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Superdupermoon

Discussion in 'General Astronomy Chat' started by Mak the Night, Jan 1, 2018.

Superdupermoon

Started by Mak the Night on Jan 1, 2018 at 7:38 AM

35 Replies 5048 Views 1 Likes

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  1. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    Nebula, Jan 2, 2018
    #21
    Ok I keep your advice to go with the Meade if i am to buy something like a small refractor someday. I would prefer it to be on an azimuthal mount instead of an equatorial mount, to make the setup super easy to use.

    it's just an idea
     
  2. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Mak the Night, Jan 2, 2018
    #22
    I remember taking this picture, it was Sunday, July 16th last year.

    july16fx.jpg

    It was the first time I tried the ST80 with the new TS Optics (GSO) Crayford. I only took about three eyepieces out as I just wanted to test the focuser. A 6mm GSO Plossl, TS Optics/GSO 2.5x Barlow for Jupiter/Saturn and a 30mm Vixen NPL and the customary 19mm Panoptic.

    I even saw the GRS. Later M31 was so good I could see luminosity in the spiral arms, the Double Cluster was fantastic. There was lots of other stuff for nearly two hours when clouds rolled in. I think the best view of M31 was with the Vixen at about 13x.

    I just remember it being such a great night.
     
  3. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Mak the Night, Jan 2, 2018
    #23
    Yeah, avoid the Sky-Watcher AZ3 though. It suffers from altitude drift. It's bollocks totally.
     
  4. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Dave In Vermont, Jan 2, 2018
    #24
  5. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Mak the Night, Jan 2, 2018
    #25
  6. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    Nebula, Jan 2, 2018
    #26
    I have a skywatcher but not 100% impressed.. I dismantle my tube to look at the mirrors and remove some dust in there, look at this picture, the tube itself is not even round. That is causing serious problem while rotating the tube in the rings, has well has installing the cap at the opening of the scope. I had to use the heat gun to reshape the plastic cap, it was too hard to fit inhere.

    have a look the tube is visually oval. Unimpressive engineering

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Mak the Night, Jan 2, 2018
    #27
    Well, on the plus side, Synta mirrors are very good for the money. Besides, most of Orion's scopes are made by Synta anyway.
     
  8. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    Nebula, Jan 2, 2018
    #28
    Yehh I am complaining but I am happy anyways..

    This is the condition of my mirror after 15 months of observation, it not that bad at all, pretty clean. I passed distilled water on it and it's like new again, no scrubbing, no efforts it's the second clean up in 3 years. My latest collimation is the best I ever achieved so far using my latest procedure.

    - Remove primary and clean it
    - Blow compressed air inside the tube to remove the dust.
    - Reinstall primary and recollimate (3 minutes recollimation time)
    - Remove the secondary and clean it.
    - Reinstall secondary re recolimate (10 minutes)
    o_O Like new.

    [​IMG]
     
  9. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Mak the Night, Jan 2, 2018
    #29
    That's a big mirror lol.
     
  10. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Mak the Night, Jan 3, 2018
    #30
  11. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    Nebula, Jan 3, 2018
    #31
    That's a big mirror lol.

    Well the 8" mirror is delivering the goods so far. I have doubts I want to lift anything bigger then my actual 200 x 1000, perhaps in a few years.. but my motivation is low against more weight. At a dark site the views are incredible, everything fits easily in the car, not too big but my limit for now.
     
  12. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Dave In Vermont, Jan 3, 2018
    #32
    That 'Meade' looks identical to the ST80. Perhaps Meade took over importing them and slaps their name on them now where you are, Mak.
     
  13. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Mak the Night, Jan 3, 2018
    #33
    Yeah, I can carry my 150mm OTA but I usually keep the mount erected and under cover. It's been taken down until after the winter now.
     
  14. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Mak the Night, Jan 3, 2018
    #34
    That picture's from Crowdy Fights in the US though Dave. I've not seen any Meade short tubes like that here and it's probably an old picture. Meade are owned by Ningbo Sunny and I can't see them buying from a competitor (Synta). The new short tube Orion 80mm scopes probably have the same optics as the old ones anyway. I don't see why they would change the doublet. Once the focuser has been replaced it's probably the same thing. Much as I love my Orion ST80 and have no plans to replace it, if I had to, the 80mm Meade Infinity would probably be the way to go.
     
  15. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Dave In Vermont, Jan 3, 2018
    #35
  16. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Mak the Night, Jan 4, 2018
    #36
    I think the Infinity series have replaced them now Dave. It's an interesting point on just how similar these and the ST80 are. I'd guess the doublet's are respectively Synta and JOC. I don't know about the housings and focusers. Either way, it seems we are spoiled for choice with 80mm, f/5 short tube achromats to customise with Crayford focusers. lol
     
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