I have now finished my latest review article about the Orion Dual-Speed Low-Profile Crayford Focuser that I got for my XT10i telescope recently. At the same time I also got the Orion AccuFocus Motorised Focuser to provide vibration-free fine focusing of my telescope. Both these are detailed in the XT10 Telescope Modifications section of my [...] Read more »
I’ve just finished a new article on the main web site in the Collimation section describing How to collimate the Primary Mirror using the Barlowed Laser Technique. Of course this requires a Barlow Lens and a Laser Collimator for this method to be used, but the page also provides links to some excellent resources detailing [...] Read more »
You may have read one of my recent posts reviewing the Adler Optik Jupiter 20×80 Giant Observation Binoculars.
With binoculars of this size, they are quite heavy and suitable methods of supporting them is a must. Not only will your arms buckle under the weight after a while, but they just cannot hold the binos steady [...] Read more »
With clear skies gradually returning now that the colder evenings of autumn are upon us I have been enjoying the views of the heavens while walking my trusty dog Ben on the public footpath in fields at the back of our house. For stargazing I suppose I’m lucky that I can be out in the [...] Read more »
Darkness is what matters in Astronomy. Stars shining brightly, painted on the black canvas of space.
And there’s nothing spoils the view more than having a grey or washed out view through your telescope.
One form of light pollution is of course the overhead washing out of the sky due to street lights en-masse shining up into [...] Read more »
Tonights viewing was an attempt to obtain some better webcam footage of Jupiter. As usual though, it was very low in the sky, and I have only a short timeslot due to gaps between buildings. In fact I stood the XT10 on top of my patio dining table to give it sufficient height to see [...] Read more »
Two things of note in this post, both of which are related to Skyquest XT modifications - well one is specifically for Orion Skyquest XT scopes, while the other could be of use for most solid tube-type dobsonian mounted telescopes.
I’ve added a new page to the mods section detailing the creation of cheap, simple, easy-to-make [...] Read more »
Tonight has been quite a satisfying nights viewing. Just in my back yard which has street lamps shining in from a couple of directions, but I put my big patio umbrella up to shield the light, and I’ve also recently flocked the interior of the XT10, which makes a noticeable difference to the view contrast, [...] Read more »
Yesterday evening I got home from work and took the dog out for his walk. It was a lovely clear night and the stars were nice and bright, so I was feeling quite excited about the prospect of some decent star gazing (wifey is away tonight). Got back home and immediately took my XT10i telescope [...] Read more »
Tonight at first sight looked promising with stars out, but not very good transparency.
I started by setting up my 20×80 binos to try them out with the ScopeTeknix Zodiac ST90 counterbalance binocular mounting which I bought at the same time as the binos, but until now have not had the opportunity to use them. The [...] Read more »
