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Meade LX90
This Meade
LX90 was my new toy in 2002!
What a lift from my first telescope - the ETX 70AT.
I am amazed at the accuracy of the tracking after I spend time (five minutes!) on the alignment - I did three hours looking at planets, stars and attempting a few galaxies without needing the spotting scope once on my first night! This model is also much quieter than my ETX 70AT.
I purchased the telescope from Telescope House (BC&F) in London. Unfortunately, they did not have a unit in stock when I was in the store - they shipped to me within 2 days. The first telescope I received worked for a couple of days and then would not slew to the right. I telephoned the guys at telescope were most apologetic and shipped me another scope immediately and arranged collection of original scope. The replacement scope had obviously been dropped by the carrier as the tube hit the forks as it moved! I drove to collect the replacement - more apologies from Telescope House - moral.... do try to collect your scope from the dealer yourself and then you can treasure and protect it on the journey home. Telescope House tell me that they do not get many shipping problems but the telecope is a big item and does not like being dropped out of a truck! All praise to Telescope House for the prompt replacements without any query.
The sharp eyed will notice an eyepiece/Autostar tray between the LX90 and the tripod - this is a BC&F accessory made from very sturdy sheet metal and sprayed black.
The tripod is a very sturdy (heavy) item - compared with that on the ETX 70AT which I had used before. The telecscope is mounted with a single large central bolt - a method that I find less convenient that the two bolt mount on the ETX 70AT. I had worked out a means of getting my ETX very nearly level and pointing north by locating the tripod legs against coins in my yard (see ETX 70AT pages for details) - this is not possible with the LX90 as there is no means of locating the telescope in a given position on the tripod. Yes, one day I will get to a fixed pier and polar alignment but..... for now......
The spotting scope was easily attached to the LX90 tube: I thought I would
have problems knocking this out of alignment as I carried the scope in and out
from viewing sessions. This has not been a problem; furthermore, I have
unclipped the spotting scope and removed it for longer distance travels and
found it still aligned when replaced on the tube.
Astrophotography with Canon EOS 35mm Camera
As
you will have gathered already, I am keen on recording my observations using
both manual and photographic means.
I have added a Meade T-Adaptor #62 mount for 35mm pictures using my Canon EOS. I also needed a specific T-mount for the EOS camera which I purchased at a local camera store. See image on left of camera mounted using the Meade adaptor.
The Meade T-adaptor replaces the standard eyepiece diagonal; the T-mount screws into the adaptor which has an EOS lens mating for the camera body to fit.
I feel like a one of those sports photographers now with the LX90 monster lens on the front - no self-focussing with this piece of apparatus however.
Maybe beginner's luck but first attempts look good.
I was also tempted by a universal camera mount for the LX90; pictured
on the right.
This is a mount made by Broadhurst Clarkson & Fuller Ltd (Telescope House) here in the UK. The mount is fixed to telescope tube by removing two screws at the rear of the tube and fixing the mount with longer replacement screws supplied with unit.
These mounts will allow me to play with much longer exposures than I have attempted so far with my digital camera. And... Yes, I will have to get some quick release clips for the camera strap to stop having the strap hanging over the tube as in the pictures!
Digital Camera Attachment
I
have a Canon G1 digital camera and wanted to use that to capture images through
my telescopes.
After a search through the internet I came across the range of Digi-T Digital Camera Attachments from ScopeTronix.
I purchased one for my camera - the attachment screws into the lens ring on the camera and uses a ring with three screws to attach to any 1.25" eyepiece. You remove the rubber eyeguard and the three screws use the eye-guard slot for attachment. See ScopeTronix site for more details.
The Scopetronix site shows some amazing results with this type of adaptor: my results are not up to their quality - as usual, time and perseverance are required! See images on my Observations page. Image shows unit mounted on my ETX 70AT.
Astrocam
I have built an Astrocam from a webcam so that I can get into CCD imaging on the cheap. See images on my Observations page and details of how I built the Astrocam on its own page.
Starlight Xpress MX7C CCD camera
I
purchased a Starlight
Xpress MX7C CCD camera to further my hopes of obtaining higher quality
colour digital images.
The camera has met my requirements and I have had hours of fun, and some frustration, with it. Click Starlight Xpress for my results and some comments. It is now my major interest (apart from planets where webcam is used)
I had some problems using STAR2000 autoguiding with the Meade LX90. I believe this was finally fixed by upgrading the Autostar firmware to the latest version, click for my STAR2000 experiences
Dome
I have
built a Dome to house my LX90 - the ETX 70AT is now my 'travel' telescope. See Dome
page.
This dome is now the usual home for the LX90 - now polar mounted on a very solid and heavy pier from BCF at Telescope House. Alignment now is very accurate and complete within two minutes.
Dome provides safe operation of laptop PC for viewing sessions.