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New Planetary Scope Has Arrived - Skymax 180


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New Planetary Scope Has Arrived - Skymax 180
 
Have wanted one of these for a while and managed to find a used but like new one. As it will be going on the Skytee II for now ordeed a set of tube rings from Orion Optics UK as they seemed to be the only source of the right size rings short of going for custom made. Also makes it simple to fit a carry handle which will meake fiting the scope to the Skytee a simpler and more secure process. Bought a Baader Diamond Steeltrack focuser from another SGL member Replaced the straight through finder with a RA errect image one as I really don't get on with straight through finders.
 
Should be ideal for use from my suburban back garden although thigs have improved as the council has just fitted the street light next to the garden with a new type of LED light that has a much lower light output than a regular street light plus it dims further late evening. Not perfect but not like living next to an industrial floodlight any more. The local council seems to be fitting them in low traffic areas such as cul-de-sacs where there's no need for turning everything into daylight. Sure they must cost a lot less to run.
 
Fortunately have a high security steel shed in the garden that will be ideal for leaving it in to cool down. Five point locking on the door and a pickproof lock. It’s police and insurance rated for storing valuable stuff in. Probably more secure than the house.  ?
 
Anyway now looking forward to first light with the new scope.  ?

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And the shed. ?

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John, thats a lovely looking 180 pro, i had near as dam same set up some years back, orion tube rings decent dew shield, 9x50 RACI and it was very good when properly cooled down, still remember the barges on Jupiter at PSP 2011

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Lovely scope John. Get the cooling right and I'm sure it will deliver great results. Always fancied trying one of these.

The rings and handle look an excellent addition too.

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Aligned the finder and sorted out the focus so ready for later. Moon is very sharp and clear even though it’s not dark yet. ?

Image just taken and darkened a bit to show the moon. Ready for later. ?

Just set the wallpaper on my iPad to this image.

 

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Performed very well on the moon this evening giving great views with lots of detail. Very pleased with it. Jupiter was also very good although the seeing wasn’t that good but still showed lots of fine detail at lower magnification. All in all very pleased with first light with the new scope. Lots of potential I think.  ?

One not so good smartphone image but better than nothing.  ?

 

 

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Didn’t think about it at the time but while I was observing last night didn’t notice any vibration at the eyepiece when moving the scope or focusing. Felt really stable. I think if the weight is kept under 10Kg and the OTA is relatively short and a counterweight used the mount works really well. That seems to be the key with the Skytee. Don’t overload it and it will be fine.

Of course I’m using a Berlebach tripod which might have something to do with it.  ?

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Nice setup! How hard is it to fit the Orion tube rings and what size are they. I guess you hard to remove the dovetail first and does that involve taking off the corrector plate to get at the nuts that hold on the dovetail  ? 

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Orion do a 216mm set of rings that fit with no mods at all. Their rings are made to order so take a few weeks to arrive. Drilled new mounting holes for the dovetail and handle as the stock holes weren’t in the right position for this application. If you weren’t fitting a handle then the stock holes would be fine for the dovetail. Used M6 countersunk 25mm stainless bolts.

Yes the corrector needs removing to take off the stock dovetail but very easy to do.as the front flange isn’t a tight fit so just lifts out after removing four screws. 

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Picked up a smartphone telescope bracket. 15mm plossl fits it OK. Lot easier than trying to hold the phone to the eyepiece. ?

Quick test and it works just fine. Now just have to wait until it gets dark. Well darkish anyway.

 

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On 24/06/2018 at 21:16, johninderby said:

Picked up a smartphone telescope bracket. 15mm plossl fits it OK. Lot easier than trying to hold the phone to the eyepiece. ?

Quick test and it works just fine. Now just have to wait until it gets dark. Well darkish anyway.

 

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Strawberry mousse moon!

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WOW that's a big Mak, I have the SW 150 and love the planetary and lunar views, when cooled these Mak's provide cracking views, I would love to compare the 150 and 180 side by side but I feel it's best I don't because i'll end up selling mine lol.

Hope you're loving yours so far!

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Very impressed with the views so far.

Had a play with the new ZWO ASI290MM mono camera and got used to the Android capture software. Couldn’t see a thing at first. With a new camera it’s is it broken or am I doing something wrong or is it not going to get along with the tablet. No problem once I’d sorted out the settings though. 

The tablet isn’t supposed to put out power on the OTG USB port but it does give just enough to power the camera. 

      John

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