My Gear

[Scopeman]

My Skymax 180, SW EQ6R Pro mount, IOptron Tri-Pier, WO FLT91 Apo Triplet refractor and Celestron 127Mak. Lost my mojo a bit after losing my Dad in the latter part of last year, need some inspiration to get me going again

[Eddie]

Love Mak’s, I had a skymax 150 years ago but sold it, would like another as they are killer planetary imaging scopes.

Edited January 20 by Eddie

[Nightspore]

 

SkyMax's rock!

[Scopeman]

Very nice! Is there much going on here anymore, seems very quiet?!

[Eddie]

26 minutes ago, Scopeman said:

Very nice! Is there much going on here anymore, seems very quiet?!

This thread? or the forum? 

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Nightspore said:

 

SkyMax's rock!

They’re powerhouse scopes, versatile and excellent for planetary/lunar visual and especially imaging them. But every design has it’s weaknesses, for maks its the narrow FOV, closed tube with thick meniscus up front making for long climatizing times. This isn’t ideas for those looking for quick grab and go, and the very long FL aren’t ideal for DSO’s, I really enjoyed mine for three years before swapping for a refractor at the time which was my first refractor. Was pumped about having a good refractor for those wide field views. But what they do well, they do very well, I just know there will be another Skymax in my future for imaging planets. This is my very first image through my 150 skymax, I knew nothing about imaging and yet managed a decent shot, credit to the scope.

Edited January 20 by Eddie

[Nightspore]

51 minutes ago, Eddie said:

They’re powerhouse scopes, versatile and excellent for planetary/lunar visual and especially imaging them. But every design has it’s weaknesses, for maks its the narrow FOV, closed tube with thick meniscus up front making for long climatizing times. This isn’t ideas for those looking for quick grab and go, and the very long FL aren’t ideal for DSO’s, I really enjoyed mine for three years before swapping for a refractor at the time which was my first refractor. Was pumped about having a good refractor for those wide field views. But what they do well, they do very well, I just know there will be another Skymax in my future for imaging planets. This is my very first image through my 150 skymax, I knew nothing about imaging and yet managed a decent shot, credit to the scope.

 

Nice shot of Jupiter. Mak's have good points and bad. I find Synta Mak's unsuitable for splitting doubles because of the bright second diffraction ring. Yet one of the best views I had of Syrtis Major ever was with an orthoscopic eyepiece, a BBHS mirror diagonal and my 127mm SkyMax.

[Eddie]

4 minutes ago, Nightspore said:

 

Nice shot of Jupiter. Mak's have good points and bad. I find Synta Mak's unsuitable for splitting doubles because of the bright second diffraction ring. Yet one of the best views I had of Syrtis Major ever was with an orthoscopic eyepiece, a BBHS mirror diagonal and my 127mm SkyMax.

Agreed, in the past year or so I have become passionate about doubles, they absorb 80 percent of my sessions, I love the challenge of tough doubles like Zeta Her. For doubles, nothing beats a good refractor, no other design presents doubles at high powers as well as a good refractor. My refractor is my double star scalpel.