So glad I bought a new telescope....

[Neil H]

Are you getting a Cheshire to collimate don't waste money on a cheap laser the short Cheshire is so much better

[Dannomiss]

17 minutes ago, Neil H said:

Are you getting a Cheshire to collimate don't waste money on a cheap laser the short Cheshire is so much better

Already have 😁👍

[Neil H]

Good man they are really good 

[Stu1smartcookie]

On 17/06/2020 at 12:33, Dannomiss said:

So glad I bought a new telescope - but now it's cloudy and thundery in the North of England for the next two weeks ☁️😊

More reading and theory I think until there's a clear night to go out and play. 

What have you observed lately?

Such a great feeling isn’t it ? Buying a new scope .. I’ve had that feeling twice this week .. don’t ask lol .. but tonight it’s quite clear in Hertfordshire so I’m getting everything set up .. the only thing i would say is .. buying in the summer is a bit of a double edged sword .. nice warm(ish) nights but it doesn’t get properly dark until after 11 !! Even later in the north ! .. can’t wait until late august into September and October .. dark at a reasonable time and hopefully clear skies . 

[Stu1smartcookie]

On 19/06/2020 at 12:35, vindubs said:

Yep nice bit of kit.  I own one of these too.

Lovely scope that I have owned in  The past and sorely regret getting rid of .. sigh , maybe just maybe ... no , must be strong 😂

[Stu1smartcookie]

On 17/06/2020 at 12:33, Dannomiss said:

So glad I bought a new telescope - but now it's cloudy and thundery in the North of England for the next two weeks ☁️😊

More reading and theory I think until there's a clear night to go out and play. 

What have you observed lately?

Hope you have been able to use the scope since you posted this .. I was out last night with my new bresser 127/1200 , for its first officially light , M3 was my target .

[Dannomiss]

4 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Hope you have been able to use the scope since you posted this ..

I have had a good play and managed to see saturn which has been the highlight so far. Jupiter and its Galilean moons 😊

However red dot finder won't line up and FLO company this the mount shoe has been attached wrong hence I never get it aligned up. They are going to sort monday. Either will send me new red dot finder to see if that's the issue or a new scope 👍

But here's my first attempt at saturn... Pretty rubbish, but good memories 😊

[Dannomiss]

17 hours ago, Neil H said:

Good man they are really good 

It is, but red dot finder doesn't align. So contacted company. Hopefully they will sort it and replace 

[JeremyS]

57 minutes ago, Dannomiss said:

It is, but red dot finder doesn't align. So contacted company. Hopefully they will sort it and replace 

Hope they sort it for you. The red dot finder on my Heritage 150p is a bit of a challenge too, I'm afraid.

[sputniksteve]

I'm tempted to get one of these. The look really good - a decent scope for not much dosh. Do you have some sort of shroud for it? 

I'm also wanting a 127 Mak. 

[sputniksteve]

6 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Hope you have been able to use the scope since you posted this .. I was out last night with my new bresser 127/1200 , for its first officially light , M3 was my target .

That is a beautiful looking thing. 

A 127 refractor? Noice.

Edited June 21, 2020 by sputniksteve

[Stu1smartcookie]

2 hours ago, sputniksteve said:

That is a beautiful looking thing. 

A 127 refractor? Noice.

Yes it’s an achromat but apparently it’s quite good at hiding CA .. I am looking forward to viewing the moon and Jupiter and Saturn , when they are up at a reasonable time . For now I’m just getting used to using it with the mount . 

[Stu1smartcookie]

5 hours ago, Dannomiss said:

I have had a good play and managed to see saturn which has been the highlight so far. Jupiter and its Galilean moons 😊

However red dot finder won't line up and FLO company this the mount shoe has been attached wrong hence I never get it aligned up. They are going to sort monday. Either will send me new red dot finder to see if that's the issue or a new scope 👍

But here's my first attempt at saturn... Pretty rubbish, but good memories 😊

It’s a fine effort . The planets are not that high in the sky so there will be problems with atmosphere . 

[Nyctimene]

On 21/06/2020 at 14:30, Dannomiss said:

red dot finder doesn't align.

If it's a problem with the RDF's altitude adjustment, this might help:

stargazerslounge.com/topic/318162-skymax-127-or-heritage-130p-or/?tab=comments#comment-3482644

Stephan

[Chris]

On 21/06/2020 at 13:30, Dannomiss said:

It is, but red dot finder doesn't align. So contacted company. Hopefully they will sort it and replace 

I'm having the same trouble with my RDF, there is a reasonable amount of travel with the RDF adjustments, so I suspect it's the angle in which the RDF attaches to the scope. I've seen this problem on other affordable scopes but it's more pronounced with the H 150p. By sight, the closest I could get was having Vega centred in the scope whilst Vega sat at the 5 O'clock position an 'apparent' inch away from the red dot of the RDF. 

Next time out I will play with how it's seated in the bracket to see if that helps. 

[jetstream]

A shim?

[Dannomiss]

16 hours ago, Lockie said:

5 O'clock position an 'apparent' inch away from the red dot of the RDF

Same as mine 🙂 I think its the mounting shoe is off!

[Dannomiss]

16 hours ago, jetstream said:

A shim?

shoe not shim lol

Red dot finder show mounted on the end of the telescope

[jetstream]

Can't you shim the finder itself

[John]

I guess it is possible that the moulded finder bracket (which is an integral part of the upper tube assembly I believe) is not aligned properly - ie: a design issue ?

Here is another guess - they used a similar pattern to the 130 but did not make an adjustment to allow for the parallax effect that the larger diameter optics and tube would create ?

Just a guess though ....

[Dannomiss]

2 minutes ago, John said:

I guess it is possible that the moulded finder bracket (which is an integral part of the upper tube assembly I believe) is not aligned properly - ie: a design issue ?

Here is another guess - they used a similar pattern to the 130 but did not make an adjustment to allow for the parallax effect that the larger diameter optics and tube would create ?

Just a guess though ....

That is my guess as well. It seems angled to far to the right which isn't noticeable until you mount the RDF. When I receieve the the RDF that will be key to highlighting the issue and I either send telescope back and get a replacement, or buy a different scope or buy the Rigel QuikFinder Compact Reflex Sight that many have recommended on here....  I know its only a RDF but when you spend £200 you expect things to be right

[John]

Although a small part of the scope, it is a pretty important one. If it is a design problem I'd like to think that Skywatcher would put it right.

[Dannomiss]

Just now, John said:

Although a small part of the scope, it is a pretty important one. If it is a design problem I'd like to think that Skywatcher would put it right.

For my first couple of weeks, not have that RDF lined up has been pretty frustrating locating things in the sky

[John]

22 minutes ago, Dannomiss said:

For my first couple of weeks, not have that RDF lined up has been pretty frustrating locating things in the sky

I can understand that. I find that I need to have the finders on my scopes very precisely aligned with the main scope views to aid the finding process. Aligning along the scope tube is very hit and miss !

Mostly miss ......

 

[Louis D]

30 minutes ago, Dannomiss said:

I know its only a RDF but when you spend £200 you expect things to be right

Not really in amateur astronomy.  Perhaps $2000 to $4000 on a Chinese APO, but it's generally a crap shoot on most low end Chinese made stuff.  As an example, to get the Synta 200p/8" Dobs to work effectively, there are plenty of threads on here and CN detailing how to improve them to make them reasonably usable.  Had they bought a Teeter scope to begin with, they wouldn't have had to mess with it.  However, that would have been 10x more expensive.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Louis D