Meade LX200 GPS

[Rodstar (Rod)]

Ken, thanks for the offer, but the fork mount is working just fine!!

Mike - the Friday/Sat night double sounds great...subject to She Who Must Be Obeyed vetting the idea...will confirm early next week. Have a great party this weekend.

I just spend three hours at the scope in crystal clear skies tonight...first night out with the new scope. Took me about an hour to work our what the f#%@$ was going on with the focus....all I could see was a big donut of light....then realised focus was off the proverbial richter scale, and managed to reign it in. Guess what I was quite inadvertently pointing at at the time?? Saturn. Never has anything looked quite so good!

Then after a few false starts with the GPS Auto Alignment program, I got straight into some auto slewing, and took in some of the gems of the cosmos. It is so easy with the auto suite. Having said that, I also took some time just to meander through the cosmos in a totally random way....stumbled across the Jewel Box, quite by accident, a bit like stumbling across a pub after a long day of work....then I went inside and got a real beer, then back out for more exploration. Our Bangalow Palm was annoyingly in the way of Orion, and I wasn't about to shift the scope and do set-up again. So maybe another night. Just missed Jupiter...I really need to get some sleep before work tomorrow.

I am already seeing the need to get a bigger range of eyepieces. I'd better go and count my pennies.

Happy stargazing everyone!

Rodstar

[iceman (Mike)]

Excellent Rod!

What EP's came with the scope? Have you got a barlow?

btw i'm bringing the laptop and ToUcam next weekend (friday) when we go to the Mangroves.. we'll see if my images are due to the non-tracking mount or my poor capture/processing techniques

Can't wait to get some Saturn avi's through an f/10 scope!

[Dave47tuc (David)]

Ah Rod,
It has been said new toy great, first look second etc.

Then oh lets look at some big eyepieces

Your pennie counting has just begun

Great scope

Best.

[hawkeye]

Hi gang, just joined the Icers.
Congrats on buying the 10" Meade, Dave.
I remember opening the 'big white box' in front of the family and going quiet when I saw just how big the 10"er is in real life. I had only seen an 8"er in the shop.
Haven't looked back since, although it took me a while to work out how to safely get it into the boot of the Falcon. Made up a wooden, foam-lined tray that the scope lies in and which all slides in quite nicely.

Cheers
Hawkeye

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Hi Hawk.

Welcome.

Not another 'press the button and go look' freak! lol

1957 WAS agood year wasn't it!!!

[Dave47tuc (David)]

Hawkeye.

It was Rod who brought the new Meade

I have had mine for some time.

Glad to see you here with your Meade 10" Plenty of these around here

Sorry ken wasn't around in 57, But I used to drive a 55 Chevy

Best.

[Rodstar (Rod)]

Welcome Hawkeye!

Mike, the scope came with both a 1.25" and 2" diagonal and a 1.25" Meade series 4000 26mm super Plossl and 2" Bintel GSO Superview 30mm.

I am lusting after some wide view higher mag pieces...maybe something about the 10mm, 15mm and 20mm will keep me happy. What have you got Mike?

Rodstar

[iceman (Mike)]

2" Bintel GSO Superview 30mm

Great eyepiece, from all reports. You'll need a 2" barlow now.

I've got a 25, 15 and 9mm (all in 1.25") with a 1.25" 2x barlow.

You can get the GSO Superview in 15mm and 20mm focal lengths in 1.25" size, that'll give you higher magnification with a wide field.. either that, or save up for a nagler 11mm or something.

Still, a 2" barlow should be your next investment.. with the 1.25" adapter you'll be able to use it for all your eyepieces, and effectively double the number of EP's you own.

Can't wait to get the scopes side by side.

[Rodstar (Rod)]

Mike, between the two sets of eyepieces, next Friday pm should be a real treat!

Rodstar

[hawkeye]

Thanks for the welcome people.
Yep, '57 was a good year, Ken. I even drove a '57 Ford Zephyr for a while. It was a rocket; I drove it up through NSW doing the ton in the days of unlimited speeds outside of built up areas. Stopping it was another trick altogether.

I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with locals sky gazers, as well as my old mates on Cloudy Nights (where I met Rumple Riot, who pointed me in this direction).

Cheers