, there was a faint fuzzy blob in about the right place. As you would expect, no detail. The sky was darkish with only very local light pollution. It was a little milky with no naked eye Milky Way; the smaller fracs seemed to deal with it better than some of the bigger scopes.

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.