Telrad

I just got my Telrad Reflex Finder scope a few days ago. Haven't been able to test it out since we have 8 inches of snow on the ground, but I did attached it to my telescope with the double sided tape. It wasn't hard to attach. And it feels really secure.

The finder i previously had on wasn't working out to well it was a little 8x20 finder. It really was a piece of crap. I'm glad i got this. I was going to get different finder, but the telrad has a good name and was a little cheaper than the other.

I'll post some pictures. Its kinda funny its almost the same size as my telescope. This should make finding stuff alot easier

meade mysky plus.

When i went outside two nights ago to image Jupiter i decided to take out the Meade Mysky. It was really easy to get started and was pretty cool. i wish it had the names of the stars next to each dot on the map. that would be nice. but its pretty cool.

I was reading and read that i could buy a cable to hook it to my mount and control my telescope with the meade mysky. The cable is only $24.00. I think that would be pretty cool. And it says you can turn a non GPS telescope into a GPS with the Meade MySky. Once you have the telescope aligned you can use the Mysky to direct the telescope. That's cool.

The Meade Mysky has gotten pretty cheap lately i got mine for cheap off ebay the only thing was it was broken i had to do some work on it to get it working, so be careful where you buy it.

Well, i thought the meade mysky was pretty cool.

CS!

8mm BO/TMB Planetary eyepiece

A few nights ago when i went outside i used the 8mm BO/TMB Planetary eyepiece. normally i didn't use it because i wanted to image, but windows xp wasn't working so i took the 8mm out. I viewed Jupiter and it looked great. I put my barlow 2x and it looked even better than i put the 3x and it was so cool looking. This eyepiece is really good. I think next time i go out i'm just going to observe and not image because i really haven't been looking trough the eyepiece and really looking at the object..

here is a photo i took holding the camera to the 8mm BO/TMB Planetary eyepiece


click on image to enlarge

meade mysky- my thoughts.

hey, I have had a chance to use the meade mysky a few times, and its pretty cool. Its easy to turn on and to operate. It shows a map of the sky and tells you where to go to find an object, also cool.

It tells you information about the object. tells you how far away it is and a bunch more info. you can have a video play and a person tells you all about it and shows pictures. you can aso click on a info button and that tells you even more. Just a list of the information.

When you point to the sky it shows all the constellations and connects them together with a red line. When you click the shoot button it loads and tells you what you are aiming at, (doesn't take long to load) and some options come up for you to learn more about the object. You can play a info video and so on. You can also find an object in its database. It has a list from just Stars, DSO, and planets. you can choose what you want, and it will tell you where to find it using a arrow on the screen. when you get close you will see a circle and you target is in the middle.

its easy to use and very educational. Great for all ages. Great learning tool. Great for navigating the skies. and Pretty darn cool.

CS!

NEW ADDITION!

I just got a Meade MySky. I had some problems when i first got it. i had to do some work on it. the on and off button didn't work i had to take it apart and fix it. it seems to be working but wont know until i take it out.

i'm hoping i will be able to see some stars tonight just to see if it works. its been cloudy. ounce i use i will will share my thoughts on it.

CS!

GSO 1.25" 0.5x Focal Reducer

This is a review of my new GSO 1.25" 0.5x Focal Reducer. Last night was my first night out using it. I used it with my phillips spc900nc webcam. It screw right onto the webcam threads, so no need to buy anything else. It can also screw onto a threads on a eyepiece.

what a focal reducer is suppose to do is cut the focal focal ratio in half, and that results in a wider FOV ( field of view) so this focal reducer will convert a f/10 telescope into a f/5 telescope. which is better for astrophotography.

Last night I tested the focal reducer. the object was Saturn. The FOV seemed wider to me. Imaging seemed easier the picture seemed clearer, and i got alot better results.
I like that i can just screw the focal reducer onto the webcam. I bought another focal reducer and i would have had to buy a few adapters to make it work with my telescope. With this it worked great.

for the price its great and unbeatable at the price. i do recommend getting this focal reducer.

get it here free shipping. good company!

crosshair eyepiece-Review-

last night i was able to test out the crosshair eyepiece i made a few days ago. I used it on Saturn when i used the webcam and it was dead on, i mean dead on. I switched to the webcam and saturn was right there. You have no clue how nice it is to have it right there, and not have to search al over the place for it. The crosshair eyepiece was very, very helpful. I'm very glad I tried to make one.

Its very easy to make.You can use almost anything for the hair. One guy accutally used a hair. So anything will work. The twise tie is working fine. I do like it!

CS!

Power Cord

I bought a new Power cord for my mount. my last one (Meade #607 DC) got messed up because i pulled the cord when i tried to unplug from the power supply, because the cigarette lighter plug was so slick, and was very hard at times to unplug.Well I ended up messing it up. The wires got loose and now it doesn't work right. So I bought a new one from scopestuff
This one has a grip on the cigarette lighter plug, so its really, really easy to unplug.

Now the one from scopestuff is only 5 feet long, while the #607 is 25 Feet. 5 feet is just fine for me because i keep my power supply under my mount. Having the grip on the cigarette lighter plug is very nice.

CS!

Homemade crosshair eyepiece

I'm making a homemade Crosshair eyepiece. never done this before, and no directions! but thought i would give it a try. Here are the things you will need. i'm also attaching some photos to go along.

1.ruler
2.compass
3.eyepiece
4.i'm using some twist ties you can use something else.
4.glue
5.scissors

ok first i unscrewed the bottom of the eyepiece off (i'm using a 25mm sirrus plossl from orion).
Used the compass to draw a circle on my paper and put two lines through it in the center. I then took the plastics off the twist ties. cut them to the right size and centered them with the lines on the paper. put some glue on the end of the wire (I used shoe glue its very strong and dies fast), then i put the wire inside the eyepiece. lined them up and done. its not prefect but it did saved me $60.00! Pictures below. I used no directions no nothing! hope this helps you out!

(Note --> I still can use a filter with this eyepiece. The wire is in the middle of the eyepiece)












click image to enlarge!

Meade Telescopes

This place called Weasner's might Etx site, is a great place to find anything on Meade products. Their telescope and mounts tons of information. This place is a wonderful site. I have gone to the site many times to find answers about my Meade telescope and mount. Its a great place to get information and a great person running it. Mike Weasner is a great guy. Gets back to you with questions right away, very kind! A wonderful place!

Check it out! you will be glad you did!

Weasner's might Etx site

I haven't Bought anything lately. But I really do like my Meade Etx-125 and my Lxd55 mount. If you are looking to buy a telescope i would highly recommend this telescope. Its a great telescope gives some really nice views. Its really easy to use. Nothing difficult about it. great for astrophotography. You will get some really nice views on the planets and the moon. Gosh the moon. The craters just jump out at you, its amazing. Meade did a good job making this telescope. Its a wonderful telescope. Many things to explore with it!

Clear skies!

Plano Protector Four Pistol Case

The Plano Protector Four Pistol Case are now back in stock, at most stores. This is a seasonal item and its back! I was at wal-mart the over day and saw them. Had quite a few in-stock.

These are great cases. Very nice and work well for your astronomy accessories. I have one and might grab one more soon. they are cheaper if you just got the store.

seymour solar filter-REVIEW

Hey, as you may know today was well my first light with the Seymour thin film solar filter. I had always been interested in doing solar observing since getting into the hobby of astronomy. So when i saw this filter i asked around, and figured this would be a good place to start. It is in my price range. So i thought what the heck.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I new i would only be able to see sun-spots, but just looking at the sun should be pretty cool. For the money spent on this filter, its really nice. Works absolutely great.

I got my telescope set let it equalize waited about 20 minutes. and started observing. My finder scope wasn't aligned with the eyepiece, so i got that all situated , and after that i got the sun centered in the eyepiece. Right now there are no sun-spots. But the sun did look cool. The filter works great. It was not at all bright, it was very comfortable viewing the sun. I was very impressed with this filter. Works like a charm. It gave a very nice view of the sun. eventually i'm going to get a h-alpha filter. That's a whole other story! Yes i do recommend this filter to anyone! Its a great filter for just starting out with solar observing, and WONT break the bank!

I haven't used any other solar filter, so i can't compare it to any other filter. But for my first filter i would have to say it was well worth the money.

How much did this filter cost? $48.00 USD. Brand new from Seymour filters. And for $48.00 it was well worth it!


Click on image to enlarge

Used a 32mm eyepiece and held a digital camera to the eyepiece to take that photo.
NO! That's not a sun-spot that's some dirt that got on the lens

seymour solar filter

hey, i got the filter today. It was pretty cloudy and by the time it cleared it was behind the trees. I did get to see the sun but it was behind the trees and i could only see the outer of the sun. it looked good!

The filter works great. And for its price it was well worth it! Tomorrow it will be clear. i will be doing some imaging! will post!

To hold you off until then!

A whole new door opened!

Today I took the first step of SOLAR OBSERVING!

Just bought a solar filter for my ETX-125. its a great filter and was at a really good price! I should have it hopefully by Friday. I will post pictures and first light report! I will use the webcam and try to get some sunspots!

Meade LXD55 mount

Hey, Just wanted to tell you about this wonderful Mount i have! Last night was great. got to see many new objects. and didn't take me but 30 seconds to find it! The mounts GOTO system is awesome! It is so accurate i was blown away! I could just sit back and know it would go to the object! It was dead on to every object. I really enjoyed it last night! This is a great mount! I would recommend this mount to anyone!

Its Great!

Meade LXD55 Mount

Hey, I was having some Problem with my LXD55 with its accuracy. I bought it used from someone in Ohio. One of the first things I did was change the location to where i live, and made sure i had the time right, daylight savings, and date, but still had the problem.

I did some reading, asked some questions on cloudynights . I decided I should reset my meade autostar 497. I reset my autostar to the factory settings. Then I put my location in time, date, daylight savings all in. I then trained the drives. You need to do this on a land object. I did it on my neighbors chimney. they say pick a top of a power line or tower but don't have one viable near me. And I calibrated the motors.

This was all done around 3:30 a.m. I brought my mount and telescope inside. and decided to try to point to some stars in my room. just to see if it would be close, and WOW what a difference. It seemed like it was going to the stars. I had starry night out to see if it was close.

what a difference. just resetting the autostar 497 training the drives that's all i did. and it worked that night i went outside. alignment was good, tracked good. And got this picture!

if you are having trouble with your goto mount try this! or at least just try training the drives!

First real light report (etx-125)

hey, tonight was a decent night. it was clear. or as clear as it is going to get around here. i got my dovetail, so i put my etx-125 on my lxd55 mount.

i had a huge problem with alignment. i pointed north got it leveled. thought everything was good. started the alignment and it was going to the wrong part of the sky. something that's in south went to the north. didn't get it. i corrected it by moving over to the right star. then went to the next alignment went to the wrong one. i went to the right star centered it.

i had it goto Jupiter in the south. it went to Jupiter in the North. if Jupiter was in the north it would have gone right to it. LOL, to bad its in the south. i slewed over to Jupiter in the south one thing that made me start talking to the mount (arguing with it) i was trying to center Jupiter but the mount would just start moving. I once again didn't get it finally got in centered. i synced it. but it wouldn't track Jupiter. so i used the arrows to follow it. my dad and some brothers and sisters came out and check Jupiter out. it was nice. It was a big difference compared to the Orion 90mm mak-cass. I used my 32mm super plossl and my 8mm BO/TMB Planetary eyepiece. The views in the 32mm were great. i could see alot of moons. had a very nice wide FOV. it was great. i really like the JMI. it was soo easy to focus with that. With the built in flip mirror i just flipped to the 8mm BO/TMB. i had to move the telescope a bit to get it in the 8mm BO/TMB FOV. The views in the 8mm were really nice. the Bands on Jupiter came out nicely. I tried to do some imaging but it was over exposed and was moving into the trees. so no images tonight. Jupiter was the only thing i viewed because the alignment issue. I did however just move through the sky. I put my 32mm eyepiece on and just used the arrow to go up milky way lane. didn't see ONE DSO. just a ton of stars which was really cool. i saw alot more stars in the telescope then i could ever see with the naked eye.

i really really like the etx-125. it was a great jump from my little Orion 90mm mak.

removing the meade ETX-125 from its mount.

Removing the optical tube from the mount is pretty easy. Once you know what you are doing at least!

first you need to unscrew the four screws. two on each side of the telescope. to do this you will need a large allen key. my telescope didn't come with it, so i just went in my tool box and found on that worked. After you remove the four screws from the telescope. you will need to loosen the DC knob. pull the mount that way <- and -> then you will be able to remove the etx-125 from the mount. Its pretty basic.

Mike weasner has directions on taking a Meade etx-90 off the mount. its the same as the etx-125. going all the way down the page at weasner's page. he will walk you through it. but i think i pretty much covered it. he has pictures so it might help!

Clear skies people!

tiny first light report

tonight I went outside with my new Meade ETX-125. I put the meade etx-125 on a table and used it. I didn't have a lot of time to view because the clouds were coming in. i tried the moon but to many trees in the ways, but Jupiter popped out of the trees. even with the clouds kind of covering it it was a great view. I didn't have enough time to get the webcam out, so I just used the eyepieces, its really nice having a built in flip mirror really nice, I had a 32mm plossl in the top and a 8mm BO/TMB on a 2x barlow.
The view of Jupiter were great. I could see about 4 moons and the bands looked great. the detail was just fantastic. even with the 32mm on this scope it seemed big (talking about Jupiter) compared to my 90mm mak. it was a great upgrade from the 90mm to the 125.

hopefully soon I will have a better report on this telescope soon. but from what i saw tonight this telescope is awesome!