#1741  
Old 30-03-2017, 04:23 PM
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I Prefer Refractors

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Originally Posted by Kunama View Post
My new observing ladder, with treads at 150mm spacing for better viewing heights:
Very nice Matt, another stairway to heaven if your not careful.
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  #1742  
Old 30-03-2017, 04:49 PM
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FlashDrive (Poppy)
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another stairway to heaven if your not careful.
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  #1743  
Old 30-03-2017, 05:32 PM
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I don't get it...why on Earth do YOU need a ladder Matt?

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  #1744  
Old 30-03-2017, 05:34 PM
Kunama
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I don't get it...why on Earth do YOU need a ladder Matt?

It's not for me, it's for all the Short-RRRRs wanting to take a look.........
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  #1745  
Old 02-04-2017, 08:37 PM
StephenRH (Stephen)
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Thanks, Allan. Yes, it's a work of art all right. As good to look at as to look through. I will look at some deep sky objects and planets -- and show them to the public -- but mainly variables. It's performing way beyond my expectations. I saw mag 17.3 in the field of RU HOR and the seeing hasn't been great so who knows how deep it will allow me to see.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Allan View Post
Beautiful dob Stephen, you must be very happy. I saw it near completion in Pete's workshop, and you have to love the quality and attention to detail Peter puts into the dobs he's building these days. Certainly in my travels around the world observing with friends and at star parties, I haven't seen another dob that rivals what Pete builds.

So it's your variable star scope. Do you plan to turn it onto some other deep sky objects?
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  #1746  
Old 02-04-2017, 08:40 PM
StephenRH (Stephen)
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Peter is a terrific guy all right, Kunama. His telescopes are delights to look at and delights to look through. Mine is exceptional.

Land of the Long White Cloud? We have not had a decent night so far -- partially clear skies but lots and lots of fog! Now we have a week of rain forecast -- remnants of the storm that hit northern Queensland :-(

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kunama View Post
Love the scope Stephen, looks beautiful.

Peter was a great help to me when I built my scope, offering lots of free advice and supplying some custom parts. He sure does fine work!

Hope the Long White Cloud gives you some sky time!
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  #1747  
Old 15-04-2017, 03:02 PM
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My current imaging setup after over four years of evolution. Ready to test camera's orthogonality, just need clear(ish) skies...
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  #1748  
Old 15-04-2017, 03:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Slawomir View Post
My current imaging setup after over four years of evolution. Ready to test camera's orthogonality, just need clear(ish) skies...
Looks great, Suavi! Good luck with the weather.
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  #1749  
Old 15-04-2017, 10:09 PM
JaseD (Jase)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StephenRH View Post
Here's my big beast. It's way bigger than I thought it would be. I call it 'Kororia'. The name is Maori for 'glory' and it comes from Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God." It's a fully laden 28" f/3.3. It was made by Peter Read, SDM Telescopes, in Bunbartha, VIC, Australia. It's a real work on art - aesthetically pleasing to the eye and tests revealed excellent performance.
The mirror is by Mike Lockwood of LCO in USA.
It has ArgoNavis and Servocat (with two handboxes - one on the stalk and one at the eyepiece.
Kororia has an 80mm f/6 Explore Scientific Triplet APO Finder with a 20mm Nagler. That has a 3.4° FOV at 24x magnification. A Telrad is fitted. There is also an 11x60 RA Finder to help balance the scope (which is as near to perfect as you can get).
I use Nagler eyepieces and have ordered a Stellarview 20mm 100° eyepiece as well.
It has fans fitted to cool the mirror and heater straps around the smaller instruments and eyepieces.
The rocker box is larger than usual as Peter wanted to raise the height to see closer to the horizon over my 1.200m fold down walls on the observatory.
It's permanently set up in Pukemaru Observatory, on my property near Kaitaia and about 100m up f the house.
I will be using it for visual variable star observing (CVs, RCBs, NLs, and a few Mira/LPVs). Plus of course, public viewing.
I have asked people not to ring me if it's a fine night between Last and First Quarter. I will be busy (unless it's raining).

Oh and by the way, it's been stormy for the past 2 days so no viewing and rain/storms/thunder predicted for the rest of the week so I haven't had a chance to observe yet. That is so often the case with a new telescope.
WOW! Public viewing... nice. Next time in NZ, I would love to come check it out. My FIL is in Warkworth, you're really only a hop and skip away. Lovely bit of kit.

Cheers
J
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  #1750  
Old 16-04-2017, 07:17 AM
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Looks great, Suavi! Good luck with the weather.
Thank you Rick,

Weather was good last night. Riccardi reducer highlighted a tilt somewhere in the optical train, so will need to investigate that. Stars with the flattener are pretty good, but could improve also. Will try to sort this out in the following weeks.
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  #1751  
Old 16-04-2017, 08:07 AM
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Striker (Tony)
Whats visual Astronomy

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Originally Posted by Slawomir View Post
My current imaging setup after over four years of evolution. Ready to test camera's orthogonality, just need clear(ish) skies...
Very nice mate. I'm with you on the clear skies, got about 2 hours last night before the clouds rolled in.
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  #1752  
Old 19-04-2017, 07:24 PM
Kunama
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Originally Posted by Slawomir View Post
My current imaging setup after over four years of evolution. Ready to test camera's orthogonality, just need clear(ish) skies...
Beautiful setup Suavi.
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  #1753  
Old 20-04-2017, 03:59 PM
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Thank you Tony and Matt. Just need to sort out the tilt and I will be a very happy camper.
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  #1754  
Old 28-04-2017, 10:00 PM
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thomqos (Russell)
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Thought I'd finally post some pics. of my 10" f6 rebuild that I completed late last year.

Formerly a homemade cardboard tubed Dob. with a great mirror re-figured for me by Mark Suchting in 2000, I've now rebuilt it in an aluminium tube with a Moonlite focusser & EQ mounted using Parallax's rotating rings. There's some photos during construction, as well as showing the Novak 9 point primary cell that I'm lucky enough to have. Thanks to Mark's work, it produces great planetary/lunar views when cooled properly, about as sharp as my TSA-120.
I still use the old Dob. rocker box as a cradle to store it on...Waste not, want not!

Only problem is it's turned out to be built like a tank at 22-23kg & my G-11 struggles, even though I'm visual only. I just need an observatory & a bigger mount for it now!
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Last edited by thomqos; 28-04-2017 at 10:13 PM.
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  #1755  
Old 28-04-2017, 10:25 PM
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FlashDrive (Poppy)
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That rebuild looks great ... nice outcome.

Col...
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  #1756  
Old 03-05-2017, 07:43 PM
Pleiades02 (Lyndal)
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Love the Mach1 mount Suavi....
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  #1757  
Old 04-05-2017, 04:22 PM
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Slawomir (Suavi)
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Love the Mach1 mount Suavi....
Me too Lyndal!

It's definitely a keeper. Perhaps one day (50th bday would be a good reason...) I will also get the 1100...
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  #1758  
Old 06-05-2017, 03:08 PM
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A little Tak for a little Tak.....

What a cute little mount the Sky Patrol III by Takahashi is.....
Should be a fine companion for the FOA-60 refractor that is going to be my lightweight grab&go setup.

Sitting atop my Manfrotto MT055CXPro3 Carbon tripod is the Skywatcher Star Adventurer Wedge which is grasping my little DIY Dovetail plate bolted to the Sky Patrol III....

Just need the scope now
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  #1759  
Old 07-05-2017, 05:02 PM
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UniPol
I Prefer Refractors

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Moonlite for Tak

I thought my Feather Touch focusers were good until I bought my first Moonlite focuser for my Tak Mewlon 180C recently, beautifully made and silky smooth.
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  #1760  
Old 08-05-2017, 09:03 PM
DJT (David)
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And a feather touch for a Tak..

Got the chance at the weekend to put the fs60 back together after trashing the original focuser last year.

Feather touch focuser with the fs60 adapter and the adapter needed to be able to use the Takette accessories.

Was really impressed with the feather touch and chuffed to be able to use the scope properly again. Tak LE7mm plus powermate on Jupiter was so cool.

Last photo is the FS60 waiting in the background whilst it's big brother goes through its paces.
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