Here’s my new to me Tak heavy set up thanks to classified Ice in space members!
Compared to my grab and go Pm-1 mount set up it’s a brute. The big tripod alone weighs 15kg. The em-200 temma2 mount balances beautiful, super smooooth and quiet.
Hopefully the smoke and fires abate tonight for everyone’s sake.
That TMT70300 tripod is by far the best I have used and whilst not a bargain price, worth every cent. No matter what setup I have used, it has been as steady as a rock.
Hopefully soon we will be able to see some stars again, lately I have kept everything sealed in cases
Cheers Matt,
Yes it’s an impressive tripod, very sturdy indeed. They don’t come up for sale here too often either. I’ve been impressed with the mount also, unlike other mounts I’ve had has a retractable counterweight shaft. Makes it very easy to fine tune balancing, transport and storage.
Thought I'd finally share a post about my imaging setup, before it goes the way of the dinosaurs. Meade LX200 GPS 10" on a Meade Ultrawedge, piggybacking an old Orion ED80. Imaging with a ZWO ASI1600C. Two unusual features: the finder I use is an Orion 70mm Multi-Use Finder Scope for the wide field. This is a tricky beast to align & focus, and needs at least a 20mm eyepiece to reach astronomical focus with the diagonal, but I've finally got it working OK. The dew heater is an old barrel heater from a home brew kit. This works from mains so needs monitoring but works OK.
Thought I'd finally share a post about my imaging setup, before it goes the way of the dinosaurs. Meade LX200 GPS 10" on a Meade Ultrawedge, piggybacking an old Orion ED80. Imaging with a ZWO ASI1600C. Two unusual features: the finder I use is an Orion 70mm Multi-Use Finder Scope for the wide field. This is a tricky beast to align & focus, and needs at least a 20mm eyepiece to reach astronomical focus with the diagonal, but I've finally got it working OK. The dew heater is an old barrel heater from a home brew kit. This works from mains so needs monitoring but works OK.
Re the keg dew heater....Although I’d never recommend playing with 240 volt power because that would just be stupid I may have, in a previous life, attached a dimmer switch to a keg heater. It allowed excellent heat control. (Although it did only need about a 90’ turn of the dial to go from cold to full power
Re the keg dew heater....Although I’d never recommend playing with 240 volt power because that would just be stupid I may have, in a previous life, attached a dimmer switch to a keg heater. It allowed excellent heat control. (Although it did only need about a 90’ turn of the dial to go from cold to full power
Finally got all my OTA's & paraphernalia organised onto some solid storage shelves...
Nicely done. Lucky you have enough space indoors. I'm storing my own gear as well as my mate's, so my wife made me build a shed just for the astro gear!
Very happy with my recent purchase of the Sky-Watcher Evostar 150ED deluxe. Last night was the first decent sky I've seen in months. The scope was perfectly collimated showing pin point stars with lovely even diffraction rings. The scope is not overly heavy and is well suited to EQ6, EQ6R's and AZ EQ6GT mounts and is particularly good on my T-Rex. I used a set of Explore Scientific 100 degree eyepieces in 5.5mm, 9mm, 14mm and 20mm focal lengths which proved to give a nice spread of powers coupled with a Tak 2" diagonal. The 2" focusser is very solid and particularly smooth.
Very happy with my recent purchase of the Sky-Watcher Evostar 150ED deluxe. Last night was the first decent sky I've seen in months. The scope was perfectly collimated showing pin point stars with lovely even diffraction rings. The scope is not overly heavy and is well suited to EQ6, EQ6R's and AZ EQ6GT mounts and is particularly good on my T-Rex. I used a set of Explore Scientific 100 degree eyepieces in 5.5mm, 9mm, 14mm and 20mm focal lengths which proved to give a nice spread of powers coupled with a Tak 2" diagonal. The 2" focusser is very solid and particularly smooth.
Here's mine, it's a Skywatcher 10 inch dobsonian.
It's my first telescope, and it was hard to decide which one to get.
Mainly for visual observing, but will also try to get some photos with it as well. Pretty happy with it so far.
Here's mine, it's a Skywatcher 10 inch dobsonian.
It's my first telescope, and it was hard to decide which one to get.
Mainly for visual observing, but will also try to get some photos with it as well. Pretty happy with it so far.
Congratulations on your first telescope, a 10" Dob can give you a lifetime to visual astronomy !!!
(and more money, the bank balance has suffered lately 
