Page updated: 16 July 2010
 Eyepiece
Case |
| This Pelican 1600 case is a perfect solution to safely carry eyepieces and other optical accessories. |
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| Mitty Euro wedge |
| For most observations I use my LX200 using Meade's field tripod and Mitty Industries Inc.'s Euro Evolution
wedge. The Euro wedge is a large, heavy, rock solid wedge. Alignment is extremely simple and operation is very smooth.
Before I purchased a Mitty I briefly used Meade's equatorial wedge, which immediately proved too flimsy for even simple visual observing; the flexing of the mount was obvious.
No such problems with a Mitty wedge. This wedge is very stable and the 40 pounds of solid aluminum and stainless steel bolts make it sturdier than any wedge I have ever seen. Sadly, the designer of this product, Frank Sperl, passed away in 2008. For some time the future of the Mitty wedge remained unclear. Meanwhile the production has been taken over by a different company. The wedges remain available through OPT. Although I'm not practicing astrophotography I find an equatorial ('polar') setup essential for observing. Without knowing the directions in the eyepiece it's almost impossible to observe double stars methodically or to determine the position angle of a galaxy. Using a wedge and a fork mounted telescope north is always straight up in the field of view in the northern hemisphere. |
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| Azimuth and declination adjustments are made by turning the large wheels. Operation is extremely smooth and has very little play. The base of the telescope's control panel rests against the stop bar on the latitude plate of the wedge. |
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| The wedge is attached to the tripod using the large central bolt. For a permanent (observatory) setup the wedge can be secured using three smaller bolts. For everyday portable use I found the central bolt to work just fine. |
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Dew Protection |
| In the Netherlands a telescope's cool down time is rarely a problem. The
challenge is keeping up the temperature! Without taking additional
measures it's virtually impossible to keep your optics dew free which
leads to your night under the stars drowning literally
and figuratively. I don't believe in the effect of only a dew shield. In our part of the world it's a matter of time until a scope has cooled down enough to reach thermal equilibrium with its surroundings. Using only a dew shield works marginally, especially when your telescope is pointed at the zenit. Your dew shield is then no longer a dew shield, but a chimney instead; warm air rises and won't remain in front of your optics in this position! In my opinion heating is essential. Although I do use a dew shield. Partly to retain the warmth of heaters, also to increase contrast. A dew shield ensures light from outside the field of view can't reflect on the lens or corrector plate. A 'dewgun' (big word for a 12 volt hairdryer) may be effective to remove dew from your optics, but the effect is not lasting. |
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| The heaters I use are Kendrick's Premier Heaters.
When set to maximum power these strips get so hot it's almost impossible to hold them in
your hands. That being said, large telescopes are 'heatsinks' and can use
all of this warmth. The controller I use is either Kendrick's Digifire 7 Controller or the Model VI Controller in combintation with a small telescope. |
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100Ah Gel
Battery |
| No more worries about electrical power thanks to this battery. |
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Accessory Bag |
| A large bag by Fox (sports fishing) which has plenty of space for all your accessories. |
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Starbound Observing Chair |
| This chair by Company Seven is adjustable in height in a single motion. |
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Foldable
Table |
| Purchased years ago at a department store for little money and still going strong! |
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Telrad
Finder |
| Works much better than a small red-dot finder as this is a finder you can truly look through. Especially convenient when aligning. |
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Eyepiece
Rack |
| Convenient for quickly and safely setting aside an eyepiece. I'm still pondering a way to keep them dew free there as well. |
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Meade #895
Vibration Isolation Pads |
| Simple yet effective. |
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NexRemote & Logitech Cordless RumblePad 2 |
| Using Celestron's
NexRemote it's possible to, in combination with a laptop, an
interface cable with a
USB-to-serial converter and a
Logitech RumblePad gamecontroller to control your Celestron NexStar
telescope wirelessly. Quite cumbersome but the only way to use NexTours
withouth having to look a computer screen... something which obviously
impairs your night vision. To set the controller's buttons it's possible tot write your own "joystick.ini" file. Click here to download the file I use. |
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