Monthly archives: November, 2015

A New Toy: 4, November

While my Altair Astro Sabre Mount is great for star hopping, the stiction in the bearings starts to become a problem when you add a heavier scope. The TMB80 wasn’t a problem, but with the long focal length 150mm RC, I was beginning to find that precisely centring the object would cause you to overshoot the target sometimes. The other problem is with this scope and the Van Slyke turret fitted, it was impossible to balance…


Observing Session: 31, October

This evening was the first real test of my new SkyTee mount. Fitted with the turret, most of the star hopping done was made through the 14mm Delos – each hop being no more than a few FOV diameters from one object to the next. I also had another bash and trying to draw what I observe through the eyepiece,  using the iPad and a stylus.  The purpose is not to produce a work…