I want to buy a collimation tool but have no idea which one is best suited to my application. As stated earlier my scope is not the best quality, but is a great starter. It uses 1.25" EP's. I know it needs collimating because being the type of person I am (yep a fiddler), I fiddled with the adjustments while looking in the focusser to see what difference it makes. Anyway if anyone can shed some light would be good.
Also Duncan, I see you are in Yungaburra. I'm in Townsville, and I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of a good NQLD telescope shop, or atleast a hobby shop that knows what they are talking about, because I can't seem to find any up here.
Hi newby,
Unfortunately there aren't any really good shops up our way. But i dealt with Bintel via email and they were brilliant. A cheshire collimator is all you will need (about $60-70). Also look in "projects and articles" on the left of screen for an article on collimation.
Cheers,
Duncan
I will order one today. Is probably a good thing that there aren't any shops up this way, I would go in to buy a collimator and walk out with a 12" dobs lol. Thanks for your help and direction.
I still do not quite understand how to open a new thread, i am new to forums. The scope I am looking to buy is at underwood. It is an sw600sky. I was enjoying exploring using a manual alt/azimuth. Exploring mostly. Just getting used to the telescope the speed at which things move within the telescope. the fact that you cant see with the naked eye what you can see in the scope and finding things that way. I was looking at star clusters, binary stars, galaxies and nebulae. I also was looking for planets and attempting to catch comets, I think I was dreaming there. I was thinking that with a skyscan it would be faster but I am unsure what this would be like to use, whether I am better off exploring around with something manual as I am not really into astrophotography that is way out of my knowledge. Any sought of information on this would be helpful.
thanks
Wendy
Hello, Wendy, welcome aboard. You have a wonderful name, by the way - you share it with my daughter.
Wow, an 8" (200mm) with GOTO is a decent sort of machine. I bet it's not cheap either. Nevertheless, even if you do go ahead and buy such a beast I recommend that you try to learn - just using your eyes - the main constellations in the night sky. A planisphere costing little more than a couple of hamburgers and a large bucket of chips will be a great help.
Not having owned a 'scope with GOTO capabilities I cannot help with advice on the use of such, but I'm sure there will be plenty of comments from other members of this site.
Hello people, I have just signed up. My name is Daniel and I grew up on a farm in north east Victoria, Australia. I have always loved the stars, staring up at them of a night time lying on the trampoline at home, and have decided to buy my first telescope. I am thinking about getting a Tele Vue 101 or 102. Is this a bit extravigant for my first or even appropriate? I am little bit bewildered by everything that's out there so any advice or help would be a godsend.
Welcome to IceInSpace! It sounds like you've got some lovely dark skies.
The TV101/102 are certainly very nice refractors. What type of observing did you want to do?
Did you want to get into photography as well, or purely visual observing?
Keep asking questions and we'll help you spend your money Feel free to start a new thread if you'd like, otherwise it might get lost in here
Hello Iceman,
I would like to do some photography down the track but for now I really just want to start seeing whats out there. While I am very interested in the planets, deep space is what gets me really excited. I have just been speaking on the phone to Chris Ellis and he has swayed me towards an 8" reflector that he makes himself. Anyway I am going to see him on Friday to have a look. It would be great if anyone could equip me with some appropriate questions for him or give me any feedback on the telescopes he crafts himself?
Hi folks, and especially to other newbies, just joined the ISS forum and thought I would say a quick hello. I’ve had a long time interest in astronomy (emphasis on ‘interest’ rather than actually learning anything), which commenced in my teens after a school trip to the Flinders Ranges. As I am sure many of you have experienced, as a young kid viewing Saturn through a small refractor for the first time in dark skies really knocked my socks off. Unfortunately, my interest diminished quickly thereafter due to other priorities, like working a stupid number of hours to make very little money…. or was it girls? Anyway, some 20 years on and I am attempting to ‘resurrect’ my interest in astronomy and telescope making, which seemed to crash and burn all those years ago (hence the user name). My old 6” Newtonian has seen better days so I have taken the plunge and Mark Suchting from DS Optics is currently figuring a 15” mirror for me and I will soon start my foray into dob building (using David Kriege’s book and many other references as a guide). While this scope will primarily be used for visual observations, I have a professional background in environmental remote sensing and I am hoping to apply some basic terrestrial image processing techniques to planetary and DSO observations. I’ve had a go with some nice Jupiter data kindly supplied by iceman in his thread ‘Make your own Jupiter from my data’ with some satisfactory results but hope to make some more constructive contributions in the future. Nice to speak with you all - Happy sensing!
Welcome Steve, thanks for the introduction! It's great to see people getting back into the hobby after a long break.
So much has changed in amateur astronomy and casual stargazing in the past 10 years, even the past 5 years! Big scopes are so much more affordable and within reach of almost everyone.
A 15" Mark Suchting mirror will be beautiful in a home-built scope! Good luck with it.
And although I said it before, to IIS! Enjoy your stay and I look forward to seeing the progress of your scope as its built!
As a child I loved to lie on the grass and watch the universe rotate above me. More often then not, I would be flying around amongst the planets and stars that I could see.
I read all I could from the Encyclopaedias that we had lying around the house on space, stars, planets (other than Earth), rockets and much more. But then I hit puberty and most of my brain cells went to sleep. “Anyway”, I kept telling myself, “you have to be rich to buy a telescope.”
It wasn’t until years later, after two and a half decades in the Defence Force, that my interest in the stars was renewed. My new boss (and friend) has shown me that the hobby is not as expensive as I thought. You can spend as much as you want, or as much as the wife with let you.
I said this was just a quick hello, so I will end this here. I hope to talk to some (or all) of you sooner or later on other threads.
welcome to iis. I'm sure everyone will make you as welcome as they made me. I'm new here too as are many others. This is one of the best places to learn and ask questions. so don't be shy, you can't learn unless you ask. (and someone much more qualified than me will answer I promise )