Posts Made By: Martin Doyle

Hi, can't seem to find much info on either of these 'scopes.
The C5 has starbright coatings, the C130 is fully multicoated. Much performance difference because of this?
C5 is F/10 and the C130 is F/?

Would anyone (other than me!) consider using the c130 for astronomical uses? At the moment I just want a portable
"browser" scope.

Thanks,
Martin

HI I have a 4.5" f900 tasco.
1. There is a slight blemish on the secondary mirror due to abuse by previous owner but it doesn't obviously affect th image.
Nevertheless, I am considering changing the mirror for a superior one. Any recommendations?
2. The secondary mirror is 114.5 millimeter would it be possible to use a 130 mm secondary (given tube size of 138 mm)
I realise most of you guys would use this scope to put out fires with, (!) but I got it cheap and have had some good experiences with it, so any suggestions (other than throwing it away) would be appreciated.

Kind regards,
Martin

Hi, I have a 4.5" f7.9 newt, the 1.1" secondary has a blemish from the edge to about 1/4 the width of the mirror.
Am looking for a good quality new mirror, but it seems very difficult to get this exact size (28mm minor axis) I would take anything up to the size of the holder (31mm)and Macgyver (tm) it onto the existing holder.
Any ideas?

Thanks,
Martin

Hi there, what is the fix for faulty button on autostar 497? It's almost not working, needs a lot of pressure. Will a replacement rubber button pad fix it? Circuit board "looks okay" and is clean.
Is it possible to get this part, or is it RTB?
(Or start saving for new autostar?)

thanks for any advice.
Martin

Hi what size is the tray holder screw on the LXD55? mine is "missing". Where to get this?

thanks!
Martin

Hi There, has anyone tried the meade DSI II yet? It seems impressive enough - on the meade web site....!

Thanks for any comments.
Martin

Hi Just crashed my vixen mount with autostar and LXD drives.
Now, guess what no signs of life from the scope, I assume I need new drive(s) ? Hve disconnected power and autostar but no joy.

Thanks,
the cleverest man in the world.

Hi folks,
I have an f6 newtonian on autostar driven GP mount.
I have a SOnt A-100 and Nikon D-80 DSLR. What do I need to get started, and I guess everyone prefers using the Nikon rather than Minolta? Do you think I need 2" T-Adaptor or is 1.25 sufficient? Obviously if I have to get 2" barlow it will be $$$.
Any quick suggestions, and what do you use for image processing from DSLR? Do you take a good few shots and stack them like on webcam?

Any advice much appreciated.
Martin

I was walking a few days ago with my camera trying to take a few shots of birds, but I saw a slim well defined spear of very white bright light appear in front of me, how many miles away it was I have no way of knowing. There was a slight shade of blue (ok clear blue skies anyway) and green to it.
It lasted about a second - second and a half and completely dissapeared. I though it was a meteor, but someone else said it could be solar panels re-aligning on a satellite, which kind of remonds me of that line in Men In Black.. you know the one!
I fail to see how it could be so bright and not moving.
It appeared to reach the ground behind a mountain, and was quite consistent along it's lentgh though I think one portion was slightly dimmer.
The angle as about 30 deg from the vertical, left to right as in \ as I faced SSE. No boom or bangs that I heard.

Rather weird it didn't leave a more lasting trail if it was a meteor - no?

Thanks for any info.

Hi,
I'm new to the DSLR party, and would appreciate any tips n tricks you could pass my way.
I have a Nikon D80 mounted on a driven Orion Optics 8" f6 Newtonian, and I use either a barlow, a meade series 5000 telextender (3x or 5x) to get a bit closer to my subjects.
As it is I find my biggest problem is focus, though I am getting better at that and will get a crayford focusser before Christmas.
Is there any settings I should change on the D80? What do you reccomend for image processing and stacking, how many images should I take, can I automate that on the d80? stacking etc.

Would approeciate any links to online training/vids , or book recomendations etc.
Basically any titbits you have - send them my way if you have some time.

Attached a recent image, iso 640, on the 5x telextender.