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Star Destroyer has landed

Ags

By Ags
in The Astro Lounge

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orion25

orion25

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Posted

Nice kit, Agnes.  I have the Orion version, the AstroView 6, that I'm very pleased with! Mine doesn't have the nice Crayford focuser (yet, lol). Add some decent flat-field EPs and you're set to go!

Reggie

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SilverAstro

SilverAstro

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2 hours ago, Ags said:

Lookit them steel legs. The dovetail arm is upright and not yet at 45 degrees because the ES mount needs a wierd sized Allen key to adjust, not included.

Looks good ! In fact so good I went a'googling :) and in one of the pages I found :

"A small wrench is included with this package, and is stored in the fork arm and held in place with a magnet. If you need to make quick adjustments to your mount, it is a snap to access the wrench and then store it safely away when done. "

I dont suppose , , , , ?

 

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Dave In Vermont

Dave In Vermont

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That's a very handsome scope you bought, Agnes! I'm sure you'll get many years of enjoyment from it.

Clouds & rains not withstanding - which is a 'right-of-passage' for all owners of new telescopes - you'll be up & running in no time. And as a 'New Telescope' gift I'm enclosing a currently out-of-print guide to collimation. Not that you need it for now, but, as something to download and stash away for later - it's one of the best guides for learning this 'art.' The auther is also a member here in SGL - Astro_Baby.

Click on 'save' when prompted:

Astro Baby's Collimation Guide.pdf

Enjoy! 

Dave

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Ags

Ags

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Apparently the ES version of the mount just became available here in Holland.

No first light yet for this setup, but it feels exactly the right size. I can carry it in one piece comfortably. The mount feels very solid and smooth. I like the focusser.

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BeerMe

BeerMe

Posted
Posted
On 15/04/2017 at 02:39, Dave In Vermont said:

That's a very handsome scope you bought, Agnes! I'm sure you'll get many years of enjoyment from it.

Clouds & rains not withstanding - which is a 'right-of-passage' for all owners of new telescopes - you'll be up & running in no time. And as a 'New Telescope' gift I'm enclosing a currently out-of-print guide to collimation. Not that you need it for now, but, as something to download and stash away for later - it's one of the best guides for learning this 'art.' The auther is also a member here in SGL - Astro_Baby.

Click on 'save' when prompted:

Astro Baby's Collimation Guide.pdf

Enjoy! 

Dave

Thanks Dave, been looking out for that :-)

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Ags

Ags

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I had a quick look last night. Based on the non-radially misshapen stars I saw had better learn how to use my Cheshire collimator. I couldn't quite get sharp focus, probably down to the collimation issues and poor seeing but maybe I'm also used to the way stars look in Maks and Fracs.

I only had a look at three targets: Mizar, Arcturus (to test focus and seeing) and Jupiter. Despite the focusing issues Jupiter looked very promising. Oddly 80x in my new scope looks "bigger" than 80x in my 102mm Mak? It might have looked larger because it was of course much brighter. At 125x I had hints of better detail than I could see in my Mak, but we'll have to see after I've nailed collimation. Mizar was a revelation; the three components were so much brighter than I have seen them previously I was uncertain I was looking at the right thing! I'm looking forward to pointing this at some of the brighter globulars as they should relish the extra aperture.

Ergonomics: I have the legs slightly extended for stability due to the angled dovetail arm, but that puts the eyepiece too high for seated viewing which in my opinion is a must for detailed observation or sketching of planets. So I will have to figure out some way of counterbalancing the mount so I can shorten the legs. It might be as simple as hanging a weight from the bottom of the very substantial spreader/eyepiece tray. With clutches released the scope pushes to targets very easily with no backlash, but a straight-through finder is a pain! I got in a muddle with clutches and slo-mo controls so I ended up tracking without slo-mo, which was tricky but quite doable at 125x! I'll get the hang of the slo-mo's eventually. The 150PDS focusser is smooth and solid and several steps above the coarse focus on my mak. I did have some issues with vibration - partly from touching the focusser/eyepiece and partly from passing car traffic in the street 40m away. Hanging an extra weight off the mount might help here too, as might vibration suppression pads, but I think the 150 newt is at the upper limit of what the Twilight 1 can carry. As for touching the focuser/EP, seated viewing will help here as will getting my head around the slo-mo cables.

Another important ergonomic issue for me is eye floaters. These were a curse with the Mak with its small exit pupil and the fact that I had to look down into the eyepiece, which draws the floaters into the field of view. With the newt I look almost horizontally into the eyepiece and have a larger exit pupil, so I finally had a floater free view of Jupiter!

I had some concerns about losing the target while swapping eyepieces on a non-tracking mount but these fears were unfounded. Overall it was quite a pleasing first taste and hopefully I can get the collimation sorted out before the next session.

 

*** It is also worth noting that my "102mm" mak was anything but 102mm. The main mirror is 102mm, but as the corrector plate spreads the light out, the main mirror has to be larger than 102mm for a true 102mm aperture. I'd guess the Mak was only offering about 90mm of light gathering, so this 150 newt is offering a full extra magnitude of brightness.

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Stu

Stu

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Sounds promising Ags. You will get used to the slo mos in time I guess. I have never really got into them myself, which is why I prefer Giro style mounts you just manually nudge the scope to the target, just seems more intuitive to me. I'm sure you could carry on doing that yourself too if it works for you.

Perhaps some anti vibration pads might help damp focusing vibrations and also the interference from traffic?

Hope you get your collimation sorted soon, it will make a big difference to planets and doubles in particular, but everything looks sharper once this is done.

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Ags

Ags

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I had a second session with the scope. Collimation makes a big difference! The seeing was atrocious, but in the clear moments Jupiter was razor-sharp. This time I was observing seated and using the slo-mo controls which are wonderful!

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JOC

JOC

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On ‎15‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 02:39, Dave In Vermont said:

I'm enclosing a currently out-of-print guide to collimation. Not that you need it for now, but, as something to download and stash away for later - it's one of the best guides for learning this 'art.' The auther is also a member here in SGL - Astro_Baby.

Click on 'save' when prompted:

Astro Baby's Collimation Guide.pdf

Hi Dave, that's actually a much better copy than the one you can find in general internet land where the one you land on is slightly out of page alignment - I have replaced my copy with the one from your link so thanks from me too.  NB.  You have probably given me the link previously, but I didn't need it until, well, I needed it and then could easily find your link and went to Google - folks, Dave link is the better copy!

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Ags

Ags

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I feel the mount is very stable and solid, so I think the wobble in the system is coming from the connection between the OTA and the dovetail. Possibly the dovetail bar supplied by SkyWatcher is too short and I could boost stability with:

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p235_Starway-Dovetail-rail---Vixen-Style---28cm---Solid-Aluminium.html

Or this:

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p232_Dovetail-Plate---Vixen-Style---32cm.html

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Geoff_L

Geoff_L

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Posted
48 minutes ago, Ags said:

I've purchased a 32cm dovetail bar an a Rigel Qickfinder...

I'd be interested in whether that makes a big difference to stability as my 150PDS also suffers from the shakes on a Twilight 1 mount.

Clear skies, Geoff

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