Posts Made By: Paul Gruener

Hi,
I am thinking of getting a go-to mount for my telescopes and I am considering a Takahashi EM-200. I would like your help. I have an FS-152 (4” focuser) and an M-250 Mewlon (standard version, not the “S” version). Both attach to my current GEM with Losmandy D series plates. I also have a side-by-side Losmandy style D series saddle set up so I can use one of the OTAs and a small guide scope for some light duty astrophotograhy. My primary interest is visual, but I am starting to do a little DSLR photography with my gear. My current Losmandy mount is wonderful, but it cannot be updated to go to.

I am interested in the EM-200 for a few reasons. I have read the polar alignment scope is very accurate and the scope tracks very smoothly for astrophotography. I also appreciate Takahashi quality. It looks like there are a few vendors that make saddles for the EM-200 that accept D series Losmandy plates, so I could keep all my mounting hardware. Please let me know if any of the above is wrong.

I have a few questions.

Tripods
I use a Meade LX-200 tripod to hold my current mount. The tripod fits easily in my coupe / roadster, collapses down for when I use the Mewlon, and extends nicely for use with the 6” refractor. Today I have a Losmandy MA adapter on the Meade tripod to accept the Losmandy GEM. Can the EM-200 be easily adapted to the Meade tripod? While the Tak tripods look fantastic, I am not sure a fixed height would work for me. I like to sit when viewing with the M-250 and the FS-152. I could be wrong here, so I am open to suggestions for Takahashi or other tripods for my application.

Accuracy
I am interested in the EM-200 go to accuracy. The M-250 shows 0.4 degrees with my 25mm Tele Vue Plossl, so I would be happy if an object would be consistently in the this field of view. If I do a good polar alignment, do you get good pointing accuracy on both sides of the meridian consistently throughout say a 4-6 hour observing session?

Go To Control
When I observe I am always transporting my gear to another site. I would prefer to control the scope without bringing my “astro” laptop on nights when I am doing visual observing only. I have read the Tak hand controller is not allot of fun to use, but I have not seen exactly what the issues are. For visual use, what are the downsides to the Tak go to hand controller?

If the hand controller is not the way to go, do you recommend using a PDA to drive the go to? If you have done this, how much would I expect to spend to make this option work?

Suitability,
If my primary application is visual with a little astrophotography (1-5 minute exposures), is the EM-200 a good fit for my Mewlon and my 6” F8 refractor? I would only use one at a time. :-)

Other Considerations
Is there anything else that I have not asked that you think would be important to know as I consider an EM-200?

Thanks in advance for you help!

Paul

A photo of the lunar eclipse, August 28 2007 with my FS-152. I used a Nikon D200 and processed the RAW (NEF) file in Nikon Capture. ISO 800 4 seconds, on a Losmandy GM-100 mount.
Paul

The Joy of Taks
Last week I took my 250 Mewlon out for a look at Mars and the Moon. I knew the seeing was not going to be good, but I was anxious to see Mars for the first time this year.

After 11 PM Mars was nice and high in the sky. The M250 mirrors were stable in the cold air. While I could not do much at 600x like I can on a steady night, I did manage to work at 375x with my trusty TV 8mm Plossl.

It took some patience, but the Mewlon delivered amazing views. The polar cap regions and darker red-brown features stood out clearly in moments of low atmospheric turbulence. The big deal was the color. The richness and clarity of color this scope delivered, even in difficult conditions, was simply wonderful. Sure, it was cold, but the joy of seeing so much on a planet millions of miles away was worth every second.

Happy New Year, clear and steady skies to all in the group,
Paul

Ron,
I have only been at this a few years, here are a few observations.
I also had an ETX 90. When I made the jump to a Meade 7" Mak the amount of detail I could see on Jupiter went up dramatically. For example, the shadows of the moons as they transit became very clear and distinct black spots against the planet's surface. Also the number of bands I could see easily doubled. On one crystal clear Wisconsin winter night last year the view of Jupiter was breathtaking through the 7".

With my 4" APO refractor I can see almost as many bands but sometimes I feel like I can see more surface detail. The swirls in the clouds come and go with the seeing. After I have been outside observing I have checked some recent photos of the planet and I have been able to confirm what I have seen through the EP. The refractor excels in the area of contrast so I would concur with the other post that contrast is critical to seeing details on Jupiter. Also, it does take awhile to train you eye and body to work with your scope.

I find that some nights Jupiter looks great and other nights Saturn looks better. I have no explanation or theory for this. It is probably my bad luck. I start looking at both and then spend time with the planet that looks better.

When Mars was close I had both the ETX 90 and the 7" Mak at the same time. Before the dust storm hit there was some excellent surface detail. Again the 7" showed much, much more detail then the ETX when the planet was viewed side by side. I used 178x for these observations.

I usually view the planets at 100x to 179x. Most often the seeing in my part of the world does not seem to support higher magnifications. On one clear night this winter I went to 262x on Jupiter and Saturn and it held up.

I have not used a reflector in a very long time. I hope these observations offer some assistance.
Best regards, Paul G.

Ian,
I know I may get blasted for this suggestion but here goes:
Meade 125 ETX with UHTC.

I have had one since last Christmas and while it is not a perfect scope, I think it is worth considering.

On the good side the optics are wonderful. The views are very sharp and very contrasty. The star test is outstanding. It has done very well for me on the Moon and planets, and it has been a big surprise for me on deep sky objects. For example, over the summer I have had excellent views of M27, M13, M17 (with a UHC filter) and M8 among other objects. M31 was especially wonderfully a few weeks ago. Last winter the view of M42 was a notch behind my old 7” Mak, but still very impressive. The Autostar has been just great.

The mount was improved a while back. Make sure you get a new one that has metal in the fork arms. The old arms that were all plastic were pretty bad. No, the ETX is not built like my old LX200, but it has worked very well for visual use. I have the travel case and transport the instrument to a darker site on a regular basis. I keep it in the basement on the tripod and can easily carry it out to the yard as a complete unit when I view at the house. The finder is not good for much more then centering alignment stars.

Finally, I have also used the scope for viewing the Eagles here in Wisconsin. Half way across the Wisconsin River I could see the detail of the bird’s iris.

I know there have been many negative reviews of the ETX scopes out there. My new one with the “uber” coatings has been a pleasant surprise. As a frame of reference, I have owned a number of 7” Maksutovs, a 3.5” Maksutov, and a few 4” APOs.

Good luck, Paul G.

Nico,

I have a 125ETX with the UHTC coatings.

I would clean the corrector if it is really dusty. If there is just a little bit of dust, I would not bother. However, based on your description, it sounds like it is time to get busy.

My scope sees a good amount of use for both astronomy and for bird watching. I have cleaned the corrector and it is not hard. Take your time. Be patient. Be careful. Just follow Meade’s instructions from the owner’s manual or follow Dr. Clay’s instructions from the other post. Both have worked for me.

I think it would be a shame to have such a nice scope and have to look through a crusted up corrector. Finally, the glass sure looks great when it is clean!

Good luck and have a wonderful trip!
Paul G.

Hi,
I know this is a bit off topic…
I am a few miles south of you here in Packerland, so I understand your concerns about cold. I have owned several 7” Maks from Meade and with the cooling fan, they worked just fine in the winter. They would take about an hour to stabilize when I moved them out from the house. I can only remember one very cold night when the cooling time was closer to an hour and a half. Both of mine were in Meade mounts so the OTAs included the infamous iron weight.

I found the 7” sized Mak to be a great scope. They were sharp, very contrasty, and yet did well on deep sky objects. I think the contrast has a lot to do with the good DS performance. Planetary and lunar performance was exceptional on steady nights. I would guess the 7” Russian Mak would be just as good if not better.

Good luck with your new scope.
Paul G.

Angelo,
What does your scope need?
Paul G.

Ken,
I have only been at this hobby for 6 years and I have not spent a great deal of time comparing many EPs. So far, I found I like the Tak ED and the Televue Plossls. The Tak units are more expensive, so I will focus on the TV optics.
I have been replacing my standard Meade 4000 Plossl EPs with Televue Plossls. I have the 26mm 4000 Meade EPs that came standard with my 5" in Mak and and my 7" Mak and I have one of the Meade $99.00 EP kits from the purchase of a new Meade scope.
Each time I look through my TV EPs they look to me to provide sharper and crisper images then the Meade Plossls. So far I have an 8mm, 11mm, 15mm, 25mm, and 32mm Televue Plossls. I love them all. A few weeks ago I actually saw the stars here in Wisconsin so I took my 7" Mak out. The sky was clear and fairly steady. With the 25mm TV EP I could easily see E and F in the Trapizum. This works out to 107x with my big Mak. I am not sure if this is a good test of my scope and EP, but I was pleased.

My Tak EP is the 5mm ED that I used on my old Takahashi Apo refractor. The 5mm is too short for my long focal ratio Maks, so it does not see much use these days.

Good luck, Paul G.

Dale,
I have a scope with each computer type.
I have also enjoyed the Autostar guided tours, I think they are fun to use. In addition to the built in tours, if you did not know, there a many other tours you can load into the Autostar. My favorites are the best of each constellation by Dr. Clay. You can find these tours and an excellent overview of the objects at the Mighty ETX web site.

Back to the LX200 question…As the other post states, the LX 200 does not have a guided tour feature, but you can do something very similar. There are a number of target lists for LX200 users. These lists contain some of the best objects for viewing or for star parties. Most of the lists that I have list object by constellation. What I do is print the list and let the computer do the pointing. The lists are easy to follow and the objects are easy to enter into the LX200 computer. The Meade Advanced Users Group is a good place to start.

While the LX200s does not have all of the features of the new GPS models, I have found mine to be well built and dependable. So far, I have owned 2. I live in Wisconsin and my LX200 was out for over 5 hours last night in below zero conditions without a hitch. I think they are good values.

If you want an Autostar controlled computer telescope, your choices from Meade are:
The ETX series of Maksutov scopes.
The LXD55 Series of scope with various optical tubes.
The LX90 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain
The LX200 GPS series of Schmidt and Maksutov Cassegran scopes.

Good luck, Paul G.