What is my scope for ?

[Dantooine]

4 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

My eyes  saw 'starhopper' , for some reason my brain said 'spacehopper' and I thought, that's not going to keep a newt collimated ! 🙂

 

54AFC6F9-403A-4197-A45A-B80A872BCEE3.webp

[Tiny Clanger]

43 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

Thank you for taking the time to answer.  I'm very lucky to live in an area without much light pollution, so in truth I probably need portability a lot less than many people.

You have made an important point though - I'm not very good at finding stuff yet, so I might really struggle with a narrow field of view.  I hadn't considered that.

There's a reason I bought a RACI

And a Rigel quickfinder,

And a little electronic level ...

😼

Heather

Edited February 1, 2021 by Tiny Clanger
stupid spelling

[Stu1smartcookie]

2 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

I'd have gone for a 102 on a steel tripod with the az5

Have to say , its a combination i have( Steel tripod and AZ5 ) and its rock steady ... i even put my 200p on it ( although i admit there was vibration) but a small scope sits beautifully on it , and it looks the part too . 

[Dantooine]

43 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Have to say , its a combination i have( Steel tripod and AZ5 ) and its rock steady ... i even put my 200p on it ( although i admit there was vibration) but a small scope sits beautifully on it , and it looks the part too . 

AZ’s rule 👍

[Dantooine]

46 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Have to say , its a combination i have( Steel tripod and AZ5 ) and its rock steady ... i even put my 200p on it ( although i admit there was vibration) but a small scope sits beautifully on it , and it looks the part too . 

I also put an 8inch on my az. No problem and adjust the leg length for a comfortable standing viewing height. 

[Stu1smartcookie]

Just now, Dantooine said:

I also put an 8inch on my az. No problem and adjust the leg length for a comfortable standing viewing height. 

i was a bit worried when i first tried it , but , the blurb said it could handle 9kgs on a steel tripod and it did ... i was going to invest in a skytee but i am glad i bought the AZ5 first ( might still get a skytee at some point) . 

[Dantooine]

6 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

i was a bit worried when i first tried it , but , the blurb said it could handle 9kgs on a steel tripod and it did ... i was going to invest in a skytee but i am glad i bought the AZ5 first ( might still get a skytee at some point) . 

Mines an az8, if az’ a are counter balanced all’s well 😉

[HollyHound]

On 31/01/2021 at 11:49, Stu said:

As has been said, the ST80 is excellent for low power, widefield views of open clusters and the Milky Way. It will also be fine for mid powers, but is likely to struggle at higher powers due to CA and SA (spherical abberation) which can rob the view of fine detail. They are affordable and very portable so you are also more likely to take them around with you and have the benefit of always having a scope there ready to go.

I find the ST80 and C5 make excellent companions for a lightweight grab and go dual scope setup... one for low power widefield, as you point out, and the other for higher power views. I also use the ST80 on the second saddle for the IOptron AZ Mount Pro.

Lovely little scope the ST80, especially fitted with a 2” focuser and guidescope rings to make alignment easier between the two scopes 👍

[Stu1smartcookie]

6 hours ago, HollyHound said:

Lovely little scope the ST80, especially fitted with a 2” focuser and guidescope

Hi ... what focuser did you buy for the st80 .. I enquired  about one from FLO for refractors and they said that it wasn’t suitable . I would really like to replace the existing focuser to a dual speed . 
Stu 

[Merlin66]

Looks the the same as the GSO 10:1 focuser I use on my ST80.

works very well for me.

 

[Stu]

7 hours ago, HollyHound said:

I find the ST80 and C5 make excellent companions for a lightweight grab and go dual scope setup... one for low power widefield, as you point out, and the other for higher power views. I also use the ST80 on the second saddle for the IOptron AZ Mount Pro.

Lovely little scope the ST80, especially fitted with a 2” focuser and guidescope rings to make alignment easier between the two scopes 👍

Lovely little setup! I’ve done that sort of thing many times with various scopes, always a frac for widefield and either an SCT or Mak for high power. It’s a great way to observe! Most fun example here, FC100DC and a C925!

[HollyHound]

2 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Hi ... what focuser did you buy for the st80 .. I enquired  about one from FLO for refractors and they said that it wasn’t suitable . I would really like to replace the existing focuser to a dual speed . 
Stu 

Hi. I got the scope with the focuser already mounted, but it's one of these...

https://agenaastro.com/gso-crayford-focuser-refractor-telescope-single-speed-86mm.html

It's not dual speed, but very smooth in operation. It's possible they do a dual speed version too 🤔

[HollyHound]

1 hour ago, Merlin66 said:

Looks the the same as the GSO 10:1 focuser I use on my ST80.

works very well for me.

 

Yours must be one of these then (as it has the same mounting flange diameter as my single speed, link above)...

https://agenaastro.com/catalog/product/view/id/1378/s/gso-linear-bearing-refractor-crayford-focuser-86mm/category/67/

Some would argue, why bother putting a focuser that costs more the scope, but I think it makes it just that much more usable and the scope is such a lovely lightweight form factor. As mine came with it, that was never an issue for me 👍

[John]

The only issue that I've seen people run into when replacing the focuser on the ST80's is making sure that the replacement unit is of a suitable optical length so that eyepieces will come to focus when a 2 inch diagonal is used. A 2 inch diagonal has a longer optical length than a 1.25 inch.

The great thing about the ST80 is that even with the stock 1.25" focuser you can get a 4 degree true field with a 24mm super wide eyepiece such as the ES 24 / 68 or Panoptic 24 or a 32mm plossl

 

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by John

[HollyHound]

20 minutes ago, John said:

The only issue that I've seen people run into when replacing the focuser on the ST80's is making sure that the replacement unit is of a suitable optical length so that eyepieces will come to focus when a 2 inch diagonal is used. A 2 inch diagonal has a longer optical length than a 1.25 inch.

The great thing about the ST80 is that even with the stock 1.25" focuser you can get a 4 degree true field with a 24mm super wide eyepiece such as the ES 24 / 68 or Panoptic 24 or a 32mm plossl

Good point... I can confirm that I use a 2" diagonal on this ST80 and it focusses with no issue 👍

I have used the Panoptic 24 in this and works well, as you describe. I've currently left a Skywatcher 2" 28mm LET eyepiece in permanently, which works well when it's used as a "finder" scope.

[reezeh]

On 01/02/2021 at 16:56, Marc1964 said:

Not planning solar - not something that interests me at all at the moment!

Fair enough. Not everyone is and tastes and interests change. I'm increasingly seeing the appeal, being hampered by light-pollution and work hours keeping me from enjoying the night sky as I would "reasonably" like.

[Mr Spock]

I had one of the first ST80s - a Helios. I used it mainly for variable star observing. The eyepiece I had was a 24.5mm Meade SWA. It was fine in the middle but the eyepieces suffered a bit from astigmatism.

The only thing I didn't like was the lack of a 2" fitting; but actually the 1.25" Meade was wide enough at just over 4°.