Next steps with my daughter

[alfabet]

I bought my 7 year old daughter an Acuter Maksy 60 telescope for her birthday, and we have been having great fun viewing the moon from our back garden. I am now wondering 'what next?' as we both have an interest in the night sky.

The main frustration so far has been with the basic tabletop tripod it comes with. I have tried it on a cheap photography tripod but this is no better. Lots of wobble and difficult to track the sky.

I was thinking about buying a better alt-az mount and attaching the Maksy 60 to it. Is this a good idea? If I did buy a better mount, what would be a good recommendation, bearing in mind the low cost of the telescope?

Longer term I was wondering about getting a SkyWatcher StarTravel 80 and putting that on the new mount. Is that a good idea and would it be a noticeable upgrade over the Maksy 60?

Many thanks for your help!

[cajen2]

An interesting thread on CN about this scope. Apparently, the mount can be adjusted with screws. I thought it would be slated but people are quite complimentary about it.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/703497-tiny-acuter-60mm-maksutov-cassegrain/

 

[Peter Drew]

There are few "bad" telescopes these days but unfortunately many bad mounts.  There is little difference between a bad telescope on a good mount or a good telescope on a bad mount.  A StarTravel 80 on an AZ3 mount would be a good compromise and an upgrade from your current telescope.

Welcome to SGL.     🙂

[alfabet]

19 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

An interesting thread on CN about this scope. Apparently, the mount can be adjusted with screws. I thought it would be slated but people are quite complimentary about it.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/703497-tiny-acuter-60mm-maksutov-cassegrain/

 

Yes, this video gives it a good review too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cVid9aXkD8

For the 85 GBP that I paid we have been very happy and it has made us want to explore more.

[PeterStudz]

In an ideal world upgrading in stages, especially on a tight budget, sounds like a sensible way to go - eg upgrading the tripod, then the mount and at a later date the telescope. And getting a nice sturdy tripod, even for a small telescope, isn’t cheap.

However, there isn’t a standard way of mounting a mount to a tripod or a telescope to a mount, so you’ve got to be careful. Would the Maksy 60 even fit on a decent alt-az mount? 

A StarTravel 80 would be a noticeable upgrade. But since you’ve got this far and both have an interested (I observe with my daughter too) after using a small/simple telescope it might be worth biting the bullet and getting something with a bit more aperture. Something that’s also easy to setup and use like a table top dobsonian with an aperture of 130mm to 150mm.

[alfabet]

1 hour ago, PeterStudz said:

Would the Maksy 60 even fit on a decent alt-az mount? 

The Maksy 60 has a standard photographic screw thread on the bottom - I think it's 1/4-20 UNC.

So if I got the AZ3 tripod I think I'd need this adapter as well?

[alfabet]

1 hour ago, PeterStudz said:

Something that’s also easy to setup and use like a table top dobsonian with an aperture of 130mm to 150mm.

You mean like a Sky-Watcher Heritage P130?

[PeterStudz]

30 minutes ago, alfabet said:

The Maksy 60 has a standard photographic screw thread on the bottom - I think it's 1/4-20 UNC.

So if I got the AZ3 tripod I think I'd need this adapter as well?

I THINK that would work but I’m not sure!

[PeterStudz]

1 hour ago, alfabet said:

You mean like a Sky-Watcher Heritage P130?

Yes, that’s one. At the moment it costs around £189.

Looking around a AZ3 with aluminium tripod is about £139. The adapter £19 - £158 in total. So for ~£31 more you’ll get more than twice the aperture of your Maksy 60.

But see what others say. 

Edited January 5, 2023 by PeterStudz

[alfabet]

Or for another £50 I could get the 150p... 😆

[Mandy D]

1 hour ago, alfabet said:

Or for another £50 I could get the 150p... 😆

Then there is the 200P for just another £80 on top of that.

Seriously, though, you are looking at some good scopes, there. Do you want a Dobsonian mounted scope or is a tripod essential? Once you get to the 150P, these things are getting pretty big, but you can generally store them on their mount with the tube vertical and they don't take up a huge amount of space, but can be fun to pick up as a single assembled unit. You need to consider whether you want to lug a larger scope outside on a regular basis. My 200P has not seen the sky in months due to a bad back.

[PeterStudz]

1 hour ago, alfabet said:

Or for another £50 I could get the 150p... 😆

And another £80 on top a 200p! I have a 200p and it’s great, although still far too big for my 11 yr old daughter to handle on her own. The 130p isn’t a problem. 

Have a look at this thread. Rather coincidently the 130p also gets a mention. I wonder why 🤔 

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by PeterStudz

[PeterStudz]

2 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

Then there is the 200P for just another £80 on top of that.

 

You beat me to it 😀! In this game there’s always something bigger and better.

[Mandy D]

10 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

You beat me to it 😀! In this game there’s always something bigger and better.

Yes, when I was first looking at telescopes the vendor was shutting down their showroom and offering decent clearance discounts on ex-showroom stock and I was in France at the time. I considered the 150P as it was cheap as chips, but then noticed the 200P was not much more, so convinced myself to move up to that, but the 250PX was not lot more again, so moved up again. The next step was the 300PX solid tube Dob (no longer produced, sadly) was a big increase in price and although I was seriously tempted, I could not convince myself it was worth the extra cash. Besides, the focal length also increased with this one and made the full Moon too large for my crop-sensor camera.

So, I ordered the 250PX and we had it delivered to my partner's parents, not thinking much about the size of the boxes it would come in! When we finally arrived back in the UK, the boxes were still in their hallway as they were too big to easily move. 🤣 It is now residing in France and, at some point, will have to come back to the UK!

Edited January 5, 2023 by Mandy D

[PeterStudz]

On another note. If you are OK with DIY it would be straightforward to make a small tabletop Dob mount for your Maksy 60. It wouldn’t cost much and potentially far more stable than using an AZ3 on its aluminium tripod. 

[Rallemikken]

6 hours ago, alfabet said:

Longer term I was wondering about getting a SkyWatcher StarTravel 80 and putting that on the new mount. Is that a good idea and would it be a noticeable upgrade over the Maksy 60?

Be aware of focal lenght when you make your choice. The ST80 will have a field-of-view almost twice as wide as the small green (?) rascal. Focal lenght pulls things nearer, and aperture makes things clearer.

[alfabet]

4 hours ago, Mandy D said:

Do you want a Dobsonian mounted scope or is a tripod essential?

I don't really have the space to store a large Dobsonian. Table-top would be fine but I'm not quite sure what I'd put it on on the patio that would be stable enough... Our patio table wobbles a lot!

A tripod appeals from a storage and portability point of view.. Also we are going on holiday to Lundy Island (Bortle 2) in a few months and I would like to be able to take it with us.

[alfabet]

4 hours ago, Rallemikken said:

Be aware of focal lenght when you make your choice. The ST80 will have a field-of-view almost twice as wide as the small green (?) rascal.

Thank you, I hadn't realised this. I think our next steps beyond the moon might be planetary, so perhaps getting something with a shorter focal length isn't a great idea.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @alfabet & daughter and welcome to SGL. 

As mentioned here on SGL [and the other forum], the Acuter Maksy 60 is not a bad little 'scope for its size and price. The supplied eyepieces are 0.965" - Most 'scopes sold today are 1.25" so your options to upgrade e/p's are limited. They do exist, usually sold in a set of three which are H20, HR12.5 and SR4 and not particular good in terms of eye relief, field of view, etc. That said, an optional 0.965" to 1.25" adapter does exist on that well known auction site and the online warehouses should you wish to upgrade to 1.25" Plossl's or Ortho's. Below is an image of a 0.965" e/p and a 1.25" for size comparison that are part my collection.

As you said, the table top tripod is the weakest part of the set and your camera photo tripod is not much better. Add some extra weight to your existing camera tripod may help, (i.e. a large plastic milk bottle and fill it with water, pea gravel, sand, soil), and tie it to the centre column should reduce any vibrations... 1 litre of water = 1 kilogramme @ 21deg C. The AZ3 tripod and mount adapter you suggested in your third post would/may be an improvement.

[doublevodka]

1 hour ago, alfabet said:

Thank you, I hadn't realised this. I think our next steps beyond the moon might be planetary, so perhaps getting something with a shorter focal length isn't a great idea.

Do you have a budget in mind? Any problem with going for used equipment? 

For planetary and lunar, personally I'd recommend a skymax 127 on an az-gti mount, it's lightweight (I carry mine assembled with one hand from the shed to the lawn) easy to use plus if you decide you want a wider field of view you could pick up an st80 with tube rings later and use the same mount. They can regularly be found for around £300 used, sometimes less.

A goto mount is very handy when observing with kids, once you've done the alignment it'll track nicely so you can share the views and spend longer at the eyepiece 

[allworlds]

For visual use focal length isn't very important because you can just use different eyepieces to get your range of magnifications. It matters more for refractors because a shorter focal length creates more chromatic aberration.

The Maksy 60 is very cute. But yeah, unless you're handy with DIY/woodworking, a good mount even for a small and light scope isn't the cheapest thing.

I wonder if you could make it fit on the Heritage 76's mount? It would take a bit of DIY but if it works and you can swap back and forth then they'd pair together nicely - the Heritage does widefield and the Maksy does lunar and planetary. With a hybrid diagonal for the Maksy they can use the same eyepieces. That's probably the cheapest way to get more out of the Maksy, if it works.

A decent camera tripod with a ball head is another idea. The "trick" is don't perch the scope on top like the Maksy 60's box shows, but instead put the ball head sideways in the notch.

[alfabet]

10 hours ago, doublevodka said:

Do you have a budget in mind? Any problem with going for used equipment? 

 

I think <=£250.  My aversion to used equipment is my inexperience and the risk of not spotting a lemon.

[PeterStudz]

7 hours ago, allworlds said:

 

I wonder if you could make it fit on the Heritage 76's mount? It would take a bit of DIY but if it works and you can swap back and forth then they'd pair together nicely - the Heritage does widefield and the Maksy does lunar and planetary. With a hybrid diagonal for the Maksy they can use the same eyepieces. That's probably the cheapest way to get more out of the Maksy, if it works.

 

That’s quite a good idea. Although it would require some basic DIY.

There’s also a small ready made Dob mount for small telescopes. Again, it would require some basic DIY to make it fit. And this also has the ability to fit onto a  photo tripod.

https://www.astroshop.eu/alt-azimuth-without-goto/omegon-mini-ii-dobsonian-mount/p,53648

[alfabet]

10 hours ago, doublevodka said:

A goto mount is very handy when observing with kids, once you've done the alignment it'll track nicely so you can share the views and spend longer at the eyepiece 

Hmm, goto adds significantly to cost, and I guess technology is moving so fast in that area that things become "last year's tech" and lose value more quickly?  I read about AstroHopper, a smartphone based push-to system which I thought looked fun to try.

[PeterStudz]

4 minutes ago, alfabet said:

Hmm, goto adds significantly to cost, and I guess technology is moving so fast in that area that things become "last year's tech" and lose value more quickly?  I read about AstroHopper, a smartphone based push-to system which I thought looked fun to try.

I use the push to feature in an smartphone app called PS Align Pro, it works really well and cost £2.99.

But the advantage of a goto is that it adds the ability to track. Without tracking, and If you are looking at a target at high magnification, eg Jupiter, it’ll move fast across the eyepiece. Eg 30 seconds and you need to find it or nudge your telescope again.