Boothie
05-04-2016, 10:32 PM
Hello All,
I have been enjoying reading and getting my head around all the info found on this forum. I am currently playing around with an old Japanese Royal Astro scope borrowed from a mate. Its a classic 100mm at F10, that took the old .965" EP's. It was left behind by a workshop buddy when he moved out and well it was in a bad state but I have breathed some life into it.
First step was to cleaned off the mirrors and well it was still a bit hard to see as the only eye piece was not going to come good with the amount of time I was willing to spend on it. So I took a punt and ordered a cheap but not the cheapest EP of Ebay, to see if I could get the old scope to work with the new standard. So a little bit of work on the lathe and mill, and I had got the new EP to marry up with the .965" focuser.
Well it made a world of difference, showed my family the moon and they were loving it. Next thing a star chart app was loaded on the tablet and the hunt began. One night when I got home from work my 8 year old mentioned that Jupiter was going to be up early enough for her to see it. So I set up the scope and we found it, we were all blown away that we could see the banding on it as well as all the moons.
So I ordered a few more affordable EP's, read up on EQ mounts and started to read this forum to get a better idea on what was out there and what the equipment could do. So now we have a few more EP's- 6.5mm, 8-24mm zoom, 27mm 53Deg wide view and I also bought a 2x barlows but they don't work with my hack/adaptor.
Just this last weekend I woke up early and thought 'Oh well I'm up, might as well go outside and check the sky'. Lovely clear sky just before dawn, checked the app and Saturn should have been an option. So set up the scope and BAM, I could see Saturn! Whispered to the family that if they felt like getting out of bed they could come see Saturn. Without any complaints they got up and we all marvelled at the sight.
I am just starting to consider where to go from here, the family is enjoying looking at the planets. The Misses is quiet taken by Jupiter, and my daughter is liking it all but the moon is an easy target for her. She is also interested in learning how to drive the EQ mount. We have camping trips lined up for the school holidays and the Wif asked if I was bringing the scope so we can have a look at the dark skys.
Enjoying all the new knowledge and I must admit I don't mind a bit of fancy kit, designing and making things work is another hobby of mine so maybe a DIY travel scope is on the horizon.
Sean from Canberra
I have been enjoying reading and getting my head around all the info found on this forum. I am currently playing around with an old Japanese Royal Astro scope borrowed from a mate. Its a classic 100mm at F10, that took the old .965" EP's. It was left behind by a workshop buddy when he moved out and well it was in a bad state but I have breathed some life into it.
First step was to cleaned off the mirrors and well it was still a bit hard to see as the only eye piece was not going to come good with the amount of time I was willing to spend on it. So I took a punt and ordered a cheap but not the cheapest EP of Ebay, to see if I could get the old scope to work with the new standard. So a little bit of work on the lathe and mill, and I had got the new EP to marry up with the .965" focuser.
Well it made a world of difference, showed my family the moon and they were loving it. Next thing a star chart app was loaded on the tablet and the hunt began. One night when I got home from work my 8 year old mentioned that Jupiter was going to be up early enough for her to see it. So I set up the scope and we found it, we were all blown away that we could see the banding on it as well as all the moons.
So I ordered a few more affordable EP's, read up on EQ mounts and started to read this forum to get a better idea on what was out there and what the equipment could do. So now we have a few more EP's- 6.5mm, 8-24mm zoom, 27mm 53Deg wide view and I also bought a 2x barlows but they don't work with my hack/adaptor.
Just this last weekend I woke up early and thought 'Oh well I'm up, might as well go outside and check the sky'. Lovely clear sky just before dawn, checked the app and Saturn should have been an option. So set up the scope and BAM, I could see Saturn! Whispered to the family that if they felt like getting out of bed they could come see Saturn. Without any complaints they got up and we all marvelled at the sight.
I am just starting to consider where to go from here, the family is enjoying looking at the planets. The Misses is quiet taken by Jupiter, and my daughter is liking it all but the moon is an easy target for her. She is also interested in learning how to drive the EQ mount. We have camping trips lined up for the school holidays and the Wif asked if I was bringing the scope so we can have a look at the dark skys.
Enjoying all the new knowledge and I must admit I don't mind a bit of fancy kit, designing and making things work is another hobby of mine so maybe a DIY travel scope is on the horizon.
Sean from Canberra