Hi all. This is my first-light report on an 8” f/6 mirror I order from Mark Harry last December. The mirror has been sitting in the box for the last month while I finished the OTA and Dob base modeled after Paul Stock’s Black Knight scopes. Actually, modeled isn’t as correct as down-right copied. I did everything but take a tape measure to one of Paul’s scopes. Paul was kind enough to save me trouble and send me the measurements himself. I’ll post some pictures when they get developed (I know, a computer/astro geek without a digital camera is practically against the law).
Anyway, on to the mirror. I have it mounted is the second half of the Sonotube in order to test the focuser and secondary positioning, so the tube is really shiny in the inside. I collimated the scope with a site tube/Cheshire to get it close enough to test.
I took it outside at 8:00pm CDT to get set up and let things cool down a bit, but when I saw the thin moon I couldn’t wait. Heck, I didn’t even know if the thing would reach focus. I lined up the finder as best I could and popped in my 32mm Plossl. Once I tracked down my target I dialed in the focus and WOW! Crystal clear and full of detail even in twilight. I quickly ran through my eyepieces and barlow collection to see what it could do. My 9mm barlowed at 2x didn’t have any trouble at all. The seeing was tough but who cares!! Next came Jupiter. Crystal clear and full of detail. Three moons were visible and I felt like I could see them moving around the planet. Two dark cloud belts were visible in the 32mm. In my 25mm and Barlow it looked like someone had painted a picture of it.
Since this will be my only scope for quite some time it has to pull heavy duty so I tried M81/82 under some tough suburban skies. Wow again! I didn’t think I could punch through the high haze and light pollution, but this remarkable 8” did it again. Then I tried Mizar. You could drive a truck through it. I just had to try Castor. In the 25mm and Barlow it split with a little haze from the inside of the tube. Still, easy to see.
I can’t put enough exclamation points in this post to say how happy I am with this mirror. Mark has done a great job with this one!!!
Now, on to my eyepiece collection.
jerry
Anyway, on to the mirror. I have it mounted is the second half of the Sonotube in order to test the focuser and secondary positioning, so the tube is really shiny in the inside. I collimated the scope with a site tube/Cheshire to get it close enough to test.
I took it outside at 8:00pm CDT to get set up and let things cool down a bit, but when I saw the thin moon I couldn’t wait. Heck, I didn’t even know if the thing would reach focus. I lined up the finder as best I could and popped in my 32mm Plossl. Once I tracked down my target I dialed in the focus and WOW! Crystal clear and full of detail even in twilight. I quickly ran through my eyepieces and barlow collection to see what it could do. My 9mm barlowed at 2x didn’t have any trouble at all. The seeing was tough but who cares!! Next came Jupiter. Crystal clear and full of detail. Three moons were visible and I felt like I could see them moving around the planet. Two dark cloud belts were visible in the 32mm. In my 25mm and Barlow it looked like someone had painted a picture of it.
Since this will be my only scope for quite some time it has to pull heavy duty so I tried M81/82 under some tough suburban skies. Wow again! I didn’t think I could punch through the high haze and light pollution, but this remarkable 8” did it again. Then I tried Mizar. You could drive a truck through it. I just had to try Castor. In the 25mm and Barlow it split with a little haze from the inside of the tube. Still, easy to see.
I can’t put enough exclamation points in this post to say how happy I am with this mirror. Mark has done a great job with this one!!!
Now, on to my eyepiece collection.
jerry
