Posts Made By: Gary Davis

Does anyone have an NGC mini max connected to an Orion XT10 ? If so I need to know what you have entered for your Encoder numbers.

I have two Dob scopes. Both are 8 inch at f/6. I need to name them scopes one and two. Scope one is manufactured. Scope two is assembled by me. Scope one is at least two times brighter than scope two. The only differance is that scope one has a 1.8 inch secondary with a two inch focuser and scope two has a 1.3 inch secondary with 1 1/4 inch focuser. Scope two has a very dark background sky. Scope two looks more like an f/10. Scope two's images are soft and hard to bring to higher powers. Anything over 120X makes the image hard to bring to a fine focus. Using Newt as a reference, I could use a 1.5 inch secondary for scope two. Would it help brighten the image ? Should I begin looking for some other reason ?

I may have a problem brought on by myself. I have two scopes that I put together. Both of them have the same problem. I cannot collimate them correctly, it seems. I have tried until blew in the face. I have used a laser, a cheshire, a sight tube, and collimating cap. All these devices have a place to be used. I have made the image in the focuser look exactly like the instructions I have found all over the internet. But all this does not seem to work for me. Either the secondary or primary or some other thing seems to be wrong. Aiming these things perfectly at one another is next to imposible. How do you line up the perfect center of the secondary to the perfect center of the primary ? Using the laser is of no help to me at all because it will line them up even no matter where the primary or secondary is aiming. Sometimes, so far off, that the laser strikes the center of the primary but exits and strikes the tube side and then when you adjust the mirror for this, half the primary shows in the secondary but still aimed at the center of the primary !!!!! Good lord one could spend days doing this and never get it right. I feel like the monkey with a keyboard, if given enough time, he will type a word or two. I have read and read tons of articles on collimating but nowhere do I see how to line them up perfectly to get to a starting point. One thing that would help is to know that the primary is exactly level in the tube !! Then if the secondary is level and in the center, aiming should not be a problem.

I am not very good at this drawing but I consentrated on the GRS. There were many other details as well but I will have to practice and get some better pencils for greater detail. Just notice that the GRS is interfering with the pole area and has festunes to the right in the drawings. Like I mentioned, there was lots of detail other than just what you see here. All and all it was a stunning site. I used 100X as the image was very vivid with stunning resolution. I only wish I could have done a better job with the drawing. But I'm sure you will get the idea.

Seeing not to good last night. However I did capture this image. I still need more practice. Hope this one is not to big to fit screen.

Seeing was good. Light fog present and everything wet but I was able to capture this drawing. It was a fantastic view. Jupiter has more detail now than I can draw. Many details are just not possible to include. This is a one of a kind for me. I kept wishing for just a little better seeing but did not happen.

I have looked and looked. Trying to find a secondary of less than one inch. .60 is my goal. Did find a .75 but thats still a little large at 13%. Just point me in the right direction.

About two weeks ago I ordered and replaced my current large secondary "27 percent obstruction". I replaced it with a high quality secondary with a 13 percent obstruction. What a difference !! :-) I could tell the moment I looked at Jupiter. Alot more contrast and a primary that seemed funky is now worth keeping. Why are we using such huge secondarys in scopes that don't need them ? Every name brand scope I have has a secondary that is to large. Most are 22 percent all the way up to 30 percent. Some I know require a larger secondary "ie: Short focal length" but even these can be trimmed down to smaller sizes. Standard sizes are the culprit and I really wonder about the quality of these mass produced secondarys. I'm waiting for a half inch secondary to replace the 1.3 inch secondary "factory" in my 6 inch f/10 reflector. I'm betting it will be a real difference.

Thats easy, its The Micheal Jackson nebula !! You should know that !! Geeeez

Trying to identify an .096 ep. On top of EP I see HI 2.5mm and thats all I can find. Anyone with info ? Its very well made and appears to be an ortho of some type. Not very big but somewhat heavy for its size. Very small eye relief. Thanks to all.