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LX90 First Light (longish)



 
 
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  #1  
Old April 25th 04, 01:41 PM
Andrew Cockburn
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default LX90 First Light (longish)

Well I finally picked up the scope yesterday afternoon and immediately
returned home to set it up. It came in 2 boxes, one for the tripod, one
for the scope, mount, accessories and LPI. The mount just required a
C-clip to be fitted to the central bolt assembly to fix the leg brace in
place. The scope and mount were all assembled - just needed to attach
the finder scope, eyepiece holder, star diagonal, then add batteries and
attach to the mount and I was done.

As exepected, the tripod and mount were solid and well engineered, quite
a contrast to my eBay scope. The finder scope was a revelation after the
plastic one on my last scope, and was quickly aligned with the main
scope. Next I plugged in the Autostar and fiddled around for a few hours
waiting for it to get dark.

I was planning Jupiter for first light, as I have struggled with it in
the past, and wanted a comparison. It was just as well, because Jupiter
was the first nighttime object to appear. Still unable to align the
scope as there were no stars yet, I manually moved the scope to Jupiter.
The finder scope was great, and placed well so I found it exceptionally
easy to get the target in the main scope - this was another revalation,
as my old scope was very difficult to point at anything.

First light of Jupiter was amazing ! I used the Meade supplied 26mm
Plossl, giving a mag of 77x. I straight away saw a wealth of detail that
hadn't before been apparent - beautful Salmon rings, at least 4 of
them. The whole field was sharp and easy to focus, the moons were bright
little points arrayed around the planet. I swapped the Meade for an 11mm
TeleVue plossl, giving 182x and saw more detail. I wasn't lingering as I
wanted to try everything out. Higher magnification started to lose
detail, I don't think the conditions were better than average.

It still wasn't fully dark, and I was manually tracking Jupiter, so I
waited a while until the stars appeared.

Next I took a sighting on Arcturus and verified that the collimation was
ok. Other users (hello Chris !) reported that their collimation was off
upon delivery, but mine seemed spot on.

Next I decided to align the scope. My back garden faces East, and has
very restricted views in any other direction. I aligned the mount North
using Polaris, then the Autostar asked me to center Arcturus first - no
problem. It then picked a star to the west and duly pointed straight
towards the house - not very helpful, but it wasn't to know. I got to
the bottom of its list of alignment stars without finding another one I
could see. Next I tried the manual 2 star alignment which lets you pick
the alignment stars. Much better - I picked Arcturus and Duhbe and was
quickly aligned. I found that the alignment stars usually didn't make it
into the scope's field, but were easy to pick out in the finder scope
and center. I guess this means that my initial North sighting was off.

Note to self: need to pick up an eyepiece with crosshairs for alignment.

Once properly aligned, the GOTO function could be tested. Once again, I
picked on Jupiter, and was pleased to see that it duly arrived in the
scope's field with the 26mm eyepiece. Not centered, I think I need to
work on accuracy of alignment, either using that crosshair eyepiece, or
a higher power eyepiece to get it exact. The scope was noisy when
slewing at max speed, but very quiet, silent in fact when guiding. In
operation, the scope quickly slews to the region of the target, then
steps down to a much slower movement for greater accuracy. On average it
would take 30 - 45 seconds to pinpoint a target, and the handset beeps
to let you know it is there.

This was the first time I had ever used a guided scope, and it was a
revalation to be able to look at Jupiter without it drifting out of
view. Jupiter deserved a whole night, but I had other fish to fry - my
old Nemesis M3.

I selected M3 from the list of Messiers and the scope slewed into place.
I could straight away see a misty patch, but it wasn't very clear. I
don't think conditions were good, and I was having trouble seeing more
than 3rd magnitude stars naked eye anyway. I tried various eyepieces and
settled on the 26mm with a 2x barlow, and eventually I managed to get a
really nice view of the cluster. It came and went, but I can definately
tick that one off now :-)

I had a quick look for M53 (marginal), M101 (no luck) & M51 (maybe), but
by this time I had to go out on an errand and my star gazing was over
for the night.

All in all, a very succesful first outing - its clear that I need to
move to somewhere with better visibility and less light pollution (don't
we all), but until I can manage that, the LX90 will show me more and
more as I become more experienced - I'm looking forward to it !

I'll spend a while getting used to the scope optically before I try out
the LPI I think, I'll keep you all posted.

Clear Skys,

Andrew
  #2  
Old April 25th 04, 06:00 PM
Colin Dawson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Andrew Cockburn" wrote in message
-service-com...
Well I finally picked up the scope yesterday afternoon snip
Clear Skys,

Andrew


Hi Andrew.

Contrats on getting your LX90. Now that you've seen how wonderful your
scope is. I'd like to drop you a few hint that will help to keep you really
happy with your scope. Some of these are really cheap, but some will cost
money... but it's worth it though. Here goes..

First when you setup the scope use a spirit level to get everything
horizontal. I've found that this will help the scope when tracking. From
your post, this will then get the LX90 to place the object in the field of
view. Speaking of that, when lining up your scope, don't worry about the
alignment stars not being in the FOV, the scope is taking an educated guess.
My scope is always about 20° out! But once aligned, it tracks perfectly.

Take a look around Mike Weasners website. Specifically, theres an entire
section devoted to checking and tweaking the ETX's. Skip the parts about
the scope hardware, but there's a really good section on the Autostar. It's
worth running though those procedures. Again this will improve the scopes
tracking immensly.

Next tip, loose the 'C' Cell batteries. They're rubbish, you need alot more
juice to run the LX90 properly. The problem with 'C' Cells are that when
the tempurature drops their voltage will drop as well, if it gets bad
enough, it'll cause your Autostar to report an motor fault. It's not a
problem with the scope, it's just that the batteries can't give enough oomph
to drive it properly. Also as the batteries will run down quite quickly,
the scope will start to sound like it's having to work harder to slew. The
solution to this is to use a 12V battery, most people tend to use Sealed
Lead Acid, or Gel Cells. These are great. I currently run my scope from a
7.2Ah, which will run the scope happly all evening without the scope even
starting to sound like the batteries are running out.

Third tip, Get hold of or make a #505 PC link cable. You can download
software from the Meade site which will allow you to update your Autostars
software. Also you can write tours and upload comet/satellite information.
It's worth this even if you don't use it often.

Get a dew shield. This will have several effects. First it'll help to stop
your scope dewing up. Second, it'll cut out alot of stray light, helping to
improve the image quality. The flexishields are OK (I've got one), mine's a
could of years old, and it's starting to bend out of shape, they're good for
a temporary solution until you can afford a hard shield.

Get a dew heater. I decided to build my own, as the kendrick system and
others were too expensive. It's not hard to build one, but it's not cheap.
Provided that they're built properly, they can stop dew dead. When combined
with a dew shield, you'll be able to stay out all night, without worrying
about dew. However, they can pull alot of juice. I currently run mine from
a 17Ah sealed lead acid battery. (note it's a different battery to the
scope)


I'm currently working on a new power solution for my Scope. It's going to
combine the dew heater, and battery power into one handy box (weighing
25Kg's! with 85Ah of power) This is also going to help my scope by cutting
the spiders web of leads down to one cable. There's also a few other issues
that it will solve. I'll be putting details on my website, once I've
completed the unit.

If you want to build any of your own cables - power, Autostar, dewheater
take a look at my website. It's got several projects that you might want to
take a look at.

Regards

Colin Dawson
www.cjdawson.com


  #3  
Old April 25th 04, 07:59 PM
Andrew Cockburn
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Colin,
Contrats on getting your LX90. Now that you've seen how wonderful your
scope is. I'd like to drop you a few hint that will help to keep you really
happy with your scope. Some of these are really cheap, but some will cost
money... but it's worth it though. Here goes..

Thanks - much appreciated ! Always willing to listen to those with
greater experience, which at this point is most people :-)
First when you setup the scope use a spirit level to get everything
horizontal.

Cool - I was a little worried but figured I just needed to get closer
with the initial alignment. Looking around for a level, I spotted this
neat little gizmo:

http://www.hfo.org.uk/Meade%20LX90/lx90.html#ALIGNMATE

(Scroll upwards, not downwards) it's a combination spirit level and
compass that fits into your eyepiece holder - looks like a good idea to me !

In the meantime I've probably got a level in the garage - I'll give that
a go tonight.

Take a look around Mike Weasners website.

I had a scan a few weeks back, but I'll go back and check it out in
detail now.
Next tip, loose the 'C' Cell batteries. They're rubbish,

I suspected as much - I was thinking about buying something or making
something.
From what you are saying, nothing less than a truck battery will do ;-)
The info
on power ratings is useful - thanks. Think I will also want to add an
inverter for the laptop eventually

Third tip, Get hold of or make a #505 PC link cable.

Got one with my scope :-) They are including the LPI for free now which
comes with one, so I am ahead of the game now, even if it takes a while
to get around to doing anything

Get a dew shield.

I bought one yesterday but haven't used it yet - it didn't occur to me
that it would help with light shielding. On it goes tonight.

Get a dew heater.

Strangely enough, I was looking at a website by a guy named Colin Dawson
in which he shows you how to make your own dew heater ;-)

I'm currently working on a new power solution for my Scope. I'll be putting details on my website, once I've
completed the unit.

That would definately interest me -

If you want to build any of your own cables - power, Autostar, dewheater
take a look at my website. It's got several projects that you might want to
take a look at.

Already seen 'em :-) A couple of the projects really appeal to me,
thanks for taking the time to document them. Actually, I'm glad you read
this group - that way I can holler for help if I get in a mess ! I'm
fairly ok with electrical stuff, so DIYing these sorts of things appeals
to me - after all you need something to do on those long summer nights
before it gets dark ...

Thanks a lot for the info,

Regards,

Andrew

Regards

Colin Dawson
www.cjdawson.com


  #4  
Old April 26th 04, 12:42 AM
Colin Dawson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


Cool - I was a little worried but figured I just needed to get closer
with the initial alignment. Looking around for a level, I spotted this
neat little gizmo:

http://www.hfo.org.uk/Meade%20LX90/lx90.html#ALIGNMATE

(Scroll upwards, not downwards) it's a combination spirit level and
compass that fits into your eyepiece holder - looks like a good idea to me

!


I have a Silva Lightweight compass (I use it for orienteering), which I put
ontop of the scope sometimes.
It doesn't seem to make any difference if I align with that or by eye to
Polaris. I don't think it's worth the £23 for that gizmo. A cheap spirit
level is £1.99, and can be used to level the Base of the tripod before
attaching the scope (It's alot easier to extend the legs without having to
worry that the scope might to topple over (smash!). Also you can pick up a
good quality entry level compass for £6.99 from Millets

http://www.millets.co.uk/cgi-bin/Mil...ducts/09246899

It's alot cheaper, and you don't need to dedicate it to the scope.

Third tip, Get hold of or make a #505 PC link cable.

Got one with my scope :-) They are including the LPI for free now which
comes with one, so I am ahead of the game now, even if it takes a while
to get around to doing anything


That's cool, in this day and age I'm a little suprised that they didn't ship
the cable when I got my scope a couple of years back. Oh well.

Get a dew shield.

I bought one yesterday but haven't used it yet - it didn't occur to me
that it would help with light shielding. On it goes tonight.


hehe. Hope it's wasn't cloudy like where I am


Get a dew heater.

Strangely enough, I was looking at a website by a guy named Colin Dawson
in which he shows you how to make your own dew heater ;-)


I know that guy.

I'm currently working on a new power solution for my Scope. I'll be

putting details on my website, once I've
completed the unit.

That would definately interest me -


I've been working on it this weekend. Just need to get the battery voltage
monitor circuit working. Then build a box to house the battery and circuits.
Here's a sneak preview of some of the work so far...

Part of the project is a power distribution box that will be attached to the
scope, which sticky back velco. It's not complete yet, but there's enough
for you to get the idea.

http://www.cjdawson76.btinternet.co....y_powerbox.jpg

The picture shows where I'm planning to attach the box. The silver things
sticking out of the box are 3.5mm mono jacks. The six at the top will be
used to attach dew heater elements. (I'd be suprised if I ever use all six.
Currently I tend to only ever use the one heater on the corrector plate)
The jack at the bottom is an 12v power supply, this can be used for powering
12v devices. I'm not sure if it will be used, but if it's not there I'm sure
I'd miss it. the socket on the right is a standard 8 pin circular DIN.
There will be one of these in the battery box.

The battery box will be used to provide scope power, and will house the dew
heater controller. This feeds the box, to I don't need to unplug the
dewheater everytime I set the scope up.

At the moment the plug that provides scope power, takes the strain of the
cables for the dew heater. This new box will stop that, as you can see from
the picture.

The clear blue box shows the insides of the box really well.

Already seen 'em :-) A couple of the projects really appeal to me,
thanks for taking the time to document them.


Let me guess. The blinking lights. They're always popular.

Actually, I'm glad you read
this group - that way I can holler for help if I get in a mess ! I'm
fairly ok with electrical stuff, so DIYing these sorts of things appeals
to me - after all you need something to do on those long summer nights
before it gets dark ...


hehe yeah. And those long cloudy nights when there's no point settting up
the scope. Feel free to drop me an e-mail anytime.

I've just taken a quick look at your website. I can't wait to see the
images that you'll be producing with your Coolpix and Scope combined!

Regards

Colin Dawson
www.cjdawson.com


  #5  
Old April 26th 04, 07:53 AM
Chris Taylor
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


Hi Andrew

Pleased to hear that all was in order, and that you're happy with the new
scope. You've waited long enough for it.

"""Note to self: need to pick up an eyepiece with crosshairs for
alignment."""

You'll get away without this. The LX90 doesn't drop the target in the center
of the field of view all the time anyway. Usually somewhere in the FOV
though. I've found that when looking for deep sky stuff it helps to use
'high precision' mode, selected from (setup-telescope-high precision). The
scope then places the target centrally every time, after additional
alignment with a nearby star.

"""The scope was noisy when slewing at max speed"""
You'll have probably found it by now - there's a quiet slew option in the
setup. It takes longer to get to the target but is handy at 2am when
wondering about the neighbours.

"""I selected M3.....................but it wasn't very clear. I don't think
conditions were good"""

Probably not. I've managed a poor image M3 with the LPI but visually it's
pretty clear in the LX on a good night.

""" I had a quick look for M53 (marginal), M101 (no luck) & M51 (maybe)"""

On a clear night both M51's core, and it's partner can be seen with the
scope. M101 is pretty faint and M53 pretty small anyway.

"""its clear that I need to move to somewhere with better visibility and
less light pollution (don't we all)"""
Still trying to justify purchasing a decent carry case for the scope so that
I take it down to South Africa on the next visit. Low light polution and
pointing more toward the center of the milky way is always a treat. At the
least I'll take the LPI down to see what my 4 1/2" (left down there
permanently) can take with the smaller aperture.

"""I'll spend a while getting used to the scope optically before I try out
the LPI I think"""

I battled a little with the LPI, holler if you need a hand.

Regards

Chris


"Andrew Cockburn" wrote in message
-service-com...
Well I finally picked up the scope yesterday afternoon and immediately
returned home to set it up. It came in 2 boxes, one for the tripod, one
for the scope, mount, accessories and LPI. The mount just required a
C-clip to be fitted to the central bolt assembly to fix the leg brace in
place. The scope and mount were all assembled - just needed to attach
the finder scope, eyepiece holder, star diagonal, then add batteries and
attach to the mount and I was done.

As exepected, the tripod and mount were solid and well engineered, quite
a contrast to my eBay scope. The finder scope was a revelation after the
plastic one on my last scope, and was quickly aligned with the main
scope. Next I plugged in the Autostar and fiddled around for a few hours
waiting for it to get dark.

I was planning Jupiter for first light, as I have struggled with it in
the past, and wanted a comparison. It was just as well, because Jupiter
was the first nighttime object to appear. Still unable to align the
scope as there were no stars yet, I manually moved the scope to Jupiter.
The finder scope was great, and placed well so I found it exceptionally
easy to get the target in the main scope - this was another revalation,
as my old scope was very difficult to point at anything.

First light of Jupiter was amazing ! I used the Meade supplied 26mm
Plossl, giving a mag of 77x. I straight away saw a wealth of detail that
hadn't before been apparent - beautful Salmon rings, at least 4 of
them. The whole field was sharp and easy to focus, the moons were bright
little points arrayed around the planet. I swapped the Meade for an 11mm
TeleVue plossl, giving 182x and saw more detail. I wasn't lingering as I
wanted to try everything out. Higher magnification started to lose
detail, I don't think the conditions were better than average.

It still wasn't fully dark, and I was manually tracking Jupiter, so I
waited a while until the stars appeared.

Next I took a sighting on Arcturus and verified that the collimation was
ok. Other users (hello Chris !) reported that their collimation was off
upon delivery, but mine seemed spot on.

Next I decided to align the scope. My back garden faces East, and has
very restricted views in any other direction. I aligned the mount North
using Polaris, then the Autostar asked me to center Arcturus first - no
problem. It then picked a star to the west and duly pointed straight
towards the house - not very helpful, but it wasn't to know. I got to
the bottom of its list of alignment stars without finding another one I
could see. Next I tried the manual 2 star alignment which lets you pick
the alignment stars. Much better - I picked Arcturus and Duhbe and was
quickly aligned. I found that the alignment stars usually didn't make it
into the scope's field, but were easy to pick out in the finder scope
and center. I guess this means that my initial North sighting was off.

Note to self: need to pick up an eyepiece with crosshairs for alignment.

Once properly aligned, the GOTO function could be tested. Once again, I
picked on Jupiter, and was pleased to see that it duly arrived in the
scope's field with the 26mm eyepiece. Not centered, I think I need to
work on accuracy of alignment, either using that crosshair eyepiece, or
a higher power eyepiece to get it exact. The scope was noisy when
slewing at max speed, but very quiet, silent in fact when guiding. In
operation, the scope quickly slews to the region of the target, then
steps down to a much slower movement for greater accuracy. On average it
would take 30 - 45 seconds to pinpoint a target, and the handset beeps
to let you know it is there.

This was the first time I had ever used a guided scope, and it was a
revalation to be able to look at Jupiter without it drifting out of
view. Jupiter deserved a whole night, but I had other fish to fry - my
old Nemesis M3.

I selected M3 from the list of Messiers and the scope slewed into place.
I could straight away see a misty patch, but it wasn't very clear. I
don't think conditions were good, and I was having trouble seeing more
than 3rd magnitude stars naked eye anyway. I tried various eyepieces and
settled on the 26mm with a 2x barlow, and eventually I managed to get a
really nice view of the cluster. It came and went, but I can definately
tick that one off now :-)

I had a quick look for M53 (marginal), M101 (no luck) & M51 (maybe), but
by this time I had to go out on an errand and my star gazing was over
for the night.

All in all, a very succesful first outing - its clear that I need to
move to somewhere with better visibility and less light pollution (don't
we all), but until I can manage that, the LX90 will show me more and
more as I become more experienced - I'm looking forward to it !

I'll spend a while getting used to the scope optically before I try out
the LPI I think, I'll keep you all posted.

Clear Skys,

Andrew



  #6  
Old April 26th 04, 08:49 AM
Andrew Cockburn
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Colin


It's alot cheaper, and you don't need to dedicate it to the scope.


I suppose - but I always loved gadgets of any sort, one reason why the
whole scope thing appeals so much ! You're right though, no real need
for a compass, and any cheap level will do the job.

I've been working on it this weekend. Just need to get the battery voltage
monitor circuit working. Then build a box to house the battery and circuits.
Here's a sneak preview of some of the work so far...
The clear blue box shows the insides of the box really well.

It certainly does - that is looking pretty damn cool ! I like the way
you are doing this, it is giving me a lot of ideas for power. I'd like
to build a combination battery box including your dew heater design and
also a mains inverter for the laptop when I get it up and running. I'd
like to include a charge indicator so I look forward to seeing how yours
works out, also might include the obligatory red light, and a built in
mains charger. I hadn't thought of using a breakout box mounted on the
scope to stop trailing wires though - great idea.

My immediate need is to not have to buy another set of those damn C
cells, so I think I'll pick up a small lead-acid battery and hook it up
as per your power cable specs, then think some more about my master
project. Do you know anywhere on the web that stocks a good range of
suitable batteries ? Chris mentioned he used an alarm battery from B&Q,
that will probably do for starters, but I can imagine I'll need
something fairly hefty when I get all of the above in and running !


Let me guess. The blinking lights. They're always popular.

Yep ;-) They look pretty simple to rustle up and would instantly label
me as a techno-geek. Is geekery possible in the telescope world ?


hehe yeah. And those long cloudy nights when there's no point settting up
the scope. Feel free to drop me an e-mail anytime.

Thanks - I had another look at the dew heater on your website today, I'm
definately tempted to give it a go !

I've just taken a quick look at your website. I can't wait to see the
images that you'll be producing with your Coolpix and Scope combined!

So much to do, so little time ... Yes, I need to source some kind of
mounting kit for that, but will probably try piggybacking first, and of
course there is the LPI to play with ..

Regards,

Andrew

Regards

Colin Dawson
www.cjdawson.com


  #7  
Old April 26th 04, 08:58 AM
Andrew Cockburn
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Chris,

You'll get away without this. The LX90 doesn't drop the target in the center
of the field of view all the time anyway. Usually somewhere in the FOV
though. I've found that when looking for deep sky stuff it helps to use
'high precision' mode, selected from (setup-telescope-high precision). The
scope then places the target centrally every time, after additional
alignment with a nearby star.

Haven't tried this yet - I'll have a go next time the scope is out.

"""The scope was noisy when slewing at max speed"""
You'll have probably found it by now - there's a quiet slew option in the
setup. It takes longer to get to the target but is handy at 2am when
wondering about the neighbours.

Yes, I was strting to feel that way - I didn't find that option yet,
thanks !

On a clear night both M51's core, and it's partner can be seen with the
scope. M101 is pretty faint and M53 pretty small anyway.

Hmm. I think I am the victim of much light pollution - I don't even
think my eyes are dark adapting properly thanks to a dirty great big
street light right in my line of view. I experimented with a blanket
last night to block out the light. I looked a bit of a fool but it
helped a little. On the other hand, maybe the conditions just weren't
good - I'll see how it goes as I get more experience. (Still really
enjoying the views of Jupiter though, still amazing to me !)


"""its clear that I need to move to somewhere with better visibility and
less light pollution (don't we all)"""
Still trying to justify purchasing a decent carry case for the scope so that
I take it down to South Africa on the next visit.
pointing more toward the center of the milky way is always a treat. At the
least I'll take the LPI down to see what my 4 1/2" (left down there
permanently) can take with the smaller aperture.

I was reading about southern skies last night - I'm envious. Maybe one
day ...


"""I'll spend a while getting used to the scope optically before I try out
the LPI I think"""

I battled a little with the LPI, holler if you need a hand.

Thanks a lot,

Regards,

Andrew

Regards

Chris


"Andrew Cockburn" wrote in message
-service-com...

Well I finally picked up the scope yesterday afternoon and immediately
returned home to set it up. It came in 2 boxes, one for the tripod, one
for the scope, mount, accessories and LPI. The mount just required a
C-clip to be fitted to the central bolt assembly to fix the leg brace in
place. The scope and mount were all assembled - just needed to attach
the finder scope, eyepiece holder, star diagonal, then add batteries and
attach to the mount and I was done.

As exepected, the tripod and mount were solid and well engineered, quite
a contrast to my eBay scope. The finder scope was a revelation after the
plastic one on my last scope, and was quickly aligned with the main
scope. Next I plugged in the Autostar and fiddled around for a few hours
waiting for it to get dark.

I was planning Jupiter for first light, as I have struggled with it in
the past, and wanted a comparison. It was just as well, because Jupiter
was the first nighttime object to appear. Still unable to align the
scope as there were no stars yet, I manually moved the scope to Jupiter.
The finder scope was great, and placed well so I found it exceptionally
easy to get the target in the main scope - this was another revalation,
as my old scope was very difficult to point at anything.

First light of Jupiter was amazing ! I used the Meade supplied 26mm
Plossl, giving a mag of 77x. I straight away saw a wealth of detail that
hadn't before been apparent - beautful Salmon rings, at least 4 of
them. The whole field was sharp and easy to focus, the moons were bright
little points arrayed around the planet. I swapped the Meade for an 11mm
TeleVue plossl, giving 182x and saw more detail. I wasn't lingering as I
wanted to try everything out. Higher magnification started to lose
detail, I don't think the conditions were better than average.

It still wasn't fully dark, and I was manually tracking Jupiter, so I
waited a while until the stars appeared.

Next I took a sighting on Arcturus and verified that the collimation was
ok. Other users (hello Chris !) reported that their collimation was off
upon delivery, but mine seemed spot on.

Next I decided to align the scope. My back garden faces East, and has
very restricted views in any other direction. I aligned the mount North
using Polaris, then the Autostar asked me to center Arcturus first - no
problem. It then picked a star to the west and duly pointed straight
towards the house - not very helpful, but it wasn't to know. I got to
the bottom of its list of alignment stars without finding another one I
could see. Next I tried the manual 2 star alignment which lets you pick
the alignment stars. Much better - I picked Arcturus and Duhbe and was
quickly aligned. I found that the alignment stars usually didn't make it
into the scope's field, but were easy to pick out in the finder scope
and center. I guess this means that my initial North sighting was off.

Note to self: need to pick up an eyepiece with crosshairs for alignment.

Once properly aligned, the GOTO function could be tested. Once again, I
picked on Jupiter, and was pleased to see that it duly arrived in the
scope's field with the 26mm eyepiece. Not centered, I think I need to
work on accuracy of alignment, either using that crosshair eyepiece, or
a higher power eyepiece to get it exact. The scope was noisy when
slewing at max speed, but very quiet, silent in fact when guiding. In
operation, the scope quickly slews to the region of the target, then
steps down to a much slower movement for greater accuracy. On average it
would take 30 - 45 seconds to pinpoint a target, and the handset beeps
to let you know it is there.

This was the first time I had ever used a guided scope, and it was a
revalation to be able to look at Jupiter without it drifting out of
view. Jupiter deserved a whole night, but I had other fish to fry - my
old Nemesis M3.

I selected M3 from the list of Messiers and the scope slewed into place.
I could straight away see a misty patch, but it wasn't very clear. I
don't think conditions were good, and I was having trouble seeing more
than 3rd magnitude stars naked eye anyway. I tried various eyepieces and
settled on the 26mm with a 2x barlow, and eventually I managed to get a
really nice view of the cluster. It came and went, but I can definately
tick that one off now :-)

I had a quick look for M53 (marginal), M101 (no luck) & M51 (maybe), but
by this time I had to go out on an errand and my star gazing was over
for the night.

All in all, a very succesful first outing - its clear that I need to
move to somewhere with better visibility and less light pollution (don't
we all), but until I can manage that, the LX90 will show me more and
more as I become more experienced - I'm looking forward to it !

I'll spend a while getting used to the scope optically before I try out
the LPI I think, I'll keep you all posted.

Clear Skys,

Andrew




  #8  
Old April 26th 04, 03:48 PM
Robert Geake
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Andrew Cockburn" wrote in message
-service-com...
Well I finally picked up the scope yesterday afternoon and immediately
returned home to set it up. It came in 2 boxes, one for the tripod, one
for the scope, mount, accessories and LPI. The mount just required a
C-clip to be fitted to the central bolt assembly to fix the leg brace in
place. The scope and mount were all assembled - just needed to attach
the finder scope, eyepiece holder, star diagonal, then add batteries and
attach to the mount and I was done.

As exepected, the tripod and mount were solid and well engineered, quite
a contrast to my eBay scope. The finder scope was a revelation after the
plastic one on my last scope, and was quickly aligned with the main
scope. Next I plugged in the Autostar and fiddled around for a few hours
waiting for it to get dark.

I was planning Jupiter for first light, as I have struggled with it in
the past, and wanted a comparison. It was just as well, because Jupiter
was the first nighttime object to appear. Still unable to align the
scope as there were no stars yet, I manually moved the scope to Jupiter.
The finder scope was great, and placed well so I found it exceptionally
easy to get the target in the main scope - this was another revalation,
as my old scope was very difficult to point at anything.

First light of Jupiter was amazing ! I used the Meade supplied 26mm
Plossl, giving a mag of 77x. I straight away saw a wealth of detail that
hadn't before been apparent - beautful Salmon rings, at least 4 of
them. The whole field was sharp and easy to focus, the moons were bright
little points arrayed around the planet. I swapped the Meade for an 11mm
TeleVue plossl, giving 182x and saw more detail. I wasn't lingering as I
wanted to try everything out. Higher magnification started to lose
detail, I don't think the conditions were better than average.

It still wasn't fully dark, and I was manually tracking Jupiter, so I
waited a while until the stars appeared.

Next I took a sighting on Arcturus and verified that the collimation was
ok. Other users (hello Chris !) reported that their collimation was off
upon delivery, but mine seemed spot on.

Next I decided to align the scope. My back garden faces East, and has
very restricted views in any other direction. I aligned the mount North
using Polaris, then the Autostar asked me to center Arcturus first - no
problem. It then picked a star to the west and duly pointed straight
towards the house - not very helpful, but it wasn't to know. I got to
the bottom of its list of alignment stars without finding another one I
could see. Next I tried the manual 2 star alignment which lets you pick
the alignment stars. Much better - I picked Arcturus and Duhbe and was
quickly aligned. I found that the alignment stars usually didn't make it
into the scope's field, but were easy to pick out in the finder scope
and center. I guess this means that my initial North sighting was off.

Note to self: need to pick up an eyepiece with crosshairs for alignment.

Once properly aligned, the GOTO function could be tested. Once again, I
picked on Jupiter, and was pleased to see that it duly arrived in the
scope's field with the 26mm eyepiece. Not centered, I think I need to
work on accuracy of alignment, either using that crosshair eyepiece, or
a higher power eyepiece to get it exact. The scope was noisy when
slewing at max speed, but very quiet, silent in fact when guiding. In
operation, the scope quickly slews to the region of the target, then
steps down to a much slower movement for greater accuracy. On average it
would take 30 - 45 seconds to pinpoint a target, and the handset beeps
to let you know it is there.

This was the first time I had ever used a guided scope, and it was a
revalation to be able to look at Jupiter without it drifting out of
view. Jupiter deserved a whole night, but I had other fish to fry - my
old Nemesis M3.

I selected M3 from the list of Messiers and the scope slewed into place.
I could straight away see a misty patch, but it wasn't very clear. I
don't think conditions were good, and I was having trouble seeing more
than 3rd magnitude stars naked eye anyway. I tried various eyepieces and
settled on the 26mm with a 2x barlow, and eventually I managed to get a
really nice view of the cluster. It came and went, but I can definately
tick that one off now :-)

I had a quick look for M53 (marginal), M101 (no luck) & M51 (maybe), but
by this time I had to go out on an errand and my star gazing was over
for the night.

All in all, a very succesful first outing - its clear that I need to
move to somewhere with better visibility and less light pollution (don't
we all), but until I can manage that, the LX90 will show me more and
more as I become more experienced - I'm looking forward to it !

I'll spend a while getting used to the scope optically before I try out
the LPI I think, I'll keep you all posted.

Clear Skys,

Andrew


Chaps,

Quite surreal really, i had a DS2114 Autostar Controlled reflector(bad,
naughty boy).
All the advice you guys have been giving Andrew rings true for practically
every mead
from the dirty low-down dogs right up to the dogs-danglies.

Funny That!

PS: Does the LX90 have the Alt/Az / EQ with a wedge mount?

Rob


  #9  
Old April 26th 04, 03:51 PM
Chris Taylor
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Robert

"""All the advice you guys have been giving Andrew rings true for
practically every mead from the dirty low-down dogs right up to the
dogs-danglies.""

I understand that the LX200 Series begins to approach Dingo's Danglies. The
drives are more precise.

The LX90 does not come with the Wedge.

Regards


Chris



  #10  
Old April 26th 04, 03:55 PM
Andrew Cockburn
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default



PS: Does the LX90 have the Alt/Az / EQ with a wedge mount?

Rob


Yep, it does both but you need the optional wedge for EQ - about 190
quid extra.

Andrew
 




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