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LX90 See's first light - First Opinions



 
 
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  #1  
Old March 30th 04, 12:49 AM
Chris Taylor
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default LX90 See's first light - First Opinions

I've never been much good at star-hopping, hence the desirability of GOTO.

We recently left a small GOTO in South Africa for future visits (aaaahhh,
southern skies...) and after a disappointing brush with an Ebay 'special'
decided to take the plunge on an LX90.

The manual seems pretty comprehensive and is easily read. The scope needs
minimal assembly.

With tonight's clear skies, the scope saw it's first light. Jupiter and
Saturn, although impressive by the smaller reflector standards, were less
impressive than I had expected. A star test quickly showed that the scope
needed collimating, a task I've not enjoyed on newtonian scopes. The LX90
proved to be a piece of cake to sort and took less than 5 minutes on my
first attempt with this type of scope. The trick seemed to be in making very
small adjustments and the three (secondary) screws needed about 1/8th of a
turn each. Less than 5 minutes work saw the 'airy disk' with well formed
concentric rings.

A quick turn to Jupiter now saw the red (pale) spot, and clear definition in
the cloud bands. Saturn was awesome at 150x magnification. The Cassini
division and ring-shadow on the planet now easily visible.

Although in a light polluted area (Farnham, Surrey), we're pretty lucky with
a very private garden and no street interfering lamps. Everything has a
price; and the privacy afforded by the trees cut-out anything within 15 to
20 deg of the East-West horizon, and 20 to 30 deg of the North-South
Horizon. A quick tour without much time taken to study detail allowed a
rapid test-tour of objects preselected before sunset:

Saturn-Jupiter-Venus-Mars
M81-M82-M51-M34-M63-M94-M106-M37-M44-M35-NGC3377-M13-M92-M64
Moon
1-Ceres (sketch of region confirmed on star chart later)

Without specifically hunting, the faintest star noticed came in at 10.4
(near Ceres) with a bright moon and light pollution. I'll see how low this
figure can go in a darker circumstance (13?).

The scope brought most objects within the field of view of a wider angle
40mm (F=2000mm hence 50x) eyepiece. With 'precision' mode set, the autostar
brought everything into the centre of the eyepiece everytime. Precision mode
hunts for a star to calibrate against prior to each new object. The images
stayed in the centre of the eyepiece for the odd ocassion that the scope was
left unattended (for up to about 10 minutes). I'll perform a longer test at
a future date.

It's much noisier than my celestron GOTO while searching, but remakably
quiet (in comparison) while tracking. The telescope and its controls feel
solid and the overall impression is one of a quality product. The
finderscope is bright and showed an open cluster clearly on one occasion (on
western horizon, never bothered to establish which of the nearby clusters
this could be owing to the quick test).

The tripod and mount appear very sturdy; vibration was unoticeable, any
knocks were settled in less than a second.

Early opine: I'm very happy with the scope and am looking forward to
frequent usage. Imaging with the LPI will be the next challenge. The LPI
documentation isn't as clear, and a couple of hours were needed to get the
scope, PC and Imager talking.

Regards


Chris




  #2  
Old March 30th 04, 12:02 PM
Andrew Cockburn
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Congrats !

Waiting for my LX90 to arrive ... its even harder now I just read your
post :-)

Andrew Cockburn

In article ,
says...
I've never been much good at star-hopping, hence the desirability of GOTO.

We recently left a small GOTO in South Africa for future visits (aaaahhh,
southern skies...) and after a disappointing brush with an Ebay 'special'
decided to take the plunge on an LX90.

The manual seems pretty comprehensive and is easily read. The scope needs
minimal assembly.

With tonight's clear skies, the scope saw it's first light. Jupiter and
Saturn, although impressive by the smaller reflector standards, were less
impressive than I had expected. A star test quickly showed that the scope
needed collimating, a task I've not enjoyed on newtonian scopes. The LX90
proved to be a piece of cake to sort and took less than 5 minutes on my
first attempt with this type of scope. The trick seemed to be in making very
small adjustments and the three (secondary) screws needed about 1/8th of a
turn each. Less than 5 minutes work saw the 'airy disk' with well formed
concentric rings.

A quick turn to Jupiter now saw the red (pale) spot, and clear definition in
the cloud bands. Saturn was awesome at 150x magnification. The Cassini
division and ring-shadow on the planet now easily visible.

Although in a light polluted area (Farnham, Surrey), we're pretty lucky with
a very private garden and no street interfering lamps. Everything has a
price; and the privacy afforded by the trees cut-out anything within 15 to
20 deg of the East-West horizon, and 20 to 30 deg of the North-South
Horizon. A quick tour without much time taken to study detail allowed a
rapid test-tour of objects preselected before sunset:

Saturn-Jupiter-Venus-Mars
M81-M82-M51-M34-M63-M94-M106-M37-M44-M35-NGC3377-M13-M92-M64
Moon
1-Ceres (sketch of region confirmed on star chart later)

Without specifically hunting, the faintest star noticed came in at 10.4
(near Ceres) with a bright moon and light pollution. I'll see how low this
figure can go in a darker circumstance (13?).

The scope brought most objects within the field of view of a wider angle
40mm (F=2000mm hence 50x) eyepiece. With 'precision' mode set, the autostar
brought everything into the centre of the eyepiece everytime. Precision mode
hunts for a star to calibrate against prior to each new object. The images
stayed in the centre of the eyepiece for the odd ocassion that the scope was
left unattended (for up to about 10 minutes). I'll perform a longer test at
a future date.

It's much noisier than my celestron GOTO while searching, but remakably
quiet (in comparison) while tracking. The telescope and its controls feel
solid and the overall impression is one of a quality product. The

  #3  
Old March 30th 04, 01:25 PM
Malcolm Stewart
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Chris Taylor" wrote in message
...
decided to take the plunge on an LX90.

A quick turn to Jupiter now saw the red (pale) spot, and clear definition in
the cloud bands. Saturn was awesome at 150x magnification. The Cassini
division and ring-shadow on the planet now easily visible.

Early opine: I'm very happy with the scope and am looking forward to
frequent usage. Imaging with the LPI will be the next challenge. The LPI
documentation isn't as clear, and a couple of hours were needed to get the
scope, PC and Imager talking.


snipped

I too was making use of some rare clear skies last night with my ETX-105.
Couldn't see Jupiter's red spot visually despite looking (!), but caught it on
my Nikon Coolpix 4500 via BCF's new DigimaxT 40 eyepiece adaptor. Got some
decent images of the moon as well.

What features of the LX200 are missing from the LX90? Big difference in
price...

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ms1938/


  #4  
Old March 30th 04, 04:18 PM
Chris Taylor
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"""Waiting for my LX90 to arrive ... """

I'd be glad to hear your views also; once the clouds have settled after
delivery...

Regards

Chris

"Andrew Cockburn" wrote in message
...
Congrats !

Waiting for my LX90 to arrive ... its even harder now I just read your
post :-)

Andrew Cockburn

In article ,
says...
I've never been much good at star-hopping, hence the desirability of

GOTO.

We recently left a small GOTO in South Africa for future visits

(aaaahhh,
southern skies...) and after a disappointing brush with an Ebay

'special'
decided to take the plunge on an LX90.

The manual seems pretty comprehensive and is easily read. The scope

needs
minimal assembly.

With tonight's clear skies, the scope saw it's first light. Jupiter and
Saturn, although impressive by the smaller reflector standards, were

less
impressive than I had expected. A star test quickly showed that the

scope
needed collimating, a task I've not enjoyed on newtonian scopes. The

LX90
proved to be a piece of cake to sort and took less than 5 minutes on my
first attempt with this type of scope. The trick seemed to be in making

very
small adjustments and the three (secondary) screws needed about 1/8th of

a
turn each. Less than 5 minutes work saw the 'airy disk' with well formed
concentric rings.

A quick turn to Jupiter now saw the red (pale) spot, and clear

definition in
the cloud bands. Saturn was awesome at 150x magnification. The Cassini
division and ring-shadow on the planet now easily visible.

Although in a light polluted area (Farnham, Surrey), we're pretty lucky

with
a very private garden and no street interfering lamps. Everything has a
price; and the privacy afforded by the trees cut-out anything within 15

to
20 deg of the East-West horizon, and 20 to 30 deg of the North-South
Horizon. A quick tour without much time taken to study detail allowed a
rapid test-tour of objects preselected before sunset:

Saturn-Jupiter-Venus-Mars
M81-M82-M51-M34-M63-M94-M106-M37-M44-M35-NGC3377-M13-M92-M64
Moon
1-Ceres (sketch of region confirmed on star chart later)

Without specifically hunting, the faintest star noticed came in at 10.4
(near Ceres) with a bright moon and light pollution. I'll see how low

this
figure can go in a darker circumstance (13?).

The scope brought most objects within the field of view of a wider angle
40mm (F=2000mm hence 50x) eyepiece. With 'precision' mode set, the

autostar
brought everything into the centre of the eyepiece everytime. Precision

mode
hunts for a star to calibrate against prior to each new object. The

images
stayed in the centre of the eyepiece for the odd ocassion that the scope

was
left unattended (for up to about 10 minutes). I'll perform a longer test

at
a future date.

It's much noisier than my celestron GOTO while searching, but remakably
quiet (in comparison) while tracking. The telescope and its controls

feel
solid and the overall impression is one of a quality product. The



  #5  
Old March 30th 04, 04:31 PM
Chris Taylor
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"""What features of the LX200 are missing from the LX90?"""

Hi Malcolm

I understand that the LX 90 and 8" LX 200 share the same optics and tripod.
Meade advertise that the optical experience is identical in both scopes. The
primary differences being in the drive accuracy (2' vs 5')and database size
(about 5x larger in the LX200). Meade advise the use of the LX200 where
extensive imaging or astrophotography is intended. The fork arms and gears
are larger in the LX 200. I've pasted the Meade comparison blurb below for
you:

"""LX90 or LX200GPS? For many observers the 8" LX90 is all the telescope
ever required. The LX90 includes the exact same 8" f/10 optical system as
the 8" LX200GPS, so that the visual observing experience is identical in
both instruments. Notwithstanding the many virtues of the LX90, however, we
still recommend the LX200GPS for those amateurs who can afford the higher
price of the LX200GPS and who intend an extensive program of CCD imaging,
astrophotography, or deep-space observing. The LX200GPS's 145,000-object
database is almost five times the size of the LX90's, and the LX200GPS slews
at 8°/sec to a pointing precision of 2 arc-minutes or better, compared to
the 5 arc-minute pointing precision of the LX90. The LX200GPS, with its
oversize fork arms, larger worm gears, GPS alignment, zero image-shift
microfocuser, primary mirror lock, and dual-axis Smart DriveTM, is the most
advanced altazimuth-equatorial platform ever offered in a production 8"
Schmidt-Cassegrain. The real answer is that one can not go wrong with either
telescope: the proper choice depends on the user's long-term applications
and budget. """

Regards


Chris



"Malcolm Stewart" wrote in
message ...
"Chris Taylor" wrote in message
...
decided to take the plunge on an LX90.

A quick turn to Jupiter now saw the red (pale) spot, and clear

definition in
the cloud bands. Saturn was awesome at 150x magnification. The Cassini
division and ring-shadow on the planet now easily visible.

Early opine: I'm very happy with the scope and am looking forward to
frequent usage. Imaging with the LPI will be the next challenge. The LPI
documentation isn't as clear, and a couple of hours were needed to get

the
scope, PC and Imager talking.


snipped

I too was making use of some rare clear skies last night with my ETX-105.
Couldn't see Jupiter's red spot visually despite looking (!), but caught

it on
my Nikon Coolpix 4500 via BCF's new DigimaxT 40 eyepiece adaptor. Got

some
decent images of the moon as well.

What features of the LX200 are missing from the LX90? Big difference in
price...

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ms1938/




  #6  
Old March 30th 04, 07:32 PM
Malcolm Stewart
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Chris Taylor" wrote in message
news:Ehhac.422$qI1.43@newsfe1-win...
"""What features of the LX200 are missing from the LX90?"""

Hi Malcolm

I understand that the LX 90 and 8" LX 200 share the same optics and tripod.
Meade advertise that the optical experience is identical in both scopes. The
primary differences being in the drive accuracy (2' vs 5')and database size
(about 5x larger in the LX200). Meade advise the use of the LX200 where
extensive imaging or astrophotography is intended.

snip
Regards
Chris


Hi Chris,

Many thanks for your reply - guess I'll have to get real serious to justify the
extra expense!

Malcolm
--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ms1938/

  #7  
Old March 30th 04, 08:52 PM
Andrew Cockburn
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Watch this space ...

Regards,

Andrew

In article K5hac.399$qI1.351@newsfe1-win, says...
"""Waiting for my LX90 to arrive ... """

I'd be glad to hear your views also; once the clouds have settled after
delivery...

Regards

Chris

"Andrew Cockburn" wrote in message
...
Congrats !

Waiting for my LX90 to arrive ... its even harder now I just read your
post :-)

Andrew Cockburn

In article ,
says...
I've never been much good at star-hopping, hence the desirability of

GOTO.

We recently left a small GOTO in South Africa for future visits

(aaaahhh,
southern skies...) and after a disappointing brush with an Ebay

'special'
decided to take the plunge on an LX90.

The manual seems pretty comprehensive and is easily read. The scope

needs
minimal assembly.

With tonight's clear skies, the scope saw it's first light. Jupiter and
Saturn, although impressive by the smaller reflector standards, were

less
impressive than I had expected. A star test quickly showed that the

scope
needed collimating, a task I've not enjoyed on newtonian scopes. The

LX90
proved to be a piece of cake to sort and took less than 5 minutes on my
first attempt with this type of scope. The trick seemed to be in making

very
small adjustments and the three (secondary) screws needed about 1/8th of

a
turn each. Less than 5 minutes work saw the 'airy disk' with well formed
concentric rings.

A quick turn to Jupiter now saw the red (pale) spot, and clear

definition in

  #8  
Old March 30th 04, 10:46 PM
Colin Dawson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Chris Taylor" wrote in message
...
I've never been much good at star-hopping, hence the desirability of GOTO.

We recently left a small GOTO in South Africa for future visits (aaaahhh,
southern skies...) and after a disappointing brush with an Ebay 'special'
decided to take the plunge on an LX90.

snip

You've bought a pretty good scope. Just thought you might be interested in
paying my site a little attention.... there's a few projects on there that
can help to make your life with the LX90 even more pleasant.... I know,
they've helped me alot. Mind you at the moment, I'm working on my next
project - a full scale powerpack to power scope, dew heater and other stuff
from a nice little 85Ah battery! Hopefully, once I've got all the parts
togther I'll be able to update my site.

Glad you like the LX90, I've found that the optics are just as good as any
other scope that I've seen - including some 12" scopes! The reason for this
is that whilst the 12" has greater light gather capability, it also tends to
suffer more from bad weather conditions!

Regards

Colin Dawson
www.cjdawson.com


  #9  
Old March 31st 04, 09:10 AM
Chris Taylor
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


Hi Colin

Thanks for the link. I took some pix with the LPI last night. Haven't
figured out how to get them onto a web page yet. I'll let you know when its
sorted.

Regards

Chris




"Colin Dawson" wrote in message
...

"Chris Taylor" wrote in message
...
I've never been much good at star-hopping, hence the desirability of

GOTO.

We recently left a small GOTO in South Africa for future visits

(aaaahhh,
southern skies...) and after a disappointing brush with an Ebay

'special'
decided to take the plunge on an LX90.

snip

You've bought a pretty good scope. Just thought you might be interested

in
paying my site a little attention.... there's a few projects on there that
can help to make your life with the LX90 even more pleasant.... I know,
they've helped me alot. Mind you at the moment, I'm working on my next
project - a full scale powerpack to power scope, dew heater and other

stuff
from a nice little 85Ah battery! Hopefully, once I've got all the parts
togther I'll be able to update my site.

Glad you like the LX90, I've found that the optics are just as good as any
other scope that I've seen - including some 12" scopes! The reason for

this
is that whilst the 12" has greater light gather capability, it also tends

to
suffer more from bad weather conditions!

Regards

Colin Dawson
www.cjdawson.com




  #10  
Old March 31st 04, 09:19 PM
Colin Dawson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Chris.

The LPI? oh yeah, it's meade new fangled web cam thingy. Grrr, wish I'd got
one with my scope. ;-)

To put up an image onto a web page is really quite easy.... first you'll
need the piccy saved as a .JPG (there's other formats too, but JPG will do).

Then you'll need to contruct the page. Some programs will do this for you,
but here's how to it it manually..

Use notepd and copy this text...

html
body
img src="MyPic.jpg"
/body
/html

Then save this as a file in the same directory as your .jpg file. When you
save the file give it a file extension of .html Next double click on this
new file and Windows Explorer should startup, your picture will be
displayed. The final step is that you need to use an FTP program to
upload the files to your webspace in the internet (you ISP will help you do
that if needed)

If you want to get more adventurous with the web page, then "borrow"
examples from other websites that you like the look of... everyone does it.

Regards

Colin


"Chris Taylor" wrote in message
...

Hi Colin

Thanks for the link. I took some pix with the LPI last night. Haven't
figured out how to get them onto a web page yet. I'll let you know when

its
sorted.

Regards

Chris




"Colin Dawson" wrote in message
...

"Chris Taylor" wrote in message
...
I've never been much good at star-hopping, hence the desirability of

GOTO.

We recently left a small GOTO in South Africa for future visits

(aaaahhh,
southern skies...) and after a disappointing brush with an Ebay

'special'
decided to take the plunge on an LX90.

snip

You've bought a pretty good scope. Just thought you might be interested

in
paying my site a little attention.... there's a few projects on there

that
can help to make your life with the LX90 even more pleasant.... I know,
they've helped me alot. Mind you at the moment, I'm working on my next
project - a full scale powerpack to power scope, dew heater and other

stuff
from a nice little 85Ah battery! Hopefully, once I've got all the

parts
togther I'll be able to update my site.

Glad you like the LX90, I've found that the optics are just as good as

any
other scope that I've seen - including some 12" scopes! The reason for

this
is that whilst the 12" has greater light gather capability, it also

tends
to
suffer more from bad weather conditions!

Regards

Colin Dawson
www.cjdawson.com






 




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