Telescopes

[Patrick Bateman]

I'll see how I get on with it as is.

Now if only one of the cloudiest weeks this year would hurry up and leave a nice gap in the sky...

[nellyleelephant]

Patrick Bateman said:

I'll see how I get on with it as is.

Now if only one of the cloudiest weeks this year would hurry up and leave a nice gap in the sky...

Sorry, the clouds are my fault, I recently got 2 new eyepieces.

[Patrick Bateman]

How would you use one of these like that in practice?

Are there different mounts that would suit so it wasn't at such an awkward height i.e. somewhere without a table top?

[eharding]

Patrick Bateman said:

How would you use one of these like that in practice?

Are there different mounts that would suit so it wasn't at such an awkward height i.e. somewhere without a table top?

The Sky-Watcher 150p flextube appears to have a Vixen dovetail (which, along with the larger Losmandy style of dovetail are common to many manufacturers), so in principle you could attach it to any Alt-Az or Equatorial mount with a Vixen clamp - the fly in the ointment is that you would usually mount a Newtonian using tube-rings, so that the eyepiece position can be adjusted depending on the orientation of the tube - because the dovetail is fixed directly to the tube in this case, that isn't possible so you would be restricted to Alt-Az mounts with a vertical clamp - but this one might do the job.

[Patrick Bateman]

eharding said:

The Sky-Watcher 150p flextube appears to have a Vixen dovetail (which, along with the larger Losmandy style of dovetail are common to many manufacturers), so in principle you could attach it to any Alt-Az or Equatorial mount with a Vixen clamp - the fly in the ointment is that you would usually mount a Newtonian using tube-rings, so that the eyepiece position can be adjusted depending on the orientation of the tube - because the dovetail is fixed directly to the tube in this case, that isn't possible so you would be restricted to Alt-Az mounts with a vertical clamp - but this one might do the job.

Cheers but if I've spent £200 on the scope there's not a chance I'll be spending the same again for a separate mount.

Nothing exist around the £50 mark?

[eharding]

Patrick Bateman said:

Nothing exist around the £50 mark?

Small camping table and some dive weights?

You could keep an eye on Astro Buy Sell for a used AZ5 mount....

[Zirconia]

Really don't want the shakes though, whatever is used, needs to be reasonable solid with the eye at the important bit.

Word to the wise though, watch out for suspended weights off the floor if you try that method. They could get some movement going and tip the table, depending how attached. Made that mistake once (not with a scope).

[Patrick Bateman]

Totally clear skies last night meant I could use the scope properly for the first time. Even managed to see Jupiter and its moons and Saturn, although could only barely make out its rings at one point.

It's quite something when you point the scope to a random patch of nothing in the sky, look through the lens and see about 40-50 stars you can't see with your own eyes. Can only expect it to get better given we're just past the summer solstace.

For improving the views of the planets in particular, what are some good sources for eyepieces? The ones that came with the scope are 25mm (30x) and 10mm (75x). Would like to be able to clearly see Saturn's rings and make out some detail on Jupiter.

[eharding]

Patrick Bateman said:

For improving the views of the planets in particular, what are some good sources for eyepieces? The ones that came with the scope are 25mm (30x) and 10mm (75x). Would like to be able to clearly see Saturn's rings and make out some detail on Jupiter.

The eyepieces that are bundled with telescope packages are generally Kellner designs, and are mediocre at best. As an upgrade, you might consider a couple of the budget Super Plössls from FLO or elsewhere, and maybe a Barlow as well.

Saturn and Jupiter are quite low on the horizon at the moment, so you're looking through a lot of the atmosphere and hence even with the best optics you'll still get quite fuzzy views, which can lead to you chasing focus when in fact no amount of twiddling will help - if you haven't already, you might want to invest in a Bahtinov mask (150mm F5 for your telescope) to aid focusing - point at a bright star, and adjust until the middle diffraction spike is centralised - that way you know you've got focus, and planetary fuzziness is probably atmospheric distortion (although your focus may shift as the telescope cools). The other thing is to make sure your telescope is collimated - as above, a cheap laser collimation tool makes the process fairly painless (ETA - just make sure you don't drop the allen key onto the primary mirror when you're adjusting the secondary - keeping the tube level when collimating is a good move, and also replacing the secondary collimation grub-screws with Bob's Knobs means you don't have to fertle around with an allen key near the mirrors at all)

Edited by eharding on Monday 22 June 12:56

[Patrick Bateman]

Thanks both for that. What magnification of Barlow should I go for if I'm wanting the best view of a planet? Like for like, is it as simple and straightforward as going for the highest value? x2/x3/x5 etc.? Or best to start off with, what seems to be common, x2?

From the eyepieces in the link above ( https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astro-essentials-...), which one would be best to choose given the existing ones that came with the scope?

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Monday 22 June 15:21

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Monday 22 June 16:32

[eharding]

Patrick Bateman said:

Thanks both for that. What magnification of Barlow should I go for if I'm wanting the best view of a planet? Like for like, is it as simple and straightforward as going for the highest value? x2/x3/x5 etc.? Or best to start off with, what seems to be common, x2?

From the eyepieces in the link above (https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astro-essentials-eyepieces/astro-essentials-super-plossl-eyepiece.html), which one would be best to choose given the existing ones that came with the scope?

You could try the 7.5mm Plossl and a 2x Barlow, but I suspect you'll then be running up against the fundamental limitations of the mount and optics - you'll be shifting the view often to keep the target visible, and if you lose it, it may take a while to find again. However, I'd still say your first port of call should be to ensure your telescope is collimated correctly - particularly with a flextube design. When using my Newtonians, I'd at least check collimation before every session, and generally tweak it as well.

[Patrick Bateman]

I'll look into it more thanks.

Are there any good reading links on this topic of eyepieces?

I'd like to know what real differences there are between those different sized eyepieces as the numbers are effectively meaningless to me in practical terms of how they differ with each other in terms of the view they offer.

[eharding]

Patrick Bateman said:

I'll look into it more thanks.

Are there any good reading links on this topic of eyepieces?

I'd like to know what real differences there are between those different sized eyepieces as the numbers are effectively meaningless to me in practical terms of how they differ with each other in terms of the view they offer.

Loads of good YouTube resources, e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7u9Q5hV7yc

This is a good summary article:

https://agenaastro.com/articles/guides/eyepieces-b...

[Patrick Bateman]

That's a big help in itself, actually relatively simple to understand the basics of what matters.

That chap at Orion Telescopes in the youtube video explains things very well.

[Patrick Bateman]

Have gone with the 8mm and Barlow for now-

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-ey...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-ey...

[T5SOR]

It’s nearly a year since I started this and I have the itch again, after a busy year getting in the way

I am going to get a Skywatcher 130PDS/150PDS. I just need someone to have some stock first!

[eharding]

T5SOR said:

It’s nearly a year since I started this and I have the itch again, after a busy year getting in the way

I am going to get a Skywatcher 130PDS/150PDS. I just need someone to have some stock first!

You'll be pleased to hear that in addition to a 2-3 month backlog on a lot of Sky Watcher kit (even before the Suez debacle), prices have gone up by 25-30% as well.

You might drop these chaps a note to see if they have anything in stock though : https://www.microglobe.co.uk/

I bought a 130PDS from them last August at a time when none of my usual suppliers had stock (although the general scarcity of new astro gear hadn't kicked in at that point) - they were charging a premium at £219 vs the usual price at the time of £179 - looking back at that now it seems not so bad as the going rate is now ~£230, 60-90 working days delivery. It did actually ship from their London address the same day, rather than from the wholesaler, OVL. They're still citing £219 as the price on the website, so it may be they've been carrying stock long term and pricing it at a premium, not realising the wholesale price has gone up dramatically - you might get a (relative) bargain....

Failing that eBay or UK Astro Buy/Sell - whilst there are already a lot of "Wanted" listings for 130PDS/150PDS on the latter, they all seem to come from some bloke in Grimsby (he's been asking for three months though,,,)

Good luck!

[T5SOR]

Thanks for all the great help.

I'm picking up a new Skywatcher Explorer 200P tomorrow.

Are there any accessories I need to consider? A book on what to do and what all the bits are would be useful too

Edited by T5SOR on Sunday 11th April 17:02

[eharding]

T5SOR said:

Thanks for all the great help.

I'm picking up a new Skywatcher Explorer 200P tomorrow.

Are there any accessories I need to consider? A book on what to do and what all the bits are would be useful too

Edited by T5SOR on Sunday 11th April 17:02

Congratulations on finding some stock!

What accessories have you got? Easier to fill in the gaps than list everything you might want. Visual or astrophotography?

[T5SOR]

I have just picked it up and put it together. It’s not brand new, it’s from someone selling used. They only used it a few times.

It’s a Skywatcher Explorer 200P on an EQ5 mount.

Accessories;

2x Barlow Lens 1.25”
Super 10mm
Super 25 Wide Angle Long Eye Relief
Celestron E-lux Eyepiece 1-1/4”
Lunar and Planetary Color Filter 1.25” x4
Hyperion 68 Degree 10mm Eyepiece
Some sort of adapter from maybe 2.5” to 1.25”

£430 for everything.

Need to work out what all these bits are