Meade LX200 Microfocuser
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Meade LX200 Microfocuser
A bit harsh, but appropriate considering the time I have spent and fully believing the warning label.
Steve
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Re: Meade LX200 Microfocuser
Orion 203mm/f4.9/1000mm, converted TASCO 114mm/f9/1000mm to steam punk, Meade 114mm/f9/1000, Coronado PST, Orion EQ-G, Ioptron Mini-Tower and iEQ30, Canon 70D, ASI120MM,ASI294MC, Ioptron SkyHunter
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Re: Meade LX200 Microfocuser
There might be an alignment problem but it could also be a thermal issue, large Maks need to cool down to be at their best. Did you try your 8" Newt and the Mak side by side on the same night? If not, it could be atmospheric seeing related. Maximum magnification only works well under perfect skies. If you did compare on the same night, then it's likely the Mak has alignment or thermal issues.Star Dad wrote: ↑Sun Oct 03, 2021 2:24 pm I'm going post this message here because I am having an issue with focusing my club's Mak. The situation is: I can obtain a pretty decent focus using a 40 or 30mm lens. (FL is 2670 I believe). But I put a 9mm in and it is horribly fuzzy. I cannot get pinpoint stars - they are blurry - and you cannot really make out the bands of clouds on Jupiter. Now a 9mm should give about a 296X magnification. It's a 7" MAK - which theoretically should max out at 350X. Given that all the hype I have read indicates that Maksutov-Cassegrains are superb for planetary - am I expecting too much from this scope / magnification or do I have an alignment problem. I did do a visual - "look down the tube" and it seems to show concentric rings - but I am not positive. I have NOT done a star test yet... been out in the field these past two clear nights doing outreach programs. I will do it as soon as I can - which looks to be at least a couple of days from now. Comparing views with my 8" Newt - I find the Newt gives a superior image using similar magnifications in both scopes. The focuser on the MAK seems a little "mushy" . That is it takes a bit of rotation until the focuser "kicks in" /"grabs". And it happens in both directions. Just for some background - I presume this scope was donated - so maybe it is out of alignment? But as I said above, given the hype (and expense of this scope) I would expect superior views from it and I just am not seeing it. Any advice or comments?
On my 6" Mak it often takes upwards of a half hour for the stars to become points unless I cold soak prior to setup.
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Re: Meade LX200 Microfocuser
Would a Mak be subject to collimation errors brought on by jostling of the vehicle in transit? I know my Newt suffers from that, especially rough roads.
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Re: Meade LX200 Microfocuser
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Re: Meade LX200 Microfocuser
Orion 203mm/f4.9/1000mm, converted TASCO 114mm/f9/1000mm to steam punk, Meade 114mm/f9/1000, Coronado PST, Orion EQ-G, Ioptron Mini-Tower and iEQ30, Canon 70D, ASI120MM,ASI294MC, Ioptron SkyHunter
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Re: Meade LX200 Microfocuser
My experience with my MK66 Mak is that n-gons indicate that thermal equilibrium has not been reached, however the n is always = 3. This is because the separate secondary mounted on the corrector plate has 3 screws for collimation and the thermal stress of cooling creates a triangular stress pattern in the secondary. If you were sure you were in thermal equilibrium, I'd guess that the optics on the primary and/or corrector are getting pinched somehow.Star Dad wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:24 pm I just did a star test on Polaris. The verdict? low power (40mm) showed a perfect donut. High power (9mm) showed a perfect donut. However, at 9MM (~300x) the star was not a pinpoint - more like a fuzzy dot with 3 "spikes" radiating from it. As I was going out of focus I saw a pentagon, the a hexagon, and octagon and then a circle. Not sure what this might mean - other than I am pushing the theoretical 350x limit, which I have read (somewhere) that for this scope 300X is the max magnification. So I am hoping someone will say that I am right and I'm just expecting too much. And dang, I just remembered I wanted to test it with my zoom lens. Well that will just have to wait as I see solid clouds for the next 7 days in the forecast. And tonight the clouds are rolling in early - not worth setting up for AP. This of course is New Moon time which = clouds.
IMHO you are not expecting too much.
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Re: Meade LX200 Microfocuser
Orion 203mm/f4.9/1000mm, converted TASCO 114mm/f9/1000mm to steam punk, Meade 114mm/f9/1000, Coronado PST, Orion EQ-G, Ioptron Mini-Tower and iEQ30, Canon 70D, ASI120MM,ASI294MC, Ioptron SkyHunter
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Re: Meade LX200 Microfocuser
You are not expecting too much. I have seen this pattern before. In my case it was pinching...Star Dad wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:24 pm I just did a star test on Polaris. The verdict? low power (40mm) showed a perfect donut. High power (9mm) showed a perfect donut. However, at 9MM (~300x) the star was not a pinpoint - more like a fuzzy dot with 3 "spikes" radiating from it. As I was going out of focus I saw a pentagon, the a hexagon, and octagon and then a circle. Not sure what this might mean - other than I am pushing the theoretical 350x limit, which I have read (somewhere) that for this scope 300X is the max magnification. So I am hoping someone will say that I am right and I'm just expecting too much. And dang, I just remembered I wanted to test it with my zoom lens. Well that will just have to wait as I see solid clouds for the next 7 days in the forecast. And tonight the clouds are rolling in early - not worth setting up for AP. This of course is New Moon time which = clouds.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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