Hi all,
I just took delivery of my first EP and was desperate to have first light with it.
So desperate in fact I'm still waiting for my dovetail adapter, I sat on my steps hand holding the thing to take my first look.
Houston... We have a problem.
The scope came with a feather touch 2" focuser which has 2.5" of travel. Whe I placed the 2" 33mm in the diagonal, I still cannot achieve focus with the rack all the way out.
I don't have any other EP's yet- I have a couple on the way.
Any ideas?
Bruce.
How far away was your subject? The required extension increases as you move from infinity to close focus. For a telescope something like 20m can be very close (about the closest my Mak does with all the extension tubes I've got).
Looks like you another frustrated owner of a modern refractor where the manufacturerers refuse to supply a decent length tube. I have griped about this before on this forum with little support. Their aim must be either to save money on tube length, provide the smallest case possible, keep the astrophoto lobby happy, or make a dollar selling extension tubes. Perhaps all four! My astro-tech 106 will not come to focus using a 1.25" diagonal, and I have to use the 2" to get focus. I am surprised your WO will not focus with a 2" diagonal in. You may have to buy an extension tube. Bintel have good ones at a reasonable price. I bought a 35mm tube.
Bruce it might be due to the Feathertouch focuser causing a shorter lightpath for astrophotography or binoviewer applications so you may indeed need a short extension tube.
Must admi, it was a B*TCH fight getting the Takahashi FS60 to come to focus visually. Absolute NIGHTMARE. Only issue was it was an IN FOCUS thing - needed somehow to REDUCE the total length of the visual train.
Get some extensions and go from there. I have some 2" diameter GSO extensions (various lengths) I would be willing to sell cheaper than new. Seeing I am ALL Vixen, not much use to me now at all.
OK I have a couple of quick snaps of telescope hopefully showing the focuser and maybe allowing the expert eyes to determine if the Megrez is the earlier or later version. That's if I can work out how to upload the photos
Bruce.
Mystery to me Bruce, that adapter does not seem to match either the old FT adapter or the new one for the M90.It looks more like the original WO 'foot' adapter with the Ft focuser screwed directly into it.
If you have a look at this http://www.williamoptics.com/support...d/megrez90.pdf you will note that the adapter that screws onto the telescope tube is the same as yours but the focuser is actually about 30mm shorter overall so unless the drawtube in yours is 30 mm longer than the stock focuser you will need an extension tube. I don't know how the previous owner used it like that unless he had either binoviewers or extn tubes.
Good luck!
Yep, I tried the 1 1/4 EP's that arrived today and you are dead right - I need to raise the EP about 30mm or so before i can get focus. Looks like a 35mm extension tube is needed.
This is probably a silly question but is the extension placed pre or post diagonal?
Extn tube goes between the diagonal and the focuser.
If you're 35mm shy of the mark now with your focuser fully racked you will need at least 50mm extension tube to give you some flexibility with various eyepieces.
A 35mm extn would only leave you 5mm more out focus and that might not work with some eyepieces. The GSO/Bintel ones have a brass compression ring.
Thanks Matt, you and the rest of the IIS community have been so helpful.
I will grab a 50mm tube next week.
I saw Saturn last night (for the first time),but the optical aberrations were severe with the EP only just in the holder.
Thanks again Matt, much appreciated.
Bruce.
Very happy to report I have installed the 2" extension tube and I all of my Ep's focus well.
Friday night I chose Saturn as a first target as it was nice and high. After centring it with my 22mm switched to 6mm and found the view shap as a tack. I the swapped to my 3mm and was astonished to find the magnification was still useful. I could see some banding and shadow of the rings on the plant and the plant shadows on the rings at the back. I couldn't resolve the Cassini division but hey, the view exceeded my expectations of the 90mm aperture.
After that stared looking for fuzzies and I believe I saw M104 Sombrero, Trifid and Lagoon Nebs, as well as several other open and globular clusters. A great start considering I haven't even powered up the mont yet.
Sounds great Bruce. It is certainly a challenge to see some of the more distant or dimmer objects with these smaller refractors but very enjoyable all the same. The same views would be a cinch to see through a big reflector sucking up all the spare photons in the universe but I really enjoy the challenge.
Two nights ago I sat outside in Jindabyne a few hours, mesmerized by the pure white pinholes of light on the velvety background viewing 47Tuc, M42, k Cru, Omega Cent among other things as well as panning to follow satellites zipping by as the frost settled on me and the Tak. In the end the scope was too cold to hold onto with bare hands (it was -5C)
