Box + Clear Skies = ?

[JohnSadlerAstro]

Hi,

A large box arrived.

There are clear skies.

How can this be? ???

Well, I'll tell you how, its that sellout gold trim around the edge of the lens and the sellout slo-mo focuser handle!  

My new OpticStar f/8.8 90mm frac, from @Mr niall! Apparently this telescope produces clear skies, as the seller has testified--this could well be an alternative to @FLO's Zarkov cloud gun! 

It has a very nice focuser design, with just one screw not the standard 2. This works with a thin metal strip which tightens when the screw is screwed in. Hopefully there wont be any more scratching on eyepieces with this telescope!

I'm planning to use it mostly for visual/planetary imaging. But I may try attaching the 1000d and see what'll happen!

John

[Mr niall]

Looks nice! Will have to get one!

[ASSA]

Take it outside... fast!!!  Gratulations

[Pig]

Don’t you just love getting a new scope ?and all the bits and bobs that go with them...... mind you a clear night on the day of purchase is a little spooky ? congratulations, it looks a lovely scope.

[JohnSadlerAstro]

Been doing some messing around:

It's absolutely beautiful, I popped it onto the EQ5 for a quick testing session on the most distant rooftops I could find, and it performs very well. Minimal, almost no aberration with SW 25mm, putting the barlow in, the view decreased badly, lots of false colour. That confirmed that I'm best going with the wide view 6mm instead of the 10mm w/barlow (its the horrible default x2 one, from the old 130m). 6mm looked very nice. The image was dim (made worse by the sun shining in my eyes) but on the planets it will be very good. Still plenty of contrast and colour. 

I was worried that focus would be a big issue (I don't have a diagonal yet, as a good one will cost as much as the scope did) but with the 130PDS' extender and 2"-1.25" adapter in place, everything worked fine. I was immediately struck by the small focus width from the f/8.8, all of the eyepieces focused within 1cm of each other, even when with and without the barlow.

I then put the scope onto the old EQ2. (on the EQ5, I had to push the weight right up to the top, although the scope is made like a tank it's still light!) The EQ2 seemed to like the scope, not too wobbly (for an EQ2), with the counterweight about half way. The scope looks just the right proportions, (on the EQ5 it looked very weird, the cream-white of the scope clashed horribly with the sun-smitten/slightly oily white of the EQ5 ) and the colouring looks great too. I was surprised how much lighter the scope was than the old 130, it "feels" heavier, probably because its quite a bit smaller in diameter. The EQ2 was really overloaded with the 130, it needed a minimum of an EQ3 tbh.

I'm hoping to take it all out later on and try on Jupiter, with the setups side-by side.  

John

[JohnSadlerAstro]

Testing on Venus and Jupiter:

I've settled for my old 1.25" 6mm wide angle for tonight. It gives a lot less chroma than the 10mm with barlow, and the large fov is nice. 

Venus was a clear phase, despite the fact that its so far away now. I was able to zoom right in up to about 260x, although it became a bit blurry after then.

I then turned to Jupiter, at least 3-5 bands, ive only ever seen the main ones so it was pretty amazing. I'm going to move over to the EQ5 now, and try getting some images with the guidecam.  

John

[JohnSadlerAstro]

Ok ive fallen in love with this scope.