Question about Orion Intelliscopes

[GordonCopestake]

I'm looking at a dob as an alternative to my ED80 due to the large aperture. I'm looking at the Orion Intelliscope as i like the idea of the DSC, however looking at the telescope service website, im puzzled by one thing. It says:

- Just plug in the computer into the port on the Rocker-box. It is aligned automatically

How on earth does that work then??

[carlos]

Hi Gordon,

in a short answer - nope it is NOT aligned automatically :shock: obviously lost in translation !!

in a long answer (getting a beer would be a good idea )- you have to set the ota vertical (near as exact as you can by adjusting a large stopbolt which it rests against when vertical) by making sure the base is dead level and then adjusting the said stopscrew until the ota is perpendicular to the base - dead vertical, you do this in the day, preferably when the kids are at school and the wife has gone shopping or to the hairdressers and you're skiving the day off work et .c as you're going to need lots of patience !!

once this is set you never (as long as you don't move the stop) have to adjust it again, and the observatory location doesn't have to be level.

then when you get outside at night you just point the tube up until it very gently comes to rest against the stop and it's pick best pair of stars and a very simple 2 star alignment procedure. that's it.

the whole idea is to get as low a Warp Factor as poss (beam me up scotty ), which is basically just a measure of how accurate your 2 star alignment is; it's great fun and everybody does it at least once to see how BAD a warp factor you can get my personal hall of shame worst is 72 !!

using a crosshair ep (which i would definitely recommend) i routinely get a Warp Factor of 0.2, now the magical 0.0 (which i WILL get damnit!!!!) will still only give you a targeting accuracy of roughly 20 arc minutes; it's not brilliant but good enough to find things - which is the point

it sounds complicated but hey you're an astronomer, you can get your head around it

um what else, without this turning into a book i'll be brief (for me)-

different kettle of fish to the ED80

if you can find one buy s/h (you'll be lucky)

buy a laser and use the barlowed laser method of collimating the primary, then startest; get someone to help you collimate 1st time (unless you know how)

flock the ota with protostar high tack, makes a big difference

definitely get the controller (COL)

definitely get the cooling fan and seal the primary end

stock focuser is usable if tweaked, moonlite option is easy to fit

buy a can of dupont multilube (from the states)

2" EP's - 42mm and 30mm GSO Superview use ONLY with the GSO ED 2xBarlow and you'll get nice coma free wide field viewing (owl services the cheapest)

2" Baader UHC-S filter

at some point in the future build or buy a motorised EQ platform

i guarantee you aren't going to be dissapointed by any of the 8" and upwards by any definition these are blumming good for the money.

any questions fire away

cheers

C

[GordonCopestake]

Thanks for the tips C