Solar System

Solar System: The Sun, Mercury, Moon, Jupiter & Saturn

Nice start.

Thanks, I want to redo Saturn. Then I need to get Mars, Venus, Uranus and Neptune (those last two might be difficult with my telescope, but I'll try).

I've always heard that scope was a very nice scope being a Meade . Your right about the last two planets unless you have a way to do EP projection with a good Barlow and EP . Uranus and Neptune are even hard for me to see in my 8" SCT . when looking for them just remember they will not be as bright as a star but a pleasant brightness and no flickering like a star does . When you get them close to center in the EP you definitely can tell the difference from a star tho .

What's an EP?

heldGaze wrote in post #18086692
What's an EP?

EP = Eye-piece

Celestron wrote in post #18086856
EP = Eye-piece

Well that should have been obvious. I'll have to look into how to do eyepiece projection now, another technique to get the most out of my equipment without buying a new telescope. Some day I'll upgrade, but that day is probably a decade or so away.

Don't stress on scope upgrade now. A 6" is really minimum required size for good DSO imaging and observing plus very convient for mobilization . Some says it's the idea all around best size . Back in the 90s' up through 2007 that was a very popular sought after scope . The most important thing is making sure your mount is stable and secure from vibrations when setup .

Actually I thought you were being facetious. An astronomer/imager friend in my club pretty much only uses his telescope for imaging. He jokes about wondering what the eyepiece is for ... and then concludes that it's one of those things we use when collimating the optics and then it gets put away.

That's a nice series.

You'll probably have to wait until next year to get Jupiter's GRS. Just as the sky darkens and Jupiter becomes easy to spot it's already not far from setting in the west -- also you tend to get horrible atmospheric dispersion when it's low in the sky.

Mars is still achievable. It won't be back until 2018 ... so get it while you can.

Also... you can probably also get a very close-up detailed shot of Earth.

Oh yeah, I'm the guy that drives every car I've owned until it is literally no longer driveable. I don't even intend to get rid of this telescope. It really has served me well and it is great for learning while still also performing. I just dream of a day when I own a house with an observatory/brewpub built in the backyard. I imagine this scope still being in use then, but also a bigger one that I trick out with all sorts of goodies and a permanent mount out of concrete or something extremely stable. But like I said, that's at least a decade away. This Meade LXD55 SN-6" is now over 13 years old, and I plan to see at least 25 years of service out of it.

BTW, I've never used the computer automation that comes on the GEM. But I am running a star party for the neighborhood soon. I picked up a big pack of batteries and plan to practice when the weather clears. Hopefully I can have it so it will keep the object in view and not need to constantly manually track the Moon, Saturn and Mars. We're making it a kid friendly event, and a lot of the homeschool parents are bringing their kids. I'm writing up a handout for them to look at to get excited knowing what they are going to see and printout to bring to the event. Then after the kids are done, we're having a second session for the adults in the neighborhood with out kids. That's when the craft beer comes out.

PS - Despite my fiancée's objections I may be getting a second used scope from a neighbor. A Meade Electronic Digital 00000, she says it's a DS, probably first of the series, and is asking $100, but that might change. I need to figure out if that is a good deal or not. For $100 it can't be that good of a scope. 53" tall and telescope is 27" long.

One thing I will tell you is don't waste good money on a scope that may not be any good . You'll end up with what we call trash scopes.

Meade DS series more refers to the mount... It's an Alt/Az go-to mount. But they offered quite a few different optical tubes so you'd need more info to know which optical tube is on the mount.

They were all suitable for entry-level visual observing. If you were looking for an upgrade over your LXD55 it's probably a step down from what you have now.

To see more detail you want to maximize the aperture... E.g. You have a 6" now. So anything with more aperture than your 6" would likely resolve more detail on objects and help you see deep space objects (assuming dark enough skies for DSOs.)

TCampbell wrote in post #18092177
Meade DS series more refers to the mount... It's an Alt/Az go-to mount. But they offered quite a few different optical tubes so you'd need more info to know which optical tube is on the mount.

They were all suitable for entry-level visual observing. If you were looking for an upgrade over your LXD55 it's probably a step down from what you have now.

To see more detail you want to maximize the aperture... E.g. You have a 6" now. So anything with more aperture than your 6" would likely resolve more detail on objects and help you see deep space objects (assuming dark enough skies for DSOs.)

Yeah, I'm trying to get that information, but she just doesn't get it, she keeps saying it's a Meade DS. I need to know the size and type of tube. I definitely want to upgrade at some point. But this would be just to have an extra scope available for when I run a star party for kids to look through. So, a 4" or so would be good, for a hundred bucks, to point at the moon. If it is the 114.

So, she says it is a 3" scope. I wouldn't be getting this for myself to do observing or photography, only to set up a second telescope at star parties that I host. What would be a fair price to offer and is it even worth getting this scope for that? Would you be able to see much with a scope this size?

Attached a few images she sent me of the telescope.

That's older than I had imagined... this is the old DS generation 1 mount.

The scope is an achromatic refractor. It would be good for thing you might use as "binocular objects" -- the moon, bright planets (but not in much detail), and open star clusters.

The scope came with a handbox similar to the old ETX-90 "EC" telescopes -- it was a simple handbox with up/down/left/right buttons to move the scope but was not technically a "computer" (you couldn't, for example, pick Saturn from a list of objects and have it "go to" Saturn and keep tracking it for you.)

Here's a link to the manual: http://www.meade.com …1_60_70_80_90_1​14_127.pdf

However... the mount DOES actually use the same handbox interface that the newer ETX-80, ETX-90, and LX90 scopes use. They specifically list that it is compatible with the Autostar #497. They no longer make the Autostar #497, but they DO make the new "Audiostar" which is plug-compatible (you can attach the current generation "AudioStar" which works with every mount that could use a #497 AutoStar... The AudioStar was designed to be plug-compatible (it looks and works nearly identical to the AutoStar except the AudioStar plays audio-clips with information about the objects.) In other words if you were to invest about $150 USD you could buy an AudioStar and it would become a computerized go-to mount.

The downside... my club had one of these mounts and it always seemed to have problems with the clutches slipping... even being careful to try to balance the weight. It wasn't a very good mount. So I don't think I'd be willing to invest in it. Also, the optics of a 3" achromatic refractor won't be all that great... it'll be good for the moon, but planets will likely be very very tiny and if you use very high power eyepieces in an attempt to magnify, then they'll just be blurry (they won't resolve detail for you.)