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Great night with an old friend.

Discussion in 'Observing Celestial Objects' started by Leonard, Mar 15, 2019.

Great night with an old friend.

Started by Leonard on Mar 15, 2019 at 10:22 PM

4 Replies 1746 Views 3 Likes

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  1. Leonard

    Leonard Well-Known Member

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    Leonard, Mar 15, 2019
    #1
    Last week, 3/10/19, I noticed a night sky that for once had the hope of “observable”. It had been a while since I had a decent night, so I decided to go all in for that night.

    Normally under these circumstances I would use my Grab and Go scope, my 80mm F7.5 APO. It’s a real easy setup so I’m not risking much I’m lost time if the sky doesn’t cooperate. But with a hope of a decent sky, I took out an old friend, my Orion Intelliscope 8” F6 DOB.

    This was the second scope u purchased and the first with significant apperature. I bought it when Orion cameb out with the intelliscope. Being one of the first orders in I think 2003, the scope is 16 years old. I have had many a great night with that scope.

    It’s only had a few significant upgrades: The original focuser was a 2” rack and pinion. It was OK, but I had trouble with fine focusing. So, I purchased a helinical fine focuser, an insert for my two inch focuser in effect giving me a dual speed focuser. About a year later Orion brought out a replacement Crawford focuser for that scope. I purchased that offering and with the insert gave me a wonderful unit.

    I also did a little work on the mount itself. I wanted to overcome some of the stickum. Like all DOBs the mounts tend to stick when first moved in the AZ (right to left, left to right) direction. I took out the silicone pad and cleaned them and their contact areas with “Windex”. I then applied a small amount of “Armor All”. I put a lot of pressure on the mount as I rotated it back and forth. This helped overcome a good bit of the stickum.

    At any rate this was the right choice for thus night.

    I used my 2” 26mm Meade QX. It delivered a great view of the Orion Neb. My 2omm Meade QX and my 18mm Meade Series 4000 Super Wide Angle provided excellent views at 60 and 66.67 mag.

    My 9mm and 5.5mm Series 5000 plossls were gave me a wonderful views.

    I was able to get a glimpses of M43 and 78. Plus I enjoyed skimming the Milky Way.

    The 8” reflector was able to provide the power necessary to view all the objects at high mag without distortion. The detail provided was top notch. From edge to edge no noticeable distortion.

    The mount easily moved in all directions while the focusing was effortlessly smooth.

    I don’t like to go on, but this was a memorable night.
     
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  2. Orion25

    Orion25 Well-Known Member

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    Orion25, Mar 16, 2019
    #2
    Great report, Leonard. Impressive work you did on your mount to get the "stickums" out. You have one of the classics there! I haven't gotten a dob yet (no room for one at this time) but I always hear great things about them. I love scanning the Milky Way with my reflector (I have an f/5 6" Orion AstroView). Alas, I've had more cloudy nights than clear but things are looking up :)

    Reggie
     
  3. Leonard

    Leonard Well-Known Member

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    Leonard, Mar 16, 2019
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    I actually learned that “anti stickum” technique from a Phil Harrington book. I think it’s his last “Sky Ware” book. I learned a good bit from his “Sky Ware” books.

    DOBs are nice because most of the cost in the product goes to the mirror. For the most part that used to limit one to a simple point and look scope. But by the time I purchased mine, it came with a COL, Computer Object Locater, the “Intelliscope”.

    Once you leveled the tube with mount, and using the attached key pad you could enter an object’s messier number and that object’s coordinates come up. You then push the scope to “zeros” and the object should be in the FOV.

    It was very much used at one time. Not so much needed today....
     
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  4. Ed D

    Ed D Well-Known Member

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    Ed D, Mar 17, 2019
    #4
    Enjoyed reading your post. Hope you have many more opportunities to bond with your old friend.

    Ed D
     
  5. Leonard

    Leonard Well-Known Member

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    Leonard, Mar 19, 2019
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    Hi:

    I purchased several other scopes since that DOB: A Celestron 90mm F11 Achromatic Refractor on a Meade LXD 75 GoTo Mount , a Celestron 8”, F10 SCT on a NexStar GoTo Mount, an Orion 80mm F7.5 APO on a Vixon Porta 2 mount, a Tasco 114mm F8 reflector on an Orion SkyView Pro EQ Mount, a Tasco 114mm F4 reflector on an EQ1 Mount, and finally a Meade 104mm F10 SCT on a Camera Mount.

    The last two were given to me.

    I listed all of these scopes because of their oddity. I started out looking for a GoTo planetary scope. The 90mm was fine, but it came with an ALT/AZ mt unable to support the tube. I purchased the LXD75 as a GoTo which was and is a very good match. I then purchased the Vixon Porta Mount 2 for use with the 114mm F8. But it wasn’t able to support that mount, so I got the 80mm F7.5 APO SkyView Pro Mount combo. I switched those last to scopes and mounts now all is well.

    With all those scopes and 75 eyepieces one would think I am in overkill, but u love the quantity and quality.

    I love making the selections for observing different objects. I really enjoy organizing the eyepieces in different cases while labeling the caps. I even enjoy cleaning the various types of equipment.

    But that 8” DOB is about as good as a scope as one can want. I love cleaning it up. It is indeed a great old friend.
     
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