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• 
  @montanausa32921 сағат бұрын

  That is fantastic, I am jealous 😊. What kind of footing into the ground?

• 
  @marksastrojourney19 сағат бұрын

  There’s a 4’ x 23” concrete footing, then the concrete block pier above that. I show that in my other videos about the observatory build (3 part series). Clear skies!

• 
  @Astro_Shed3 күн бұрын

  Great video, but not sure why you needed the bolts and washers under the pier, as you level it with the top plate anyway…also the pier could move on the wood that you have put on top of the concrete blocks, as the wood expands and contracts in the humid air… Great build all the same 👍🏻

• 
  @marksastrojourney3 күн бұрын

  I guess leveling the pier at the bottom makes it less likely that major adjustments will be needed at the top plate very often. I just followed the recommendation from SkyShed regarding the placement of the nuts and bolts. That wood is cosmetic only. There’s a gap between the wood and the nuts underneath the metal pier. The wood just slips over the 4 bolts. But the 4 J bolts are set in concrete.

• 
  @christas67743 күн бұрын

  I like watching videos like this because i do a lot of astro parties and so many new comers ask me about a good bigger scope. Im glad this is one i will not recommend.

• 
  @marksastrojourney3 күн бұрын

  Amen to that!

• 
  @SamaraLovesU24 күн бұрын

  Where in the OH valley are you? I’m near Wheeling and own 2 Skyshed POD observatories.

• 
  @marksastrojourney4 күн бұрын

  I’m here in Southern Indiana (Jeffersonville) right across the Ohio river from Louisville. When you say Wheeling, is that West Virginia?

• 
  @benettemcneill9846 күн бұрын

  I have enjoyed watching this series. I now understand the whole process. I was thinking you were going to be on top of the roof. Great pictures at the end to help me get a sense of your project. I wish I knew you and lived nearby so I could experience your view.

• 
  @marksastrojourney6 күн бұрын

  I’m glad you enjoyed it. I will be sharing some imaging sessions from the observatory soon. Clear skies!

• 
  @sharonspencer648614 күн бұрын

  This was very interesting video. Can’t wait to see the stars at night! Lots of them I hope.😊❤

• 
  @marksastrojourney14 күн бұрын

  thanks for watching Sharon! I hope to have some images soon from the new setup!

• 
  @wesleydonnelly214116 күн бұрын

  LOL my very first thoughts when I came across the title of your video was "my friend are you sure that second floor observatory will be solid and stable enough for your pier and mount etc??"...then the first thing I see in the video is a reassuring concrete block base going all the way up from ground floor earth! 👌

• 
  @marksastrojourney16 күн бұрын

  I understand your initial reaction. I’m happy to report it is very solid and stable. I hope to share some imaging session results soon. Clear skies!

• 
  @wesleydonnelly214115 күн бұрын

  @@marksastrojourney Yes you are doing a very professional well planned out job on that observatory my friend! I look forward to seeing your imaging nights! Clear Skies!

• 
  @virginiaminer457416 күн бұрын

  Looking forward to seeing more.

• 
  @marksastrojourney16 күн бұрын

  Thanks for watching!

• 
  @AmatureAstronomer16 күн бұрын

  Good work.

• 
  @marksastrojourney16 күн бұрын

  Thanks!

• 
  @larrychristianson224416 күн бұрын

  Looking good. I take it you are happy with the stability of that tall block base. I sent a pier enquiry to SkyShed about a week ago and haven't heard back from them; must be busy. I've had the same weather in S. KY. Hopefully some dry air is coming.

• 
  @marksastrojourney16 күн бұрын

  I watched the movement of the mount very closely while slewing. I could not see any vibrations or shuddering. Grabbing a hold on the pier and mount, they are very solid and don’t budge any. I have a 1/2” gap between the floor and the concrete pier. The first session or two of imaging should reveal any issues with stability or confirm none exist - the proof will be in the guiding and image quality. Regarding SkyShed, I got the impression they are short staffed and it adds some delays. Also, they seem to process orders in batches. So the timing of your order placement in relation to their next batch seems to determine if you wait for several weeks or 2-3 months. I ended up missing a batch, thus had to wait longer to receive the pier.

• 
  @deloresrast854320 күн бұрын

  Great video Mark!!! Enjoyed watching the building process.

• 
  @marksastrojourney20 күн бұрын

  glad you enjoyed it Delores!

• 
  @virginiaminer457421 күн бұрын

  Shared these videos with others. Very interesting. Looking forward to seeing it all set up and in use.

• 
  @marksastrojourney21 күн бұрын

  thanks for sharing them Virginia! I’m getting closer to getting it all together.

• 
  @michellejaggard965721 күн бұрын

  Makes much more sense now. I was thinking the room would be enclosed like an office with the roof sliding open. I thought you were moving all photography up there also. now I understand. Everything came out great. Congratulations, your builders did a great job and best of luck on your continued journey and much enjoyment with your new Observatory.

• 
  @marksastrojourney21 күн бұрын

  Thanks for the encouragement!

• 
  @annhinz632621 күн бұрын

  Thanks for some beautiful footage! Can't wait to see more

• 
  @marksastrojourney21 күн бұрын

  Imaging the eclipse was an awesome experience! I’m glad you enjoyed it.

• 
  @marksastrojourney21 күн бұрын

  More to come!

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  @michellejaggard965721 күн бұрын

  Yes I could tell in the first video at the other camera angle there was a large slope to the property. You do what you have to do. I'm sure you two will be glad to have the camper under cover. I was a little surprised, it didn't appear they had plastic around the lower walls for splatter during the pour? Maybe your concrete crew was better than the ones I have seen! Will you be able to have insulation in the roof since it is a rolling roof? I know your area gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter. I love watching the fast movement of the clouds behind the structure when the video is sped up, looks amazing.

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  @marksastrojourney21 күн бұрын

  I saw them put plastic for splatter on the front and side for the walk and apron, but not on the inside for the main floor. But it doesn’t seem to have any splatter. They did insulate both roofs.

• 
  @michellejaggard965721 күн бұрын

  Hello Mark. Sherri said on the quilting show this morning about your building project. I enjoy building project and watching buildings going up and seeing all about the construction aspect. Nice you are getting your Observatory. You two have a nice country property as far as I can tell. Nice open skys for you hobby. I'm sure the Observatory will be a great advantage with the height improvement and rolling roof for your photography.

• 
  @marksastrojourney21 күн бұрын

  Thanks for watching! Yes, I think the observatory will definitely improve my experience.

• 
  @SkyShedPODTeam24 күн бұрын

  Cool Mark!

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  @marksastrojourney24 күн бұрын

  Thanks for watching SkyShed POD Team! Feel free to include a link to my unboxing video within your site/channel/content if you feel it would be helpful to others who may be interested in getting a pier. Clear skies!

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  @SkyShedPODTeam24 күн бұрын

  @@marksastrojourney I'm about to do that Mark! For Jon, who's pier shipped yesterday. I'm here as needed. ;)

• 
  @larrychristianson224425 күн бұрын

  Perhaps this will be covered in a future video, but I'm wondering how you will attach the pier to your 2nd story footing.

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  @marksastrojourney25 күн бұрын

  There are j-bolts in concrete in the top of the concrete footing. The metal pier will be secured to those.

• 
  @AmatureAstronomer25 күн бұрын

  Nice pier.

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  @marksastrojourney25 күн бұрын

  looking forward to trying it out!

• 
  @IronMan-202426 күн бұрын

  Unfortunately I have no view of Polaris so I can’t use SharpCap. Lately I have been using my UV IR cut filter with N.I.N.A. so I can use shorter exposure times and do the alignment earlier in the evening. I think PHD2 has a drift alignment tool but I never tried it.

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  @marksastrojourney26 күн бұрын

  It’s fortunate N.I.N.A. is working well for you. I played around some with PHD2’s drift alignment tool. I think it would take a little more time to master as it doesn’t seem as intuitive as some of the other tools and their user interface. I’ve read that using bookmarks as you go along with the PHD2 drift align makes it easier to use. Clear skies!

• 
  @marcomalziotti241127 күн бұрын

  Thanks, unfortunately by carrying out step 12 I get a purple image. I use Stellarium version 23.4 and the image was obtained following all the previous steps.

• 
  @marksastrojourney26 күн бұрын

  I opened Stellarium on my laptop and under the Help About section it displays my version as follows: Stellarium 1.1 Version 1.22.4 Based on Qt 6.4.0 I suppose it is possible that they've modified the Landscape feature and adding a custom landscape requires one of the steps I did to be performed slightly differently or the requirements for the custom image are different. I hate to hear it's not working out for you. It's really nice to have your own landscape displayed within Stellarium.

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  @marcomalziotti241126 күн бұрын

  @@marksastrojourney I found Stellarium 23.4 version 23.4.0 based on Qt: 6.5.3. Thanks anyway, I solved it: the name of the landscape in the .ini file was not the same (capital letter) with that of the folder containing the files. Thank you.

• 
  @marksastrojourney25 күн бұрын

  I'm glad to hear you figured it out. Sometimes it's those pesky little details like casing or spelling that trip us up. Clear skies!

• 
  @larrychristianson224427 күн бұрын

  Looking good.

• 
  @marksastrojourney27 күн бұрын

  Thanks 👍

• 
  @matthewbrown867927 күн бұрын

  When i've tried sharpcap with ipolar i've found that they are consistent both with each other and with seconf measurements with themselves. I did a run with nina after running sharpcap, and was 6 minutes off. After adjusting to under 30 arc seconds i ran nina agsin, snd was 6 arc minutes off again. The best thing about ipolar is thet i can usually polar align about 30 minutes earlier than i can with anything else.

• 
  @marksastrojourney27 күн бұрын

  Thanks for sharing your findings!

• 
  @AmatureAstronomer27 күн бұрын

  Nice.

• 
  @marksastrojourney27 күн бұрын

  Thanks!

• 
  @AstroSoundscapeАй бұрын

  Hey Mark well the EQ6 is certainly a solid reliable mount, so should help. Very surprised your ioptron is not handling above 3 mins subs, especially with something like only the Redcat on. You may want to look at posting your PHD2 log files on cloudy nights some folks might be able to help you work it out.

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  I’ve read several threads on there, it seems like a good forum for getting suggestions. IOptron had me send them the phd2 logs before they had me send it in for servicing. But they didn’t recommend any course of action or different settings aside from the service they did on it.

• 
  @KJRitchАй бұрын

  What sort of building permits and code inspections regarding the building plans did you have to go through or did the builder take care of those issues? Amy Astro started an observatory and she had to keep resubmitting her building plans because the sliding roof design was unusual and they felt a garage door type track system wouldn’t work in windy conditions. After two episodes of her observatory build her KZread channel content ends with no updates in over a year.

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  this builder is Amish and doesn’t handle the building permit process. So I did the building permit online. In our area, they prefer online submission. I had to attach my plans, which clearly indicate the observatory and the roll off roof. The building inspector gave the final inspection approval. He came for several inspections. Regarding the electric, my electrician did that permit separately. The final electrical inspection is still pending as the electric meter is getting hooked up today. I feel all roll of roofs involve some risks from storms due to the nature of their design and not being permanently attached. But I believe building standards and tolerances vary by state, city and county to a certain degree.

• 
  @KJRitchАй бұрын

  What were your PHD2 RMS errors reported with your iOptron. What guide camera and main camera. Focal reducer? Focal length? I’m surprised because I have an AVX mount and if I can keep the RA and DEC under 1” I can shoot up to 5 minutes I once tried a 10 minute exposure with success. I’m using a C8 SCT with OAG at 1442mm. I thought iOptron were solid mounts. It’s on my list as a possible mount upgrade, CEM40 or GEM45. The EQ6 has a good reputation. Good luck with it. Didn’t want to go strain wave?

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  I just checked the log folders for PHD2 and noticed no log is getting created because I don’t have that checkbox enabled. So I can’t check history from a recent session to give a precise statistic. However, my recollection is that for the most part the line on the graph in PHD2 stays between -2¨ and +2”. However, there are spikes out to -+4 and even -+6. I have the mounts PEC disabled and have the Predictive PEC enabled in PHD2. I found PHD2’s PEC works better than that of the mount. Also, I’ve been getting my polar alignment down to under 1 arc minute. Usually, I’m able to get that down to around 20 arc seconds on both alt/az. Guide camera is a ZWO 120mm mini guide camera. Main camera is a ZWO ASI2600MM Pro. Telescope is a WO Redcat61 with focal length of 300 and f4.9. No focal reducer involved with this scope. I have seen many positive reviews of the CEM40 and GEM45. But I’ve found several people’s threads facing similar guiding issues as mine with the GEM28. Unfortunately, I didn’t find those threads until after I had it a while. In no way am I trying to cast a negative light on iOptron. As long as I stick with 3 minute or less exposures, the mount does well. It is also quite portable and I’ve taken it on multiple trips to other sites//states. I did multiple attempts at 5 minute exposures and just got tired of discarding so many bad subframes. I can still get decent results at 3 minutes even with narrowband. That being said, I’d still like to do 5 minute exposures. As a side note, I did send my GEM28 back to iOptron early on to have them service it. This resulted from a series of support communications. They replaced a drive belt, replaced the grease in the gearbox and adjusted it and said it was fine. Regarding strain wave or harmonic, I guess I might try that in the future for a grab n go mount. But in this case, I’m going to put this EQ6-R Pro on a pier. I don’t plan to be swapping out mounts on the pier or using this at other sites. Thus as a personal preference I like this mount for this use case. For now if I travel, I’ll take the GEM28. Thanks for the interest and watching - clear skies!

• 
  @AmatureAstronomerАй бұрын

  Looks heavy.

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  yes, heavier than my Gem28 mount for sure! But once I get it on the pier, i don’t plan on moving it from there.

• 
  @AstroSoundscapeАй бұрын

  That's a cool idea Mark cheers.

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  thanks, clear skies!

• 
  @AstroSoundscapeАй бұрын

  Looks like an epic build Mark.

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  I’m really looking forward to being able to use the observatory! Thanks for watching!

• 
  @AmatureAstronomerАй бұрын

  Neat.

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  Thanks for watching!

• 
  @AmatureAstronomerАй бұрын

  Good work.

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  thanks for the encouragement!

• 
  @larrychristianson2244Ай бұрын

  Making great progress. What are you doing for power? BTW, love the barn quilt star; there's one about a mile away from me that I use to align my finder scope.

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  Unsure which power you mean? If you mean power in the new observatory: I'm still waiting for the electric company to hook up the meter on the building as I had to have a new service installed for the building separately. If you mean power management for my telescope mount, I've been using a Pegasus Advanced Powerbox. I made that barn quilt some time back. It is made from wood and then hand painted. I made a 2nd one and only painted the solid background color. I'm still trying to think of a cool pattern to use that would be appropriate for the observatory building.

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  @larrychristianson2244Ай бұрын

  @@marksastrojourney Electricity to the building us what I meant. Of course, the Pegasus Powerbox is a strong choice for the management. I'll dig through some of my quilt block pattern books to see if anything screams observatory at me and let you know. Hundreds of star variants of course, yours looks like a simplified mariner's compass. It's a good one

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  The electricity to the building situation has me a little stumped. It's been almost 2 weeks since the inspector gave the go ahead for REMC to connect the meter/line. I called them to ask when it might be done. They said, it's not on the schedule yet and sent me to the voicemail of one of their engineers. But no call was returned to my message. I thought they'd be eager to hookup anything that would start making them money. I guess they don't have enough workers or they sent them all out of state to work on storm damage repair and have nobody to do local work. I doubt they'd be here more than 30-60 minutes. The line is already installed and just needs to be connected on both ends.

• 
  @boaty1968Ай бұрын

  Nice work mark looking awesome

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  Thanks for the feedback and for watching! Clear skies!

• 
  @GregMcCallАй бұрын

  I’m in the southern hemisphere (Sydney, AU) and mobile (and mostly image within a 40 min drive from the centre of the city so around SQM 19.9 to 21). Setting up each time, you want something simple and fast. I like the PoleMaster camera as it just clicks into place on the mount’s body, in the centre of the RA rotational axis and you don’t have to worry about focusing. The polemaster app is a pain so don’t use it. I use sharpcap polar alignment routine with the Polemaster camera. All this can be done just when stars appear. The setting up NINA, main camera, focus etc is all done next after polar alignment is finished. I think it would be interesting to use a drift alignment method (as you suggested) and compare others to that. I’ve been told an app such as PemPro would speed that up.

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  it sounds like you’ve worked out a great solution for your grab and go setup. I was looking at phd2 guiding’s drift align, but could tell right away it will take some experimentation to get the hang of it. Clear skies! It’s great to hear from the Southern hemisphere!

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  @zborkzАй бұрын

  Any of them are fine, they all will easily get you within what is needed for proper guiding for pretty lengthy exposures with a decent mount. Even if you run the same application twice your going to get slightly different results on each run.

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  thanks for sharing your observations! I also think if the mount is on a tripod instead of a pier, one of the tripod legs can shift ever so slightly and throw it off after it’s polar aligned. The equipment cools and warms over time and it seems like that’s a factor as well. Clear skies!

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  @sophier6700Ай бұрын

  Very nice. I would like to see how and where you hung the barn quilt.

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  I will take a photo and send to you. Thanks for watching!

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  @davidletz9123Ай бұрын

  "New to Astrophotography? Why aren't you plate solving???" Since I am new to astrophotography, I don't even know what plate solving is... 😉

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  I totally understand! I too was in the same spot at one time. But after starting to use it, a person realizes it is a great tool! Clear skies!

• 
  @anata5127Ай бұрын

  SharpCap is the best. It was checked on 10 micron mount after 30-point sky model.

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  Is that a published test/finding you're referring to or your own? Feel free to post the URL if it was a published article. Clear skies!

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  @cryptojihadi265Ай бұрын

  I've had great results with it. Can believe I wasted money on that QHY polar camera system.

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  Thanks for sharing that - it might save some others wasting their money. Clear skies!

• 
  @tibbs4gamingАй бұрын

  With no sight to the north and limited sight to the rest (Have only my balcony in a urban region), NINA is the best solution for me. It take a bit to bring it down to ~1 Arcmin, but I get great results with 5 min exposures.

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  That’s a pretty good outcome considering the limitations of your site! Clear skies!

• 
  @andreguimaraes96Ай бұрын

  Thank you 🖖🏼

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  You’re welcome! I hope you found something useful to save a little time. Clear skies!

• 
  @YouSirAreNoobАй бұрын

  Thanks for making this video. This is exactly what i was looking for, i especially appreciated the closeup of the information by the focuser. I found a scope losted but it doesnt say the model and i wanted to see of this was it!

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  Glad it was helpful!

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  @Nabby13Ай бұрын

  I've been doing polar alignment for almost 4 years, and iPolar is BY FAR the best. <1 arcmin polar alignment error in <1 min of real time. By the way, that circle is not supposed to be blinking. If you are doing your polar alignment when it's not exactly dark, maybe try increasing your iPolar exposure time to 750ms for better SNR (unless it's so bright that it would saturate the pixels.) Another tip: for those with adapters and not a built-in iPolar from the factory, I do 5 calibrations back to back, then average the x,y center positions and enter the averages manually in settings. That calibration will be super precise and lasts for at least a year.

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  Thanks for sharing your experience and some helpful suggestions for getting the best results! Clear skies!

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  @AstroSoundscapeАй бұрын

  Hey Mark - We pretty much have to use software down here in Australia. I've always found Sharpcap a great tool for this. Nice comparison video very useful 👍

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  It's great to hear from someone in Australia! I can see why you like Sharpcap's Polar Align feature - overall Sharpcap gives a lot of options to allow us to control the different tools. Thanks for watching and wishing you clear skies!

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  @BigBadLoneWolfАй бұрын

  I find the better my polar alignment, the better my guiding is. my best alignment was at 1 arc sec, using asi air. but I bet if I had repeated the polar alignment again, it would have shown a different error

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  That’s a good outcome, only 1 arc sec! I’m finding once I get down to around 30 arc seconds or less for polar alignment, it’s challenging to adjust without over correction. It might have something to do with how the mount bolts and adjustment mechanism is designed. Thanks for sharing your experience!

• 
  @alanjs1Ай бұрын

  Interesting vid. You could have tested each alignment by doing a exposure for the duration of your worm period to see the drift.

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  I’ll have to look up the duration in the specs. I seem to recall it being something like 10 minutes. But that sounds like another interesting twist I could do for this exercise. Clear skies!

• 
  @alanjs1Ай бұрын

  ​@@marksastrojourneyThe GEM28 is indeed 600 secs. Should be more than long enough to show any Dec/RA miss alignment. I use a CEM70 and iPolar. I try my best to get the cross concentric to the circle and the Dec tracking is pretty good. No consistent adjustments in 1 particular direction. I tried the 3 star alignment on APT and got terrible results so I stick to iPolar.

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  It's good to hear that some people are having good success just using iPolar! I've never owned a CEM70, but guessing that name means it can support a 70 lb payload. If that's right, I'm thinking your mount is heavier duty than mine. Do you see issues on the CEM70 with tightening the mount screws down affecting your polar alignment and having to do another final minor adjustment to correct that? Clear skies!

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  @alanjs1Ай бұрын

  @@marksastrojourney The CEM70 does carry 70lb of load. There's no bolts to tighten down on the mount really. The azimuth is adjusted by 2 push bolts and I move the altitude with threaded feet on my home made tripod. There are 2 clamps on the mount to secure the altitude adjustment (which could shift the alignment) but they're always clamped down on my rig.

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  @alanjs1 That sounds like a good setup!

• 
  @dennysturcotte3736Ай бұрын

  Good thing that nina and sharpcap were saying roughly the same deviation. this is reassuring. I have recently re calibrated my ipolar (changed the x-y values) after I performed a drift alignement . The circle and cross were close but not right on. I am planning to compare also with nina and that similar routine in APT. Let's keep in mind here that PHD will give the polar error of the guide scope , which may not be perpendicular to the mount's axis. Thanks for the video.

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  it’s good to hear your experience and I’m glad you enjoyed the video! Clear skies!

• 
  @Nabby13Ай бұрын

  I do 5 calibrations back to back, then average x,y positions of the center of rotation and enter those averages in settings. This way, the polar alignment is as good as it could be with respect to the hardware limitations.

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  Thanks for watching and sharing what you've learned to work well with Polar Alignment! Clear skies!

• 
  @southbronxny5727Ай бұрын

  Many possible issues here. First, the ipolar must be perfectly installed, flush against the mount with no tilt for best results. Second, try nina and sharpcap thru the ipolar. Using the scope to polar align setups up possible cone error unless the scope is properly pointing straight using adjusting rings instead of the clamshell clamps. Personally I use ipolar but a good possible test of your alignment is to leave ipolar open on green after your alignment. Then slew 90 degrees east and then west to see if the alignment stays green, or close enough, thru the entire slews. Thanks for the tests.

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  Thanks for sharing some ideas! The polar scope came installed from the factory and I never have assessed whether or not it might not be installed properly. But it does appear to be fully flush to the mount as you mentioned. Interesting suggestion regarding slewing. Clear skies!

• 
  @yangyunbo1Ай бұрын

  maybe you could test with the PHD2 guiding see which method is the best

• 
  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  thanks for watching! I may give that a try to see what it shows. Clear skies!

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  @k.h.1587Ай бұрын

  That 5mm looks a lot like the old tmb burgess planetary series, which has been sold under many brand names. The 25 is just a fancy dressed up plossl like the vixen NPL line, and all in fact are made by the same company, synta. This scope is also available for more money as a vixen 100ed, and of course the orion 100ed. When these first came out, the 5mm had the same looking cosmetics as the 25. It was a longer eye relief than 5mm plossl, but I don't think it was as nice or as wide angle as the one you just got. Those are actually pretty decent. It would be nice if more scopes came with those instead of the usual small plossls or MAs for the high power. Also.note that the twist up eyeguards don't Indicate what the eye relief of the eyepiece actually is, nor does it adjust the eye relief. Buy yes it does get the eyecup out of the way for eyeglasses, but more importantly you can keep them all the way up to minimize the chance of other people getting eyelash grease or mascara on your eyepieces. Scopes like that usually destroy the common, sometimes slightly out of collimation SCTs and Dobs that many astronomy club members bring to outreach events, on planets, which is the most common outreach target other than showpiece dsos on the larger aperture scopes. And the views of open clusters are best in refractors, even in light pollution. I'm sure you love it by now

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  @marksastrojourneyАй бұрын

  thanks for all the great details shared in your comments! I do still enjoy this telescope. I’ve since added a wo redcat61 for wide field imaging. So now I end up using one for a month or two and then switching to the other one. I have to admit, since I’ve learned more of the basics of astrophotography I’ve barely done any visual astronomy. Clear skies!

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  @k.h.1587Ай бұрын

  @@marksastrojourney that's where a dob comes in handy, something to look through while your rig is integrating.