I want to comment on the astronomy but the video with the robot shifted every bit of attention away from it . It would have been cool too see that in the 80's.

@Orion25 I will check the blog a little bit later, I have to work on a telescope base tonight, it's going to take every minutes of the evening. I went crazy and ordered a 12" GSO newtonian white tube. (I think you have the 6" mak right?)

I am starting astronomy from scratch soon with a 12" mirror. Maybe I'll be able to spot Sirius B with it, we never know.

 

I have a GSO white tube, it's a mere 150mm though. Why not get a good 4" or 5" ED refractor?

 

It's not an easy split with a reflector. I've done it with a 127mm Mak' and a 150mm Newtonian.

 

@Orion25 yep when Sirius is back! Impressive if you saw the split with the 127mm, i believe you.

@Mak the Night I bought the 12" to for something else then Doubles really. To improve DSOs planets and the moon. Splitting doubles I really only try those over 3 seconds of separations, but usually anything under 8, I have a very low success rate.

I guess I am not really a good double observer or can't collimate my newtonians precise enough to do it. I thought that the problem was caused by my fast Newtonians, I was told that i can't collimate it properly to split doubles. Also,, most likely I don't let the telescope cool down enough for that type of observation, the bright stars are all bloated.

Do you still use your GSO tube? I tried the 12" mirror last week end, it was quite impressive on nebulae and galaxies. Caroline's rose cluster wow. It's amazing with my 8" also.

 

I'm not sure. Mu Bootis is tight but I can do it with a 60mm refractor. It has good glass though. It's fairly easy with my 80ED DS Pro. My eyesight's pretty good, even if the rest of my body isn't lol. So I don't have an explanation for this. Some doubles are nigh on impossible for smaller scopes. But I wouldn't put Alkalurops in that category. Insufficient cool down is probably the culprit. The 150mm doesn't get out much and is only really used for lunar/planetary.



I give it at least an hour to reach thermal equilibrium, sometimes more. There's initially a lot of hot air in that tube! If you defocus on a bright object like a star you can see the swirling air in the tube. When I first witnessed this swirling air I was quite shocked. A 200mm Newtonian is going to need over an hour. A 300mm OTA is going to need over two hours IMO. My 235mm SCT needs at least that.

 

@Mak the Night

Thermal equilibrium is really something I disrespect a lot, you are right about the amount of time. There is a small fan on my 12" behind te mirror, maybe it will help, never tried it yet.. I tried the scope once only.

Look at this.. today I replaced the PTFE system of my azimutal bearing with a large lazy suzan + some brake pads, to add some stiffness to the movement, the azimutal rotation is now fairly precise. I am very happy with the result.

The mirror is really amazing.

 

Nice looking scope Neb. Dual speed focuser as well. I find GSO OTA rings can be a bit stiff when rotating the tube. I'm pretty sure you'll need the fan. I bet it will need a good two hours cool down.

 

@Mak the Night yeah it's cool.. the focuser is good, the GSO dual speed. I can tell you these rings are very fine for turning the telescope, I've got a good pair either that or the tube is very round but it's very easy to rotate and slide that tube when it's in a vertical position.

I will try the fan perhaps tonight and check that out, the cooling time.

Tomight maybe there will be a trip to astronomy. .. I saw on telescopius.com (or elsewhere) that it's possible to see Pluto at a magnitude 14.75, close to Sagittarius. Searching for it, trying to find it..

 

Maybe the extra weight helps with rotation? My Newt' is literally half the size of that. Good luck with Pluto. I always think Iota Cass is a but like Mickey Mouse. You could see Mickey Mouse and Pluto on the same night lol.

 

@mak Each day, I am not so sure it was a good idea to buy that telescope, as you imagine, it's extremely heavy. I hope that it will pay for itself in only a few observation.. I am still sick so it's not really helping my moral for moving the telescope outside.

My lovely night of observation is compromised by belly pain, back pain, and a strange pain in one neck ganglion after 8 days of fighting viruses.

The 12" telescope has a name, it's the RLT (Ridiculously Large Telescope).

 

I hope you get better soon. You should get a small grab and go refractor.



Like my RST (Ridiculously Small Telescope) lol.

 

hahahah it's a very cool small refractor you have there,

I keep you suggestion in mind, it would totally be another kind of observation with a small refractor with many advantages of portability and real grab and go.

I am sure it,s quite capable for an experienced user.. very precise lens, you can apply a lot of power.

They should come up with a device that would prevent scratching of dovetails.. gee

 

Dovetail paint ain't what it used to be lol.

 

@Mak the Night Bah I screw against any paint is kind of a real problem for the paint in my opinion.. But how was the paint previously, your Altair it looks anodized aluminum more then paint.

 

It probably is anodised aluminium. It still marks though lol.

 

There should be some kind of compression band dovetail, the system would be more expensive but I am sure people would adopt it.

 

Nebula, I hope you're feeling better.

Almost a decade ago, before getting into imaging, and when my eyesight was better, I sketched an observation of Sirius and The Pup:



Antares in Scorpius is another interesting Double:



As a bonus, there is a white light solar sketch on the same page. As luck would have it, solid cloud cover moved in and scrapped our plans to observe the Venus transit.

Ed