Mak GNG set up

[sojourneyer]

I have a Skywatcher Skymax 90 set up on a Celestron Nexstar GT mount.

When I take it out for viewing the only items I take with it are a diagonal, 40mm EP and a 8-24 Zoom.  I find that this is all I need for comfortable viewing.

How do you rig up your smaller maks?

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

Pretty much the same. 

As I have replaced the backend of my ETX-105 with an aluminium backplate, that was made before https://wegatoptical.com/ started making theirs. It also includes provision for attaching SCT accessories and 2” e/p’s. Images below.

 

Since the image below was taken, I have sold the Vixen GP and use the mounts as per my signature. I have also replaced the Jubilee hose rings with a pair of 124mm tube/guidescope rings, via AliExpress.

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by RT65CB-SWL

[The60mmKid]

I've never used a Mak as a grab & go since I consider thermal acclimation essential, and that can take a while with a Mak. Perhaps others' experiences differ?

[bosun21]

When I owned a 127 Mak I just plopped it in the garden 1 hour before dark and it was just fine. What I also liked was the fact that the stars are almost frac sharp and if the clouds did encroach it was a one arm pick up to bring it back indoors.

[Roy Challen]

21 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

I've never used a Mak as a grab & go since I consider thermal acclimation essential, and that can take a while with a Mak. Perhaps others' experiences differ?

Not with a 90mm mak, 127 and above yes, sure. The little maks make great lunar and planetary grab and go scopes.

As above, mine is on my Tak equatorial. With a well aligned finder, all I need is my zoom.

[sojourneyer]

By the time I get my chair, table for a cuppa, and everything else (vib pads, weight on accessory tray) the little Mak has cooled down. I also have to align the Nexstar and some time is used up as well for that.

I believe the weight of this little guy is under 1.5 kgs

 

[sojourneyer]

There is a drawback to the Skymax and that is because the dovetail is at 6 oclock and all my mounts have dovetail clamps at 3 oclock.  Thus I had to purchase a RACI finder for the scope in order to find anything in the sky.

 

[sojourneyer]

I forgot to add that I had to set up my power station as well.

[bosun21]

16 hours ago, sojourneyer said:

There is a drawback to the Skymax and that is because the dovetail is at 6 oclock and all my mounts have dovetail clamps at 3 oclock.  Thus I had to purchase a RACI finder for the scope in order to find anything in the sky.

 

Not all SW Maks have the dovetail in the same place. The all black models have the dovetail bar 90 degrees offset from the black and white pro models.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

21 hours ago, sojourneyer said:

I have a Skywatcher Skymax 90 set up on a Celestron Nexstar GT mount.

When I take it out for viewing the only items I take with it are a diagonal, 40mm EP and a 8-24 Zoom.  I find that this is all I need for comfortable viewing.

How do you rig up your smaller maks?

 

I had a travel Mak 102 with Skywatcher AZ5, aluminium tripod, OVL 7-21 zoom, 25mm Vixen NPL eyepiece and 2 diagonals - a 45° erecting for day use and a 90° dielectric for night. All except the tripod and mount fitted in a cheap Amazon sourced camera bag.

It was a nice experiment and worked well but I found binoculars less faff so dropped the travel kit idea, sold the 102 plus zoom and a year later bought a 127 to sit on an idle AZGTI for at home use... 🙄

That set up is now on the expanding soon to be for sale list. Fun and quick to get going but I have three scopes and three mounts when I only really need one scope and one mount... 🙄

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Gonariu]

22 hours ago, sojourneyer said:

I have a Skywatcher Skymax 90 set up on a Celestron Nexstar GT mount.

When I take it out for viewing the only items I take with it are a diagonal, 40mm EP and a 8-24 Zoom.  I find that this is all I need for comfortable viewing.

How do you rig up your smaller maks?

 

 Three months ago I bought a Skywatcher Maksutov 90/1250 used by which I was impressed. My Vixen zoom 8-24 gives me all the necesssary magnifications (from X52 to X156); however I think useful to use thise eyepices too: a 6 mm Plossl (X208), a 5 mm Ortoscopic (X250) and a 40 mm Plossl (X31). This summer I have seen the Moon to X200-X250, the Montes Carpathi were fantastic, it seemed me as if flying over them. So far I am using it with a photographical tripod, I must buy a Vixen bar for connecting this scope to the mount of the Nexstar 8 SE.

[John]

3 hours ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

I had a travel Mak 102 with Skywatcher AZ5, aluminium tripod, OVL 7-21 zoom, 25mm Vixen NPL eyepiece and 2 diagonals - a 45° erecting for day use and a 90° dielectric for night. All except the tripod and mount fitted in a cheap Amazon sourced camera bag.

It was a nice experiment and worked well but I found binoculars less faff so dropped the travel kit idea, sold the 102 plus zoom and a year later bought a 127 to sit on an idle AZGTI for at home use... 🙄

 

 

I tried a 90mm Mak a couple of years ago on an AZ-3 mount, as a travel scope. It worked well enough but I found that the reason to take a scope away is to get under dark skies and when under dark skies, I like wide fields of view, which is not really the forte of the Mak.

My current travel scope is a 70mm F/6 ED refractor which does wide well and can handle 140x or more if needed too. 

I had my 11x70 binoculars on Dartmoor with me last summer, under some of the darkest skies that I've seen, and the views were pretty wonderful 🙂

Edited September 7, 2023 by John

[sojourneyer]

2 hours ago, Gonariu said:

 Three months ago I bought a Skywatcher Maksutov 90/1250 used by which I was impressed. My Vixen zoom 8-24 gives me all the necesssary magnifications (from X52 to X156); however I think useful to use thise eyepices too: a 6 mm Plossl (X208), a 5 mm Ortoscopic (X250) and a 40 mm Plossl (X31). This summer I have seen the Moon to X200-X250, the Montes Carpathi were fantastic, it seemed me as if flying over them. So far I am using it with a photographical tripod, I must buy a Vixen bar for connecting this scope to the mount of the Nexstar 8 SE.

I have the same mount and instead of purchasing a vixen bar I just installed a RACI finder.. Works great.   But the way I have it set up the focuser is at 12 oclock.. It does not bother me in the slightest.  See my photos above.

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by sojourneyer
added content

[Gonariu]

Yes, I saw them, you have did well: observing the confort is important. The model of 90/1250 I bought has a photographic attack which is OK for observing views and for astronomy using it whith a low magnification, but it is very uncomfortable for magnification as X208 (when the seeing lets).

Edited September 7, 2023 by Gonariu

[tico]

I prefer one binocular of 15x70 ir a refractor 70/80 for wide angle, I usé the Pronto Televisión for this purpose. 

I has one Maksutov 90mm but ir it've a field very very small, complicated for To search objects in the Sky with AZ mount.