Location: home,
Equipment: iOptron 150mm Mak and Stelarvue 102ED on iOptron AZMP, EPs: TV Delites set, Baader Aspheric 36mm, ES62 26mm.
Recently, I have received iOptron 150mm rumak telescope from Mark (John Donne) as part of Henry's (Hankmeister3) legacy. I was impressed with the scope build (see first impression report here viewtopic.php?f=71&t=21695) and was eager to see it in action. The chance came last weekend. Due to urban location and bright Moon all targets were
Enthusiastic reviews often describe views delivered by Maks as
There is a part in the mount alignment routine when it points scopes straight up and spins them. I was watching it and to my horror SV102ED started to slide down. Luckily, I was right next to it and managed to catch it before it hit the concrete! It took me a few minutes to calm down.
My next task is to install stopers on all scopes where doable, if not I will tie them down to the mount. 
Moon
First target was the Moon in still blue sky . Since it was still daylight no filters were necessary. Both scopes deliver great sharp views. Atmosphere was not steady enough to push to really high powers, so I can’t tell yet if rumak has advantage in resolution. In fact, that was valid for most targets this evening. Seeing was the limiting factor and I could not use larger
Jupiter and Saturn
It seems that thermal isolation of the rumak
Saturn was soft in both scopes. I could make out Cassini division, glob shadow on the rings and maybe a band or two on the globe, but the views this season fell short of previous years.
Next, I wanted to try some
Double Cluster (
Typically, Maks are not recommended for
Caroline’s Rose (
The views from this evening were a bit of letdown. When I looked through SV102ED my first reaction was that I am on the wrong
Unfortunately, the last target of
I have really enjoyed observing open clusters with IOptron 150mm Mak. I often see comments how dark are Mak views are, and I had similar experience with Celestron 127mm Gregory Mak I used to have. Enlarged secondary and baffle tube of iOptron rumak might be somewhat of liability for planetary, but extra
Cygnus Doubles
Rest of the evening was spent hunting doubles. Cygnus was on the opposite side from the Moon, so there I went.
STF 2486 – 6.5, 6.7, 13.2, 11.1 – ab7.2”, ac27.2”, ad196” – AB - close pair of identical yellow stars with faint gray spec of D in the distance. I have tried for C with rumak but no go this evening. SV102/TV Delite 13mm (55x). Rumak/ES62 26mm (69x).
STF 2496 – 6.5, 10, 11.2 – ab2.1”, ac186.1” – yellow main with silvery spec of D in a distance SV102/TV Delite 13mm (55x). AB – both scopes failed to split.
HJ 1382 – 8.8, 10.2, 7.7” – white, silver. SV102/TV Delite 9mm (79x). Rumak/ES62 26mm (69x). Rumak had advantage on this split. View of faint secondary was steadier, and it was immediately detectable. With
STF 2507 – 8.7, 10.9, 9.6, ab25.1”, bc6.5”, yellow, gray, white – AC was an easy split with both scopes at low power. BC – I have managed first with rumak/TV Delite 9mm (200x) and then with SV102/TV Delite 3 mm (238x).
STF 2511 – 7.5, 11.1, 10.2, ab7.6”, ac77.5” – AC – yellow silver, an easy split. AB – failed with both scopes.
Rumak had advantage over SV102 on some doubles, but not as much as I expected. I believe this is because both scopes were hitting the limit imposed by the sky conditions.
Overall, iOptron 150mm rumak has passed the first light with flying colors. It was pleasure to use. Two speed focuser is one of the best I ever tried, tight and responsive, no mirror shift (I wish my 9.25” Edge HD had similar quality focuser). Collimation based on star test was spot on. Rumak has shown well defined airy disks, but as expected more light was redistributed to the diffraction rings compared to SV102ED. Refined views provided by iOptron were in such stark contrast with colorless, dim, and soft views I was getting in the past with Celestron 127mm Gregory Mak, that it left me wondering was that due to smaller
Thanks again Mark and Henry for such a fine scope!
