30 replies to this topic

[Oldfracguy]

I had one of those last year:

 

 

 

If you ever need to make any adjustments to your focuser, I went through that and posted a thread here on CN about how to make the adjustments if you ever need to:

 

https://www.cloudyni...ser-adjustment/

 

As far a planetary observing goes, this scope will do fine on Jupiter using a 5mm eyepiece for 140x magnification.  You can even see Uranus in the vicinity of the Pleiades if you know where to look.  You'll need to use your Barlow to get above 200x to see Uranus as a small blue-green dot.  Mars also needs higher magnification, and the Askar 103 APO will do 200x.  A Tele Vue Nagler 3.5mm Type 6 eyepeice would be perfect for that, but any eyepiece/Barlow that creates teh equibalent of a 3.5mm focal length eyepiece will work.  Saturn when it comes around again should look very good at 150x to 200x, and Venus now is a large crescent that should appear sharp and crisp at about 100x using a 7mm eyepiece.

 

Another thing about your Askar 103 APO...it's a triplet refractor, so it will take a little time to stabilize temperature-wise.  What I usually do is to set up the scope and then focus on some easy-to-find star.  I go back outside every 5 or 10 minutes or so and refocus on the same star.  You'll have to reposition the scope, of course, using your finder scope, unless you have a mount that tracks automatically.  After going back out and refocusing a few times, when I don't have to refocus anymore, I know the scope has cooled down and is ready to go.  Taking the scope from my garage outside where the air was about 18°F (10°C) colder, it usually took about 25 to 30 minutes for the scope to adjust to the new environment.

Edited by Oldfracguy, 21 February 2025 - 09:08 PM.

[SoDakSky]

I don't know how you're fixed for cash, SoDakSky (but I'll bet you can drive 35 minutes in any direction, almost, and get out to a very nice dark site...yes?  , but when we're given the chance to reply to a question about how to get a good start in the hobby, many of us immediately respond with 'Get the best mount you can afford."  Like a good foundation on a dwelling, the mount is THE make-or-break item in your kit.  If it sucks, isn't ergonomically easy to figure out and to use, or it's quirky, shaky, or unreliable (some days it's spot on and works like a dream, other days not so much), no telescope of any quality will make up for it.

 

Again, if you have some cash reserves, go hefty and get a good mount. You'll be able to use it on a variety of scopes, which almost all of us eventually have for their various strengths. 

 

Eyepieces?  There is no end to them.  You'll continually lust after three dozen of them over your time in the hobby, and if you're lucky, you'll buy and keep maybe six of them.  Oh, don't get me wrong...you'll buy many, but the keepers are few.  Please....ppuuhhleeeesse!...go slow on the eyepieces for a bit.  Learn to use what you brung, and in time you'll learn of the limitations of your optical system...including your eyeballs. Many of us spend two, three, four times what we spend on optical tubes in eyepieces.  No, I'm not kidding.  You may just beat the odds if you take a breath and put off eyepieces for now. 

 

Just a friendly suggestion...

[SoDakSky]

Inkie, thanks for your reply!  Yeah, I already bought to many eyepieces but luckily I was able to return them and just keep a couple that I like.  You are correct on a Dark sky close by here in South Dakota.  I think Sioux Falls has a fair amount of light pollution, but I can drive half an hour away and it is dark and clear!  I have a set of SVBony eyepieces that were fairly inexpensive but work well.  I also have a nice Baader T2 adapter with 2.25X barlow for my Canon camera.  I got a few shots of the moon the other night through my sliding glass doors but it has been below zero out for days now so no opportunity yet to really get my scope outside to look at stuff!  Have a good one and thanks for your reply.  

[PKDfan]

PKDFan, I will look onto that mount you own. If it works for your scope and you like it, it might be just the ticket for mine! I will take your advice for sure. I am 56 and have always been mesmerized by the stars. I spent many a morning and evening in a tree stand archery hunting before and after sunrise and sunset for 30 years and finally pulled the trigger on some equipment. Thanks again!
Matt

Your most welcome Matt !

I think we all sense your love for astronomy and want to help guide you best so that you don't make the same silly mistakes that catches us sometimes dearly unprepared & flatfooted and besides, is always a hit to our wallets, and mines not very fat to begin with.
So with good choices it rejoices !

A wobbly mount and putting a 40dollar eyepiece in a superb scope is artificially throttling down your scopes ability and a very poor mount choice can cause severe oscillations, a view turbulence artificially created both at the mount level and at the exit pupil too; so if your mount can't hold your scope very still your simply doomed to failure consternation and grief in the dancing view and a poor eyepiece choice won't show you nearly what a good one can.

Doesn't take big dollars just wise dollars.

At the same time going in the other direction getting say an EQ6R PRO and dealing with its heavy weight every observing session and then tearing it down again would get old real fast and would, no doubts about it, curtail observing use on marginal nights.

IF i had a larger scope than my 100ED i'd honestly be underserved with the EQM-35. And conversely if i just had my 62mm apo and no 100ED the EQM-35 would gloat in the ease it carries it and probably provide very good images for AP BUT BUT BUT i've zero idea if thats a sound reasoning or not as i simply don't do AP.

I'm then the most wrong person imagineable to say definitively that this value EQ mount is suitable for AP based soley on visual use only.

The mount truly is the facet that either makes astronomy fun or is a pain in the old arse and AP is a very cruel mistress hard on everything.

But I think you'll do just fine.


BTW you can quote someone then add your commentary in a single post.



Clear Steady Skies
Lance

[SoDakSky]

Hi guys.  Well I finally got a set of eyepieces for my ASKAR 103APO.  They are SVBony 6mm, 9mm, 15mm and 20mm.  Then I have a 2.25X Baader Barlow lens with a T2 Adapter for my Canon T3i.  Anyway, the temps in South Dakota came above freezing today after days of below zero so I set up in the garage edge when I saw Venus come out.  This is a first for me!  I'm 56 years old and finally saw a planet through a Telescope!  I was using the 15mm eyepiece.  It was a crescent shape Venus - small but amazing to see!  So **** cool!  I swapped to a 6mm eyepiece and just as I was getting it into focus, the clouds rolled in and ended my Venus viewing in the SW sky.  I have the T3i DSLR ready to go for tomorrow night if I can get clear skies.  I might try Jupiter later tonight if the clouds are forgiving.  Anyway, thanks for the advice everyone!  Can't wait for nice weather so I can take to our lake camper where the skies will be much darker than in Sioux Falls, SD.  I think our Bortle Skies are 7 here - quarter mllion people but I am way on the SW edge of town.  I got the scope mounted on the iEXOS 100 PMC-Eight but it is pretty heavy for that mount in terms of electronic/laptop mode.  I just used it for now in manual clutch mode and it is really nice for the moon and planets.  I will save up for a beefier mount eventually.  For now, I am gonna try some Milky Way stuff with my DSLR and a Nifty-Fifty Canon Lens on that iEXOS mount when the weather warms up!  Cheers!

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by SoDakSky, 22 February 2025 - 09:22 PM.

[SoDakSky]

I had one of those last year:

 

101_2983.JPG

 

 

If you ever need to make any adjustments to your focuser, I went through that and posted a thread here on CN about how to make the adjustments if you ever need to:

 

https://www.cloudyni...ser-adjustment/

 

As far a planetary observing goes, this scope will do fine on Jupiter using a 5mm eyepiece for 140x magnification.  You can even see Uranus in the vicinity of the Pleiades if you know where to look.  You'll need to use your Barlow to get above 200x to see Uranus as a small blue-green dot.  Mars also needs higher magnification, and the Askar 103 APO will do 200x.  A Tele Vue Nagler 3.5mm Type 6 eyepeice would be perfect for that, but any eyepiece/Barlow that creates teh equibalent of a 3.5mm focal length eyepiece will work.  Saturn when it comes around again should look very good at 150x to 200x, and Venus now is a large crescent that should appear sharp and crisp at about 100x using a 7mm eyepiece.

 

Another thing about your Askar 103 APO...it's a triplet refractor, so it will take a little time to stabilize temperature-wise.  What I usually do is to set up the scope and then focus on some easy-to-find star.  I go back outside every 5 or 10 minutes or so and refocus on the same star.  You'll have to reposition the scope, of course, using your finder scope, unless you have a mount that tracks automatically.  After going back out and refocusing a few times, when I don't have to refocus anymore, I know the scope has cooled down and is ready to go.  Taking the scope from my garage outside where the air was about 18°F (10°C) colder, it usually took about 25 to 30 minutes for the scope to adjust to the new environment.

Wow this is great information that you shared with me here!  I just posted moments ago that I was able to get Venus focused briefly with a 15MM SVBony budget eyepiece.  The clouds moved in quickly and ended my viewing.  I will check out that Tele Vue Nagler 2.5mm Type 6 eyepiece you mentioned.  The focusing instructions you gave will come in handy.  My next investment is a better mount with an auto-tracker that I can eventually use for astrophotography.  For now, my iEXOS 100 PMC-Eight works good for the planets just using it manually with the clutches.  Again, thanks a ton for sharing!