Posts Made By: Alex McConahay

I haven't looked at the ad, but, I assume those things are listed in the same ad, and are sized to work together. In that case how difficult it will be depends on your ability to handle a saw and a hammer (and a router maybe, and a screwdriver.) I am not a natural born carpenter or woodjoiner--but I have put togehter several scopes that I am quite proud of, and which elicit praise from fellow ATMers (and others. In short--buy the kit and you can build a scope in a few weekends if you are at all handy. If you want to make it real fancy it will take longer.

Alex

Dan,

Mount the Meade on the Losmandy. That will keep you busy for a long time. there is a ton of stuff to learn about taking pictures that does not depend on which type of scope you are using. Just save your money for now, get a focal reducer (if your Meade is not already 6.3) and a good off axis guider to go with your Meade, and start taking pictures.

If you simply have to spend some money to get it out of your pocket--pick up a used ST-4 for $500-$600.

Which tube you are using will not matter for a while. And by the way--the Meade is about as good as it gets without going APO crazy.

Alex

Alex

For outreach functions (such as this) it is a lot better to go to the crowds than to expect the crowds to come to the dark skies.

As strange as it may seem, we get lots of people at our Barnes and Noble adventures who have never seen the rings of Saturn or the stripes on Jupiter--or the Galilean moons.

Just take what you can get.

If I were going out to "observe" I would go for the 5.5 skies. But I'm not--on those nights. I'm going out to get people interested in looking up, and maybe talking a little about light pollution.

After all, my earliest memories of celestial wonders were looking up at the night skies at Saturn from the middle of Los Angeles. It worked for me.

If you need some kind of excuse--use the Barnes and Noble adventure to hand out flyers for the next dark sky party out at your dark sky site.

And who cares if you are making money for Barnes and Noble as long as you are getting converts to astronomy in the process.

Alex

Steve,

Yes, the mount can do what you ask. It would not be a good choice for that work, but it will work as an introduction to astrophotography and high power observing. I would strongly suggest you get a dec drive also. In short--If you already have one, give it a try. But do not buy one if your goal is any kind of astrophotography or real quality work.

THe controls do not allow for an autoguider. Furthermore, the quality of the motors themselves leave a lot of backlash. I don't know how much backlash there is in the gears (since there is so much in the motors it is hard to tell).

But, all in all, you can get some photos at 350 mm if you are lucky.

Alex

Three years ago, I tried to sell my Starfinder 10 EQ. I was asking $550 for it. I got no offers.

I got a few offers for $250 to $300 for the tube, etc. as long as I was willing to keep the mount.

SOmebody (Wanted ad on Astromart) asked to buy the mount itself for $275. I think it was a fair price. I sold it and kept the tube--to make a dob or something. (It is now my imaging tube on a G-11). I've since seen them at RTMC and think that you would no longer get $275 for it--but maybe.

I would guess for most things I would rather have a CG-5 than the Meade mount, and CG-5's go for about $300. THe MEade mount would be more stable, but the CG-5 has the declination adjustment, and can be motorized. It is easier to set up, too.

Hope this helps.

Alex

It really does not matter where you store the thing. What matters is the temperature differential between where you store it and where you use it.

By the way, if your garage is anything like mine, it is a lot hotter than outside.

By the way. If you live in a fairly himid place (where the nighttime temperature does not drop much compared to the day) your scope will not suffer from this cooling problem as much as we have in the southern California desert, where on some nights there is a temperature differential of as much as thirty degrees between daytime and nighttime temperatures. It is possible in our desert that the glass never reaches ambient temperature--because the ambient temperature just keeps falling with no humidity to hold the heat.

In short--if your temperature inside the garage is the same as it is outside--and your nighttime temperature is the same as your daytime temperature, then there is no change for the telescope to adjust to.

Alex

A couple of suggestions--

There is such a thing as a focal reducer. It can be used both visually and photographically. (It does vignette, so the views dim at the edges.) But this is little problem visually, and no problem whatsoever with the Meade eyepiece, which only sees the very middle of the field anyway.

Figure a way to use a standard camera lens in front of the eyepiece. The views with that eyepiece are much more pleasing through a 135 than through a 2800 mm focal length telescope.

Alex

It is much easier to move a primary--you don't have to cut holes in the tube to move the focuser.

Before moving anything--see how much difference there is in the height of the mirror above the mounting holes on the new cell compared to the old cell. (By mounting holes, I mean wherever the cell meets the tube.) That is the distance you need to move the new cell.

By the way--try starting out with new collimation. Sometimes there's enough travel to get things to work.

Alex

Adam,

I was not thinking.

Don't do anything until you try to focus on something at infinity (like the moon or the stars). Even things a quarter of a mile away are not at infinity.

Later in the thread, you mention that you cannot rack the focuser all the way out far enough to bring it to focus.

Try this: Rack the focuser all the way in, and then 1/4 inch back out. (Less than a quarter inch if you do not have much travel in the focuser--more if you have lots of travel.) Insert an eyepiece. From what you have said--it won't focus when fully inserted. Loosen the setscrew and pull the eyepiece out while looking through it. When you get to focus, set the setscrew. (Be sure you are focusing on the moon or stars--not trees or anything terrestrial. Measure the space between the end of the focuser and the stop on the eyepeice. THis will tell you how much you have to move the primary to get the system to work.

By the way--try out your various eyepeices. WHick one focuses closest? WHich one furthest away? What happens to the focus position when you use a Barlow or COma Corrector? All this should be taken into account before you decide where to put your primary.

Alex

All the focal reducers I have ever seen have two sets of threads--a female and a male--sized to fit an SCT (or mak or anything using that size attachment). You thread it directly to the back of the Tube. Then you thread whatever you need (a visual back, or a diagonal, or a camera attachment) to the back of it.

It is usually used on SCT and Mak design because they have lots of focuser travel (so they can use it), and so much focal length (so they need it).

SOme devices (like off axis guiders) can contain their own focal reducers, which are occcasionaly removable.

Alex