StellaMira Owners Thread

[johninderby]

Welcome to the thread.

Look forward to reading your first light report. 🙂

[HollyHound]

2 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Welcome to the thread.

Look forward to reading your first light report. 🙂

Me too. I will post a full report.

Cheers

Gary

[HollyHound]

10 hours ago, johninderby said:

Welcome to the thread.

Look forward to reading your first light report. 🙂

Well I stayed up and was rewarded with a (mostly) clear sky from 01:30 until 03:00.

First light with the StellaMira on Jupiter, Saturn, and Albireo.

Initial impression... just wow 😃
Will write up more tomorrow sometime...

Gary

[Demonperformer]

Any one of those three will tend to have that effect. All three in one go ... wow indeed.

[HollyHound]

Well, I promised a report on the first light with the new StellaMira 80mm ED f/10 Refractor, so here it is...

First light with StellaMira 80mm ED f/10 Refractor

I will of course report more when I get some more time with it in clear skies 🤞

[HollyHound]

Tested the StellaMira mounted on SkyTee on the Skywatcher 1.75” steel tripod (as photo). Fairly light weight setup and reasonably stable, but I think the the SkyTee works better on the Berlebach Uni 18.

I have also tried it mounted on the AZ5 and same tripod. This combination takes too long to settle during focussing and takes 3 or 4 seconds to settle when the scope is tapped gently.

[Moodtastic]

I am bringing this thread back from the death some what. I have just placed an order for a SM 104 ED2 and a field flattener. I am excited to receive it! I hope that it will pair with the CEM40 (also on order) fairly well for AP.

I'll update with a first light review when the OTA and mount arrives.

Edited October 4, 2020 by Moodtastic

[HollyHound]

On 07/02/2020 at 15:22, johninderby said:

There are a couple of nylon grub screws in the mounting flange on  the back of the OTA that  can be removed to mount a finder shoe on the tube.

@johninderby I'm looking to add another finder shoe on the right side of the OTA, as I'm finding that with the (supplied) shoe on the left, that my 9x50 can prevent me from moving the scope fully forward in ADM saddle (mounted on the Zero mount)... all my scopes are setup  to mount on the right of my mounts (ScopeTech Zero and iOptron AZ Mount Pro).

I note that there a number of small grub screws all over the focuser and some on the red ring (flange ?) that mounts the focuser to the OTA itself, but I'm not sure which (if any) of these can be removed to (hopefully) allow me to mount my spare Baader Finder Shoe. Could you possibly enlighten me, before I start unscrewing the wrong grub screws and it all falling to pieces 😬

Also, I note that you've mounted a Rigel to the original shoe in one of your photos... as I'd be retaining that shoe anyway, is there a special adaptor I can obtain that would allow me to do this, as I'd prefer that to sticking the supplied plate on the OTA (I have a spare one of each, as I have two Rigel finders now) ?

Thanks

Gary

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by HollyHound

[johninderby]

There are the two holes on one side where the stock shoes is mounted and a single mounting hole on the other side. You would need a finder shoe with a slot that runs front to back like the Primaluce one. for that. The two holes in the flange are for.mounting a finder shoe.

https://www.365astronomy.com/primaluce-lab-dx-deluxe-finderscope-shoe-for-finderscope-bracket-with-4-long-holes-red.html

There is a printfile on Thingverse for a Rigel to Sytnta adaptor.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2697450

Edited December 9, 2020 by johninderby

[HollyHound]

9 minutes ago, johninderby said:

There are the two holes on one side where the stock shoes is mounted and a single mounting hole on the other side. You would need a finder shoe with a slot that runs front to back like the Primaluce one. for that. The two holes in the flange are for.mounting a finder shoe.

https://www.365astronomy.com/primaluce-lab-dx-deluxe-finderscope-shoe-for-finderscope-bracket-with-4-long-holes-red.html

There is a printfile on Thingverse for a Rigel to Sytnta adaptor.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2697450

 

Thanks John, I knew you'd have the answers and those images/links are very useful 😃

I'll see what I can get sorted out from this... was just worried about messing with the wrong screws, as I guess some of them are for adjusting the focuser too 🤔

Cheers

Gary

[Carl Au]

That's a very nice telescope. I was looking for something nice to put on my steel legged AZ4, I think I found it. I talked to FLO today, I just need to be patient till March. I was looking for a planetary scope and something for some double spliting do this fits the bill. I will also use it for white light solar also.  How does the finder shoe fit on to the to the OTA BTW? Thanks in advance.

[johninderby]

You will love the StellaMira 80 scope. Definately worth waiting for.👍🏻

The finder shoe just attches with two screws. Mine came with a finder shoe but replaced it with a nicer Primaluce one which has a curved bottom rather than the common one with a couple short “legs”.

If using the Primaluce needs a small recess drilling in the bottom to clear one of the screws in the focuser.

Also be careful that the screw holding on the new shoe isn’t too long as it could damage a bearing if it pokes through too far.

Edited March 10, 2021 by johninderby

[HollyHound]

2 hours ago, Carl Au said:

That's a very nice telescope. I was looking for something nice to put on my steel legged AZ4, I think I found it. I talked to FLO today, I just need to be patient till March. I was looking for a planetary scope and something for some double spliting do this fits the bill. I will also use it for white light solar also.  How does the finder shoe fit on to the to the OTA BTW? Thanks in advance.

For lunar, planetary and doubles it's a superb scope. Super sharp, contrasty and vivid is how I describe it. My Mak 127 performs in a similar way, but the image is a little less clean... I've heard it described as "slightly scruffier" on cats compared to a good refractor like this, and I could concur 👍

[Dean Hale]

Like a scene from The Fog here - loads of sea fret so unable to do a nice picture in the garden. The attic/home working office will have to do. Mounted on a Scopetech Zero and More Blue half pier. Vibrations seem minimal so think they will work together well.

Prior to today we have had 4 cracking nights so another picture of the moon - finally managed to get a little colour.  It's a superb telescope.

[callisto]

7 minutes ago, Dean Hale said:

Like a scene from The Fog here - loads of sea fret

Yeah, We woke up to that this morning 🌫️

Cracking image of the Moon BTW  👍

[HollyHound]

That's a beauty Dean, both the scope setup and that amazing photo of the moon 😀

[Moodtastic]

I have really enjoyed my 7/8 months with the SM 104. The past month has been especially enjoyable taking images of galaxys.

When it arrived I was worried the weight might be a bit much for the CEM40 and I'd need to upgrade. I was wrong, tracking has been great and on good nights I can get the RMS down to 0.5, and on bad nights around 0.9. This is similar to what I get with my WO GT81

The only downside of the scope is I use an ASIair and I would love to use my EAF, but I don't think it can be mounted to the focuser (I can't work out if it can).. not a huge issue as focusing with a mask isn't the end of the world, but its would be nice to automate focusing.

 

 

 

[Dean Hale]

Hi

Has anyone used binoviewers with the Stellamira 80mm such as the William Optics binoviewers? I currently have a Tak prism diagonal and about to purchase a 1.25 Televue enhanced aluminium diagonal as it seems a little more solid. Hopefully one of these will work and will allow me to reach focus?

Cheers

Edited August 14, 2021 by Dean Hale

[HollyHound]

13 hours ago, Dean Hale said:

Hi

Has anyone used binoviewers with the Stellamira 80mm such as the William Optics binoviewers? I currently have a Tak prism diagonal and about to purchase a 1.25 Televue enhanced aluminium diagonal as it seems a little more solid. Hopefully one of these will work and will allow me to reach focus?

Cheers

I did once use my WO binoviewers with the StellaMira 80. It did work, but can’t recall if I needed to use the supplied 1.6x GPC.

I always use my Baader 1.25” prism diagonal with the binoviewers, as it has about the shortest light path. Not certain, but I think mirror diagonals tend to have longer light paths 🤔

[Dean Hale]

Thanks @HollyHound. I think i may give it a try.

[HollyHound]

7 minutes ago, Dean Hale said:

Thanks @HollyHound. I think i may give it a try.

Binoviewing is awesome… especially for the moon 😃

I tend to prefer it with larger apertures (Mewlon 180 and Mak 127 are great), but it works well on most scopes 👍

[RobertI]

22 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Binoviewing is awesome… especially for the moon 😃

I tend to prefer it with larger apertures (Mewlon 180 and Mak 127 are great), but it works well on most scopes 👍

I second that! Binoviewing is just amazing for solar sytem observing. I usually use it in my 102ED but a couple of nights ago I tried it in the C8 and my little 66mm APO. The 66mm was a revelation, with a lot of detail evident in Jupiter, more than I thought a mere 66mm could do. And it's comfortable which really ecourages more crticial observing for longer periods.  👍

[HollyHound]

28 minutes ago, RobertI said:

And it's comfortable which really ecourages more crticial observing for longer periods.  👍

Exactly, thats the main benefit… comfort, which means easier to view for long periods 👍

[Dean Hale]

Thanks both. Stumbled on the Max Bright II. Shall read a little more before i decide which. More expensive however 2 of my lovely children will up and off to Uni shortly which frees up some funds - actually quite a bit - can't wait. 😀

Edited August 15, 2021 by Dean Hale
spelling

[Andrew_B]

3 hours ago, RobertI said:

I second that! Binoviewing is just amazing for solar sytem observing. I usually use it in my 102ED but a couple of nights ago I tried it in the C8 and my little 66mm APO. The 66mm was a revelation, with a lot of detail evident in Jupiter, more than I thought a mere 66mm could do. And it's comfortable which really ecourages more crticial observing for longer periods.  👍

Which model of binoviewer do you have that's suitable for use with smaller scopes?