The eagle has landed

[rumples riot]

Thanks Tony, will do. Good advice.

[rumples riot]

Well, prelimary tests done. Collimation is Ok, but not brilliant. I will need to adjust this OTA a little. Mind you seeing is not good tonight 2/10. Looked at Mars and Venus, Mars looked average however venus showed a crescent and looked pretty sharp; and very bright.

Preliminary polar alignment is quite good, must have jagged it. Will need to attend to this on a night of good seeing though. Pec training needs attending to.

Of note is that the image presented in the 9.25 of Mars and Venus does look a lot bigger than in the 10" Meade. This is very interesting given that the focal length is smaller. Don't know why this is. Maybe it is the figure of the primary?

The Mount seems to work well albeit that I had to tell it to track at sidereal rate. I would have thought that this was a forgone thing. Once this was set, it tracked quite well. It does make a low whinning noise when tracking, I suspect that this is normal though. Still it seems fine. Very solid. Vibrations die down very quickly. Just what I wanted.

Anyway, if you have some questions ask away.

No probs Paul, only too glad to help mate. Looks the goods now on the pier. Pity about the ****** seeing tonight though. Yeah mate, I have found a couple of blisters as well. All things considered though, it fitted very well on the existting plate, gotta be lucky sometimes mate. As you said quite correctly, necessity is the mother of invention.

[davidpretorius]

well done team!!!

[h0ughy (David)]

Just a question Paul, but is there any difference in your new scope to this one http://www.telescope.com/shopping/pr...oductID=118987

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Wonderful news Paul that its now with you. I dont know if I would have let they guy have a second go at cleaning. Learn the sckill before you get the new one and tell them you will clean the new one personally. I saw a product on the web but it is lost to me presently, which one poured over the lens/mirror and when dry "peeled off" that appeals as one does not have to touch the surface with anything other than the product. I would love to know if the product is in Australia.
Anyways congratulations on your new scope and hope you get clear sky the night it is all ready to go.
alex

Hi Alex

The "pour and peel" product may be a collodion solution and it comes with a warning. I purchased a bottle from the UK and tried it on some plate glass and it worked. You pour the slightly viscous solution on and when it dries to a thin, crinkly film you pull it off and voila - a clean surface.

I then tried it on some old eyepieces and again, it worked fine. Next was my VC200L mirror and it worked fine. Then it was the turn of my Vixen 4" refractor and it stuck to the lens coatings. When I applied more to try to dissolve it, the excess seeped in between my elements, so I had to ship the lens in cell back to Vixen in Japan who were able to clean it but not repair the slightly damaged anti-reflection coatings. So, beware. It is also highly explosive by the way.

I was sure to get the collodion solution without any additives such as oils, etc. as it seems there are two types. Based on my experiences, I no longer use the stuff which is a shame as it appeared to be very effective early on.

Cheers

Dennis

[rumples riot]

H0ughy, that looks just mine except the one I have now has Celestron on the side and and bonus scratches on the corrector plate. Looks like Synta are now devaluing celestrons with scopes that are rebadged.

Interesting!!!

[h0ughy (David)]

I wonder how much price difference there is?