Barlow & Cheshire suprise!

[ballaratdragons]

My 2" 2x Barlow and Cheshire EP arrived today (monday).

<b>1.</b> Got a pleasant suprise with the Barlow. I expected it to be for 2" EP's only but it comes with a 1.25" adaptor!
So for $79 It is like buying 4 new 1.25" EP's and a 15mm Superview!!! Many Hundreds of dollars worth. Excellent. See pic below.
Can't try it out though as we are fogged in every night now.

<b>2.</b> I collimated my scope to as accurate as I could get it using the film canister method. Then I stuck in my new Cheshire. WOW! It was a long way out!!! Amazing how inaccurate a film canister can be. Looking forward to what I will see with correct collimation.(when the fog goes away).

With the Cheshire I used my little red torch shining in the side and it is so simple to use. Thank you to all who recommended I get it, Geoff, Laurie an Mike especially.

I am looking forward to trying them both out but it appears I will have a long wait.

[Smokey]

Did you get the $29 Andrews Cheshire? Can you post a pic of the Cheshire as well please.
I,m looking for one at the moment.

[ballaratdragons]

Yes Craig,

the Cheshire is the Andrews $29 black Aluminium one.

Photo below and in next post coz I don't know how to put 2 pics in 1 post! LOL

This one shows the light hole in the side.

[ballaratdragons]

And this one shows the Cross-hairs. They are very delicate wires!

[ballaratdragons]

With the simple purchase of the 2" Barlow at $79 I now have the following EP's to pick from:

2" - 30mm GS SuperView
2" - 15mm GS SuperView
25mm Plossl
15mm Plossl
12.5mm Plossl
9mm Plossl
7.5mm Plossl
6.5mm Plossl
4.5mm Plossl
3.25mm Plossl

The last 2 won't be much good at f5 but worth a try.

[RAJAH235]

Hi Ken. It's great that you got your Barlow & Comb.Cheshire. You *MAY* find that the X hairs are *GOLD* wire. Be vewy,vewy careful as they are extremely soft & easily broken. As you found, the film can is O.K. to do rough collimations with, but the Cheshire is best. I don't have the combo. model,(X hairs), & has been dropped a few times with no damage. Be careful with your's tho.
Nice to have a correctly collimated t'scope, ain't it? Just have to star test it now! Regards, L. :D :)

[ballaratdragons]

Laurie,

Why not grab yourself one. They are only $29.

I don't think the crosshairs are Gold. They have a brass colour to them though, and they are veeeeeeeeeery thin!!!

I will be extweemly vewy vewy careful of them.

[RAJAH235]

Hi Ken, 'My Meade' doesn't go out of collimation!!!! Wouldn't dare! :P Just kidding. I get almost, almost, perfect diffraction rings. When I first received the UWA 14 mm, (in 2001), I found that the collimation was out slightly after using it a few times, (checked it with my Cheshire). The extra length & weight, had compressed the cardboard tube a bit, so I went thru the total re-collimation process, starting with re-aligning, (packing), the focuser, to 2ndary, etc etc.
No probs. now. Regards, L. :D

[Smokey]

Thanks for that Ken.
I,ll be on the phone this morning to order mine.

[dhumpie]

I agree with Ken and Rajah. I used to use a homemade collimator out of a film cannister as well and when I got the cheshire (same one as the one you got), I was also surprised to see how out of whack my collimation was. Views are nice and sharp now ;)

Darren

[rmcpb]

Essential for all that galaxy hunting now that its galaxy season :) (need an Elmer Fud pic here)

Reckon by correctly collimating I get an extra degree of mag out of my scope at least.

Cheers

[ving]

you seem to have a problem with your Rs'... I know a good proctologist :P

on ya Ken, aint the cheshire a beauty :) I have the exact same one... but as per usual they droppped the price after i bought mine :(
let us know how the 30mm gso goes in the barlow... it'd be interesting :)

[ballaratdragons]

I will David, If this damn night-time fog ever lifts!

[ballaratdragons]

What a Comedy!!!

I had a look outside and surprise, surprise, no fog!

I quickly got my dob outside, no fog, rushed back in, grabbed the EP case and headed back outside. Still no fog. You beauty!

No time for cool down.

Stuck in my 2" SuperView. Yep, Jupiter still up there. Ah hah, Orion Neb still exists. OK, now to try my super-duper new Barlow.

Get barlow in, take out 1.25" adaptor, place 2" 30mm SuperView and . . . FOG!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quickly looked at Joop, yeah, looks bigger (blurry but bigger). Hurry, hurry, look at Orion, fogged out. Took out SuperView and put 1.25" adaptor in. Put 25mm Plossl in . . . . too late. Everything gone! Scope is already very wet in 3 minutes!! Packed up EP's, got scope inside. followed by base.

Quickest viewing night I have ever had. I cannot comment on the Barlow or the accuracy of the Cheshire. Must have looked funny if anyone saw me, I was doing everything in fast motion, even running carrying the OTA!

Blasted cold foggy mountain weather. Back inside with the wood fire now.

[slice of heaven]

If the fog comes in after dark BD, try some twilight viewing. I often do it for the kids and I myself like the contrast when viewing the brighter planets. The 12" still sucks heaps of light in at twilight.

Slice

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Slice, I occasionally do twilighting especially for the kids. But our fog starts rolling in even before sunset these days (problem of living in a valley).

Had I looked outside earlier tonight I might have been able to catch a bit of twilight sky. Only reason I noticed the sky was clear when I did was because I was outside getting firewood. I will have to keep an eye out in future in case we get another later fog.

Atleast I can say I have used my new goodies! (didn't see anything but they were used).

[ballaratdragons]

Just went back outside to see how bad the fog is and our whole valley is covered in a layer of chimney smoke as well! Everyone in town must be burning their fires tonight. Cough cough!

[slice of heaven]

You cant beat fresh country air.

[ballaratdragons]

LOL!

[h0ughy]

Ken

For those who have to Suffer having a 12" SCT how does a cheshire work for collimation?

[slice of heaven]

The cheshire is basically a sight tube fitted with cross hairs.
Looking into the sight tube you can see the line up of the optics.
eg. the bottom of the focuser,the secondary mirror,the primary mirror and the reflections of those. Line all these up and your sweet. The crosshairs show you the centre point of the focuser compared to the optics and their reflections.

Easy hey!

For 90-95% of collimation it's great. Getting the last 5-10% thats the tricky bit.

Slice

[ballaratdragons]

and because my mirror is centre spotted with a hole in the centre, when it is collimated I can see the tiny hole in the EP in the centre of the Mirrors centre spot.

Below is what I see in my Cheshire when collimated.

[h0ughy]

thanks guys, helped fill in some blank spots. Although I don't know how it would work with the SCT.