What did the postman bring? V2

[JeremyS]

[Nigella Bryant]

20 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

You like your eyepieces Jeremy. I'm just waiting for my birthday next week to see what the post person brings, lol.

[bosun21]

Postie and DPD dropped off a 0.8 reducer/flattener, a 2” V2 filter drawer, V2 1.25” slider and an IR pass (685nm) filter today. Each time I buy new gear the clouds surely follow. If I sold some gear would I get clear skies?

 

[Ags]

16 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

If I sold some gear would I get clear skies?

Only if you sold ALL your gear.

[JeremyS]

This Ethos 3.7  110deg EP completes my Ethos collection (skipping the E21)

[JeremyS]

I’m not really a Barlow person, but wanted to give the best a go. 
I am particularly interested to see how it works with my Leica Zoom as part of a travel setup, including how the Leica Zoom + Nikon Barlow compares to the SVBony Zoom on its own.

[Space Oddities]

On 28/11/2023 at 14:20, JeremyS said:

 

I have heard only good things about this zoom EP. Would be interested to have your opinion on this!

[RimuRidgeRakiura]

The last 3 days has been busy for the freighting folk - 8 hour drive from Auckland to Wellington, 4 hour inter-island ferry, 6 hour drive to Christchurch, 8 hour drive to Invercargill, courier pick up down to Bluff, 1 hour trip on another small inter-island ferry and hey presto - I have my long-awaited telescope.

Main challenge tonight with excellently clear skies will be deciding between Aurora photography and telescope observing. Let's just say it's going to be a loooong and fantastic night tonight.

[badhex]

Now I've confirmed that I have astigmatism and know my prescription I was able to get help - @HollyHound to the rescue!

[HollyHound]

On 29/11/2023 at 13:50, JeremyS said:

This Ethos 3.7  110deg EP completes my Ethos collection (skipping the E21)

Nice one @JeremyS, you'll love this one... I've had the 3.7mm and it was pretty awesome in my 10" Dob 😀

[josefk]

34 minutes ago, badhex said:

Now I've confirmed that I have astigmatism and know my prescription I was able to get help - @HollyHound to the rescue!

i find the one i use on my widest EP to feel like a super fine focus to use even after focussing. Its not 100% perfect (the prescription must not be an exact match to my own even though on paper it kind of should be) but its a huge 90% improvement over not having it. 

[HollyHound]

37 minutes ago, badhex said:

Now I've confirmed that I have astigmatism and know my prescription I was able to get help - @HollyHound to the rescue!

Glad it's arrived safely, and thanks for contacting me (I'd completely forgotten I had the sales post running still 😮). Hope it works well for you... I've got the 0.75 version now, which works perfectly for me now too 🤞

I'm also, at last getting some free nights back to start observing again, after many many months of hectic work, so hope to be out joining you all under the stars again very soon. Just had two weeks away cruising in the Caribbean, to ease myself into it, which was rather fun... especially seeing Orion at an almost horizontal angle against the horizon! Unfortunately, I only had my Nikon 8x30 binoculars, but got some good views of the moon, even though it was "challenging" keeping it in view with the ship moving around 🤣

[cajen2]

I've joined the mob and bought a Svbony 3-8mm zoom, which arrived today. Can't wait to try it out and do comparisons with my fixed f/l EPs. 

Edited December 1, 2023 by cajen2
People like pix

[PeterC65]

I've had quite a splurge recently which I'm blaming on the FLO Black Friday sale.

I've been using a Sky-Watcher SynScan AZ GOTO mount since I started observing in 2020. It's served me well but the 5kg payload limit has restricted what scopes I can use so I've been mulling over something beefier for a long time. This AZ-EQ5 was on offer after having its photo taken and the wife said "just buy it" so I did.

It's much more sturdy than the previous mount and can carry two proper scope. When I do EAA I've been enjoying having the FMA135 ride piggyback on a larger scope to give me both wide and narrow field images and this new mount will allow me to do that with any two of my scopes. I'm hoping it will also widen the possibilities for visual observing too, with two different scopes to use.

Having bought the mount, I then started thinking about what bigger aperture scopes it might carry, and then an Explorer 200PDS came up on offer. So that's now sitting on the new mount.

The AZ-EQ5 has its main saddle on the right as you look from the eyepiece end of the scope, so that's the side where the Explorer 200PDS is fitted, meaning the scope is upside down, with the finder shoe below the focuser. I have turned the focuser through 180 degrees so that I can use the fine focus with my right hand, but the finder is less accessible than I would like.

I've tried the mount briefly in EQ mode and as I expected that puts the Newtonian into an "interesting" position. Most photos of Newtonians on EQ mounts show then pointing towards Polaris, so with the saddle flat, side to side, and pointing upwards, front to back, with the focuser rotated to the left and the finder just above it. For me, observing the south and east as I do, the EQ mount also turns the Newtonian upside down.

Neither the mount nor the scope have seen first light yet as we have visitors and I still need to check the collimation and make a power cable harness to allow me to connect the (also new) Nevada power supply. The battery on the mount should be OK for visual sessions but is not powerful enough for the EAA kit and the dew heaters that I seem to be needing for the longer EAA sessions.

 

[johnturley]

On 01/12/2023 at 16:50, PeterC65 said:

I've had quite a splurge recently which I'm blaming on the FLO Black Friday sale.

I've been using a Sky-Watcher SynScan AZ GOTO mount since I started observing in 2020. It's served me well but the 5kg payload limit has restricted what scopes I can use so I've been mulling over something beefier for a long time. This AZ-EQ5 was on offer after having its photo taken and the wife said "just buy it" so I did.

It's much more sturdy than the previous mount and can carry two proper scope. When I do EAA I've been enjoying having the FMA135 ride piggyback on a larger scope to give me both wide and narrow field images and this new mount will allow me to do that with any two of my scopes. I'm hoping it will also widen the possibilities for visual observing too, with two different scopes to use.

Having bought the mount, I then started thinking about what bigger aperture scopes it might carry, and then an Explorer 200PDS came up on offer. So that's now sitting on the new mount.

The AZ-EQ5 has its main saddle on the right as you look from the eyepiece end of the scope, so that's the side where the Explorer 200PDS is fitted, meaning the scope is upside down, with the finder shoe below the focuser. I have turned the focuser through 180 degrees so that I can use the fine focus with my right hand, but the finder is less accessible than I would like.

I've tried the mount briefly in EQ mode and as I expected that puts the Newtonian into an "interesting" position. Most photos of Newtonians on EQ mounts show then pointing towards Polaris, so with the saddle flat, side to side, and pointing upwards, front to back, with the focuser rotated to the left and the finder just above it. For me, observing the south and east as I do, the EQ mount also turns the Newtonian upside down.

Neither the mount nor the scope have seen first light yet as we have visitors and I still need to check the collimation and make a power cable harness to allow me to connect the (also new) Nevada power supply. The battery on the mount should be OK for visual sessions but is not powerful enough for the EAA kit and the dew heaters that I seem to be needing for the longer EAA sessions.

 

I have an AZ-EQ5 which I previously used for my ES 127 Refractor, and will in future be using for my recently acquired Tak 100 DZ, I've never bothered to go through any of the alignment procedures, in EQ mode I've simply set the angle to my latitude (53 degrees), and pointed the mount in the direction of Polaris, and found that objects (planets in my case) will stop in the field of view at medium-high power for 10-15 minutes, which is all I require for visual.

I'm currently in the process of carrying out a detailed comparison between the ES 127 and the 100 DZ, before I probably sell the former, so have set the mount up in AZ mode so I can mount both scopes at the same time. However I'm finding that it doesn't track the same in AZ mode, in fact I think the motor is only tracking in azimuth . I would be interested to hear how you get on with the mount, and whether you can get it to track in both altitude and azimuth when in AZ mode.

John 

Edited December 4, 2023 by johnturley

[GordonD]

2 minutes ago, johnturley said:

I would be interested to hear how you get on with the mount, and whether you can get it to track in both altitude and azithium when in AZ mode.

John 

I have had one these mounts for a few years now and pretty much always used in AZ mode. It tracks in both axis for sure. 

[PeterC65]

15 hours ago, johnturley said:

However I'm finding that it doesn't track the same in AZ mode, in fact I think the motor is only tracking in azithium. I would be interested to hear how you get on with the mount, and whether you can get it to track in both altitude and azithium when in AZ mode.

John 

My AZ-EQ5 definitely tracks in both altitude and azimuth when in AZ mode. I am finding that the clutches need to be really tight to prevent slippage, particularly the altitude clutch when using a bigger scope (even with the clutch tight I can still move the end of the 200PDS).

 

[Alan White]

Delivered yesterday but been too busy to open or show and tell

Another Vixen goodie from the classifieds and @Franklin the covert uk Vixen supplier 😉

For my Solar portable small set up.

 

I have a Vixen tripod to collect to mount it upon as well.

 

[Stu1smartcookie]

Picked up a Sky-Watcher ED80… with a moonlite focuser which is absolutely superb … it came with the focus motor too . Perfectly balanced and weighted on my carbon fibre tripod . 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Stu1smartcookie

[bosun21]

On 02/12/2023 at 08:28, PeterC65 said:

(even with the clutch tight I can still move the end of the 200PDS).

 

You can easily adjust the clutches to provide more tension. Just remove the fixing screw and with the supplied spanner turn the brass square clockwise until it just starts to grip the axis then turn it back until free again. Refit the lever and screw.

[PeterC65]

10 hours ago, bosun21 said:

You can easily adjust the clutches to provide more tension. Just remove the fixing screw and with the supplied spanner turn the brass square clockwise until it just starts to grip the axis then turn it back until free again. Refit the lever and screw.

Is this possible with an AZ-EQ5? The clutches are both winged plastic collars that rotate about the axes. They don't seem to have fixing screws. The photo below shows the altitude clutch, the azimuth clutch is similar.

 

[bosun21]

1 hour ago, PeterC65 said:

Is this possible with an AZ-EQ5? The clutches are both winged plastic collars that rotate about the axes. They don't seem to have fixing screws. The photo below shows the altitude clutch, the azimuth clutch is similar.

 

I didn't realise that the AZ-EQ5 had rotary clutches. What I described is for Skywatcher mounts with lever clutches. There must be a way of adjusting them though. You should start a thread asking any owners for comment. Congratulations on your new acquisitions Peter. I was wondering when you would succumb to upgrading your mount.

[JeremyS]

Newly published. Looks an interesting read 

[Nigella Bryant]

Lot's from the postie, well, via birthday pressies, lol. Not all things astro but quite a few. Usb heated gloves, 2x barlow lens, dew ring for the C11, dew controller and the meow book by Patrick Moore. The 10inch tablet will come in handy too, lol. 

[Andy ES]

Got this quaint old school equipment.

Somehow it’s got more  appeal than Ski Safari Pro ! 😂

It's also massive, good for my ever aging eyes.