Posts Made By: John MacDonough

Mike, the next "normal" size smaller than 6-32 in Imperial units is 4-40. Of course, they could also be metric. If Home Depot or Lowes don't have the proper screw, Fastenal is a chain that specializes in fasteners and may be able to help you identify them, if there is a store in your area. If you can identify what you need, McMaster-Carr or Grainger will likely be able to supply them, but you'll pay more in shipping than the screws cost.

Here's another photo, showing a bit more detail of the pier. Overall dimensions are 11' x 11'. The slab next to the main building will be an 8' x 8' observing pad for my kids or guests. Of course, I could also use it to set up one of my other scopes.

Can't wait to get the concrete finished so I can get on with carpentry.

I was finally able to pour concrete today. After a few failed attempts to meet a concrete truck on a Saturday, I finally scheduled a truck for a day when normal people work. First photo is from the same angle as the previous photos.

Stephen,

Here's a third confirmation for Andy's recommendation of the Lumicon UHC. Although, I also have the TeleVue Nebustar filter and I find that after I've looked at an object through the UHC, I almost always put the Nebustar in for a second look. It's never a better view, but just different.

You can't go wrong with a set of basic color filters for planetary observation. However, I found that I don't enjoy looking at planets through filters, I enjoy the natural colors more. The ONLY exception to that is Orion's Mars filter. It does what Orion says it does.

Land, Sea, Sky / Texas Nautical Repair in Houston, TX is the US importer for Takahashi. They are at 1925A Richmond Ave, their phone number is on their website. Alternatively, contact Takahashi directly.

Joe, an alternative (that admittedly does not answer all of your goals) is to add encoders and a DSC computer (Argo Navis, Sky Commander, JMI, etc) to your current scope. That could be done for less than $1500 and would solve your "too much time looking and not enough time finding" problem.

Your other problems remain, though. Sorry.

Jeremiah,

I agree with the others: fiddle with your current focuser before replacing it. You may find that the fix is as simple as loosening the locking screw. If that fails, take your existing focuser apart, clean it, regrease it with good grease and reassemble it. For some reason, telescope manufacturers seem to prize grease that is unsuitable for the parts they build.

I'm a big fan of Moonlite products, too. However, the price difference between them and Starlight Instruments (the Feathertouch people) has narrowed in recent years, so you should look at both if you're considering a premium focuser. The only thing negative I've heard about GSO focusers is that they need adjustment after purchase. William Optics make nice focusers, too, I hear. You might also check to see if Wyorock (spelling?) is still in business.

If you do decide to replace your focuser, you'll likely have the back end of your scope disassembled and it'll be a simple matter to drill a couple of holes in the telescope tube and bolt your finder mounting directly to the tube. Then you can use whatever focuser you want.

[QUOTE]Charles Stevenson said:

Cassiopeia doesn't seem to match the location in the sky in relation to where I've positioned Polaris. [QUOTE]

Charles,

You should be able to rotate your polar scope within the mount. When you polar align using the polar scope, rotate the polar scope until the position of Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper are close to how they appear in the sky. For example, if you're looking at the sky and Cassiopeia is at 10:00, then the Big Dipper would be below the horizon at 4:00. Now center Polaris is the little circle.

Note that you won't improve much over what you've already done since Polaris isn't terribly far from the NCP anyway.

Paul,

I have a 200mm f/20 classical Cassegrain mirror set made by Catalin and Tavi at CFF and they are wonderful. Contrast and detail are every bit as good as the photos on the Lazzarotti website referred to by another poster. One spring night in 2014, just after Saturn reached opposition, I was lucky enough to be observing during what had to be the best seeing conditions in the history of the Gulf Coast and was able to view Saturn at 560x from town. You can search my username here for forum posts about the scope I built for these mirrors. I'm pretty sure I posted about that Saturn observation, too.

Thank you, Greg and Floyd, for the information. Good points, all. I hope more people will chime in, though. There doesn't seem to be much users' information about either mount out there. I guess I could understand that about the MI-250, but the Titan is a current product.