My new Mak.

[Dave47tuc (David)]

Hi All,
As most know I sold my 10” Dob (have fun Twokids.) For various reasons I sold most of my gear.
So with the money I had left I looked high and low for a telescope.

I wanted something more portable than the Dobby. I did not have a lot of spare cash so I started to look second hand.
Low and behold in the trading post was a Intes Maksutov 6”. Mk-67.
I thought this could be what I’m looking for as I was seriously thinking of a 125 ETX.

So after talking to a friend (Mark) he helped me decide this could be the scope I’m looking for.
So we went to have a look at the Maksutov, and after 10 minutes of looking we made a deal and I had myself a Maksutov for the first time.

The OTA was in perfect condition and only 3 years old. The mount is a GS EQ mount with RA drive.
It had a 2” Diagonal and 3 eyepieces. A 10 mm and 7.5 mm Parks Gold series plossls.
Would you believe a series 500 25 mm Plossl. I can here you now Geoff.
But the scope is a F12 so most eyepiece will work good to very good. The parks are rated very highly.

It only took one night to be clear so I can see what she can do. So last night (I missed house ) I went observing with a Mak.

How did it go? well it was way out of collimation and the ra drive did not work. But I can fix hopefully.
I got the Ra drive going but the mount is good but Not a Losmandy!!! The slow motion dec control was very smooth. I then tackled collimation. That was fun, first time I collimated a Maksutov. All went well and got a collimated Star image at 240x.

So onto Venus very nice crescent but seeing was terrible. 3/10 at best. Waited for a while and observed Mars and the Moon and Rigel . That’s it as the seeing never really became any good.
The Mak gave a image scale that I’m very happy with. Mars was large and under poor seeing I could still make out features. The Moon of course was great but poor seeing affected viewing. Rigel was easily split.

How did that 25 mm series 500 go. Well very good for a cheapo Ep’s. Worked fine in a F12 not so good in the F5.
So with this telescope my wife is happy I don’t need naglers. So I brought a 15 mm and 40 mm GS Plossls.
I’m happy with the scope but I will have to work on the mount a bit.

As for portability

Cheers.

[asimov (John)]

Very good Dave! F12 will bring the best out of low end EPs thats for sure. Nice purchase. I also have a 7.5 gold series, Nice eyepiece. Have fun!

[davidpretorius]

back in the game!!!!

nice little scope mate!!!! yaya ayayy yayya ayyayayay

[gbeal]

Welcome to Mak world. THe MK67 is a fine scope.
It will work even better with a Nagler, believe me......................

[h0ughy (David)]

Congrats Dave, thats why i bought my M500, for portability and a great scope. if i can be so rude how much did you end up parting with. i hope you haggled with thr drive not working???

[Miaplacidus (Brian)]

Hi Dave,

I've been waiting to hear how you got on with this scope. I hope it all goes well, and congratulations. Should be a fine planetary/double star scope, I imagine, and hopefully excellent for imaging. Collimating a mak is not my idea of fun, though. (I wouldn't know where to start if ever my ETX goes awry.) I'd be curious to hear how long it takes to cool down, too.

Good luck with it all.

Cheers,

Brian.

[dhumpie]

You got a very good scope there! Should be solid in construction since it is Russian Keep us updated as it gets more use.

Darren

[Dave47tuc (David)]

Hi All,
I thought I would give a quick update on this scope. So far I love this scope big time. Its portability is great.
Saying that the mount is just adequate. I would say a HEQ 5 or EQ6 would be better. Maybe an EQ5 would do also.
The Losmady G8 would be better. I can’t afford any of them. Either of these mounts would take some portability away.
I have had the scope out about 6 times since I have had it. The seeing has never been much good. 6-10 was about the best I have had. On this night it gave a very nice star test. Both sides of focus seem the same with well defined rings.
Mars has never been much chop, I have seen markings and polar region but seeing never allowed much magnification.
Image scale is excellent for a 6” scope. I can’t wait for my favorite object the Moon to come around again.
Also Saturn.
Cool down time does not seem a big problem. If I’m going observing I set up at sunset and normally don’t get back to the scope for about 1 hour.
The focuser is smooth but is a bit shaky on this mount. I have researched the net for many a night and day on these types of scopes and they seem very highly regarded. So far I fully agree.
Have a look at this site.
http://www.astrosurf.com/halfie/index_eg.htm amazing !!

Cheers.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Brilliant Dave. Another EQ'er. Looks like a nice peice of equipment and the pics on that link show what it is capable of. Well done mate.

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Glad you're enjoying your scope, Dave. Thanks for filling us in. Not too shabby for astrophotography either by the look of some of the images on that site. Let's hope we get some clear skies down here for the new Moon this w/e.

[davidpretorius]

nice report!

can't wait to destroy it (oops i mean look thru it) at star camp in march!!!

[Stu]

It's built like a tank though. Weighs a ton too.

Hey... are you sure the brand isn't VOLVO!

[atalas]

Gongrats on the new scope Dave ! man your going to have fun with Saturn and Jupiter this Year

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

It's a Russian Maksutov built at the base of the Ural Mountains in the lovely town of Brevenekskystovinski by the optical specialist Vladimir Groznejenskikov Pratakoskavkatovich using the latest Dneperblaski optical machine.

But we all new that Didn't we

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by ballaratdragons

It's a Russian Maksutov built at the base of the Ural Mountains in the lovely town of Brevenekskystovinski by the optical specialist Vladimir Groznejenskikov Pratakoskavkatovich using the latest Dneperblaski optical machine.

But we all new that Didn't we

Мое мое Ken вы русский очень хороши. Некоторая из водочки хороша для того чтобы очистить зеркало с, чисто спирт

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Maybe for the mount you can make some wooden legs like I did, that should help.

[h0ughy (David)]

Ken, ваши искусства в искусствое astro говорят truely изумляют! Объемы Muskatov некоторый из само лучше всегда производить, я имеют одно!

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Houghy, Please stay on topic. You are ruining Daves threadski!!!!

[h0ughy (David)]

I was on topic Ken!!!

try this to translate http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

"говорят truely"?? Stop playing with auto-translators, Houghy! Speak truely in your own tongue! After 5 years of Russian I can still only remember a few words. But I wouldn't know how to type them in here.