Come join the friendliest, most engaging and inclusive astronomy forum geared for beginners and advanced telescope users, astrophotography devotees, plus check out our "Astro" goods vendors.
Come join the friendliest, most engaging and inclusive astronomy forum geared for beginners and advanced telescope users, astrophotography devotees, plus check out our "Astro" goods vendors.
I've been practicing astronomy for over 10 years now with a telescope, but always looked up to the sky with my eyes since a young'un. My current kit is very modest. Skylight 60mm F16.7 refractor, which uses Carton lens. I currently have a Skyscan 2001 EQ3-2 mount, which I stripped, cleaned, regreased, and adjusted the worm drives today. My EQ 3-2 mount now has no backlash and moves buttery smooth. I have Baader Zeiss and Parks Diagonals. I have a collection of Brandon, Carl Zeiss Jena, Edmund, Pentax, and Takahashi MC eyepieces. I'm mainly a planetary observer. When I get a chance I will take photo's of my gear.
Dave
Last edited by Dave1 on Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Skylight 60mm F16.7 - Takahashi FS78 F8.
Brandon 8mm, 12mm - Edmund Optics RKE 8mm, 15mm - Takahashi MC Ortho 5mm, 7mm - Pentax Ortho 6mm - Carl Zeiss Jena Ortho 10mm - Carl Zeiss Jena Huygens 16mm, 25mm.
Baader Zeiss 2" prism diagonal - Parks 1.25" prism diagonal.
-Michael Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50 Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl Camera: ZWO ASI 120 Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs Latitude: 48.7229° N
Hello and welcome Dave
That sounds like a great setup you are using, one I would enjoy using myself.
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885 EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102 Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss The only culture I have is from yogurt My day was going well until... people
Gordon
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED80CF, Skywatcher 200 Quattro Imaging Newt, SeeStar S50 for EAA.
Mounts: Orion Atlas EQ-g mount & Skywatcher EQ5 Pro.
ZWO mini guider.
Image cameras: ZWO ASI1600 MM Cool, ZWO ASI533mc-Pro, ZWO ASI174mm-C (for use with my Quark chromosphere), ZWO ASI120MC
Filters: LRGB, Ha 7nm, O-III 7nm, S-II 7nm
Eyepieces: a few.
Primary software: Cartes du Ciel, N.I.N.A, StarTools V1.4.
Senior Embedded SW Designer
Telescope: OrionOptics XV12, Mount: CEM120, Tri-pier 360 and alternative dobson mount.
Grab 'n go: Omegon AC 102/660 on AZ-3 mount
Eyepieces: 26 mm Omegon SWAN 70°, 15 mm TV Plössl, 12.5 mm Baader Morpheus, 10 mm TV Delos, 6 mm Baader Classic Ortho, 5 mm TV DeLite, 4 mm and 3 mm TV Radians
Cameras: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, Omegon veLOX 178C
OAG: TS-Optics TSOAG09, ZWO EFW 7 x 36 mm, ZWO filter sets: LRGB and Ha/OIII/SII
Explore Scientific HR 2" coma corrector, Meade x3 1.25" Barlow, TV PowerMate 4x 2"
Some filters (#80A, ND-96, ND-09, Astronomik UHC)
Laptop: Acer Enduro Urban N3 semi-rugged, Windows 11
LAT 61° 28' 10.9" N, Bortle 5
I don't suffer from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it.
Stephen
- - - - - Telescopes: Questar 3.5 Standard SN 18-11421; Stellina (EAA) Solar: Thousand Oaks white light filter; Daystar Quark (chromosphere) Hα filter Mounts: Explore Scientific Twilight I; Majestic heavy duty tripod Local Club: New Hampshire Astronomical Society
Hi Dave and welcome to TSS! A Carton objective; would love a look through that for sure! Nice collection of EP's as well.
All the best,
Mark
"The Hankmeister" Celestron 8SE, orange tube Vixen made C80, CG4 & AZ-EQ5 mounts.
Too much Towa glass/mirrors.
H/A - PST stage 2 mod with a Baader 90mm ERF on a Celestron XLT 102 (thanks Mike!)
Ca-K - W/O 61mm, Antares 1.6 barlow, Baader 3.8 OD and Ca-K filters with a ZWO ASI174mm.
W/L - C80-HD with Baader 5.0 & 3.8 Solar film, Solar Continuum 7.5nm and UV/IR filters with a Canon EOS 550D.
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. @Thefatkitty I see we have similar tastes in kit, yes the Carton objective is to be treasured. I have always said the only 60mm telescope in current production that I recon would best it, is the Takahashi FOA60Q. Its taken me awhile to build my eyepiece collection up. In my 60mm my most used eyepieces at the moment are the CZJ H-16, 25mm.
Skylight 60mm F16.7 - Takahashi FS78 F8.
Brandon 8mm, 12mm - Edmund Optics RKE 8mm, 15mm - Takahashi MC Ortho 5mm, 7mm - Pentax Ortho 6mm - Carl Zeiss Jena Ortho 10mm - Carl Zeiss Jena Huygens 16mm, 25mm.
Baader Zeiss 2" prism diagonal - Parks 1.25" prism diagonal.
Hi Dave. It's great to have you join us here on TSS and that was a nice introduction from you too. Welcome to the forum Dave and the best of wishes on your astronomy adventures.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
Orion Astroview 120ST f/5 Refractor on EQ3 mount
Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
Orion 180mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on CG5-GT Goto mount.
Orion XT12i 12" f/4.9 Dobsonian Intelliscope.
Kamakura 7x35 Binoculars and Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars. ZWO ASI 120MC camera.
>)))))*>
Unitron48 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:42 pm
Hello Dave and welcome to the group!
Dave
That's some very nice classic refractors you have there! How does the Brandon 94 perform?
Thanks to everybody else for the warm welcomes, since I my last post.
Thanks, Dave! The Brandon 94 is a cross between a Unitron and an Astro Physics. They were manufactured from 1987 to 1990 and used Roland Christen triplet APO lenses as well as a number of parts interchangeable with the Unitron brand (i.e., Nihon Seiko). It performs as you would expect with a quality APO.
Hi Dave, meant to get back to you before, but life... Yes, we do seem to have similar taste; I have to say I do love my old achro's. My best scope is my Celestron made by Vixen C80, with my '61 Tasco 60mm being a very close second.
I'm assuming your avatar is your Skylight; anytime you want to post a big picture of that
All the best,
Mark
"The Hankmeister" Celestron 8SE, orange tube Vixen made C80, CG4 & AZ-EQ5 mounts.
Too much Towa glass/mirrors.
H/A - PST stage 2 mod with a Baader 90mm ERF on a Celestron XLT 102 (thanks Mike!)
Ca-K - W/O 61mm, Antares 1.6 barlow, Baader 3.8 OD and Ca-K filters with a ZWO ASI174mm.
W/L - C80-HD with Baader 5.0 & 3.8 Solar film, Solar Continuum 7.5nm and UV/IR filters with a Canon EOS 550D.
@Thefatkitty Yes my Avatar is my Skylight 60mm F16.7 on my old mount and tripod. I have a different mount and tripod now. I do wish I never sold my Berlebach tripod.
Attachments
Skylight 60mm F16.7 - Takahashi FS78 F8.
Brandon 8mm, 12mm - Edmund Optics RKE 8mm, 15mm - Takahashi MC Ortho 5mm, 7mm - Pentax Ortho 6mm - Carl Zeiss Jena Ortho 10mm - Carl Zeiss Jena Huygens 16mm, 25mm.
Baader Zeiss 2" prism diagonal - Parks 1.25" prism diagonal.