Big Mak's Back!

[Nightspore]

 

At about 20:20 on Thursday I set up the Big Mak’ (127mm Synta Maksutov). Of course, like an idiot, I tried to use it straight away. I’ve spent so long with my diminutive refractors I’d forgotten about cool down time/thermal equilibrium and all that geeky cosmic jive. Either way the Met Office reckoned it would be clear at 21:00 for an hour and for some peculiar reason I believed them. 

 

 

I took a Meade zoom and three eyepieces out with me. The Meade is almost certainly BST/Barsta and is more or less identical to my Celestron and generic 8-24mm zooms. There is an awful lot of BS talked about Meade zooms and I’m not going to wade through the brown smelly stuff here.

 

 

Suffice to say the zoom is competent and effective, although nothing particularly special. The eyepieces were originally going to be 12.5mm, 10mm, 7mm and 6mm orthoscopics.  All but the 10mm were Ohi (branded as Astro Hutech & Fujiyama). The 10mm was a Baader Classic Orthoscopic. 

 

 

There is much whinging on some less enlightened and uncongenial forums about the edge distortion on the BCO’s. That’s because the BCO’s are actually 42° but the extra 8° are to make target location easier. Unlike the 44° Takahashi ortho’s, which just have slightly bigger field stops (I think). Eventually, for simplicity’s sake I decided to ‘eighty-six’ the 12.5mm and just went with the 6, 7 and 10mm EP’s. It transpired (as usual) that the 10mm BCO (154x) saw the vast majority of the action. I also took two Baader diagonals out with me, one being a ‘Zeiss’ Amici. The Amici was intended for lunar viewing, although in the end I used it for most of the session, only switching to the conventional prism right at the end. This was mostly for comparison. TBH I couldn’t see any real difference (except for the mirroring). 

 

 

As Saturn was momentarily obscured by the white fluffy stuff I aimed Big Mak at the 94.6% illuminated Moon (Pisces). I was predominantly interested in Schroter’s Valley, Aristarchus and the Montes Harbinger. I also got a nice view of Schiller, Schickard and Clavius in the south. Eventually Saturn was relatively cloud-free and nearing transit. Not only could I see some beautiful detail, including the Cassini Division, I witnessed Titan and a 99.8% illuminated Rhea. Rhea is Saturn’s second largest moon.

 

 

I can’t always see it with my small refractors. Big Mak’s five inches of fun had no difficulties however. Rhea (the classical mythological 'mother of the gods') made my night. I had a cup of hot chocolate indoors as I waited for a steadily rising Jupiter to clear the fence of my hide/observatory. At 100% illumination and 49.4 arc seconds it was quite spectacular. Three of the Galilean moons were bunched in a triangle formation while Callisto was the outlier. I got some nice Jovian surface detail, although the GRS was sadly absent.

 

 

It was nice to get Big Mak and the Baader Amici prism out for a session. Even though I’ve been itching to get the newly repaired Titchy Sixty out. I’ll have to scratch that itch when there is much less Moon in the sky! 

 

 

[+Streetbob]

Another good read. Thanks 

[Nightspore]

1 minute ago, Streetbob said:

Another good read. Thanks 

 

You're welcome.

[+Glafnazur]

Great report, I'll have to get my Bresser 127 Mak out, and have a look to see what moons I can find around Saturn.

[Nightspore]

8 minutes ago, Glafnazur said:

Great report, I'll have to get my Bresser 127 Mak out, and have a look to see what moons I can find around Saturn.

 

Titan's a bit further away at the moment (by parallax) anyway. Rhea is still close. I think I've seen other moons, like Dione. Although phase can make a difference. Conditions are a factor also. Good luck.

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Nightspore
Brain damage

[BAZ]

A nice read there Dave. I have always been tempted by a 127 mak. The planets and the moon is where they really work well, I have a decent refractor, but still get tempted.

[Nightspore]

7 minutes ago, BAZ said:

A nice read there Dave. I have always been tempted by a 127 mak. The planets and the moon is where they really work well, I have a decent refractor, but still get tempted.

 

Thanks Baz. Mak's have their limitations, mine is basically used on planets and the Moon, & maybe sometimes on M42.

 

 

About the only time my WO bino's see any action is with my 127mm SW Mak. Usually for lunar viewing.

 

[+Bino-viewer]

>>>>> it was nice to get Big Mak and the Baader Amici prism out for a session. Even though I’ve been itching to get the newly repaired Titchy Sixty out. I’ll have to scratch that itch when there is much less Moon in the sky! <<<<<<

 

Despite the full moon, hopefully you can get out on Saturday evening  ?  There's some shadow chasing to be done !! 

 

 

Nice report. I've often thought about a Mak myself, but then i think it probably won't offer me anything more that what my 140mm refractor does.

Its the one scope type i've never owned. I've had my refractors, Newts and SCTs, but never a Mak (thats 6 refractors, 4 Newts and 3 SCTs i've owned over a 20+ year period)

Cooldown and possible 'fussiness' in less than decent seeing conditions have put me off Maks a bit.

 

 

 

[Nightspore]

34 minutes ago, Bino-viewer said:

>>>>> it was nice to get Big Mak and the Baader Amici prism out for a session. Even though I’ve been itching to get the newly repaired Titchy Sixty out. I’ll have to scratch that itch when there is much less Moon in the sky! <<<<<<

 

Despite the full moon, hopefully you can get out on Saturday evening  ?  There's some shadow chasing to be done !! 

 

 

Nice report. I've often thought about a Mak myself, but then i think it probably won't offer me anything more that what my 140mm refractor does.

Its the one scope type i've never owned. I've had my refractors, Newts and SCTs, but never a Mak (thats 6 refractors, 4 Newts and 3 SCTs i've owned over a 20+ year period)

Cooldown and possible 'fussiness' in less than decent seeing conditions have put me off Maks a bit.

 

 

 

 

When the Moon's full where I live it's like a searchlight. There's no escaping it! I like Mak's for their portability and compactness. Cool-down is a PITA admittedly. I much prefer refractors for a lot of reasons, most people do. Mak's are a bit niche  but they can be effective. 

 

 

I think they out-perform SCT's until about 180mm, then SCT's supposedly have the advantage.

 

 

I don't know why, possibly collimation problems. I've not seen a 235mm Maksutov. AFAIK Mak's were originally developed for the Russian military. The Gregory Spot was a US invention apparently. 

 

 

Never buy an Omegon Mak. These are sold under other names. I think they're Japanese. This 90mm cost as much as my 90mm Orion, but isn't half as good. It doesn't focus well over around 40x and the build quality is a bit Xmas cracker.

 

 

The 90mm Orion (Synta) is actually pretty good and super portable.

 

 

Definitely not as versatile as my 60mm frac above.

 

 

Could you get a 5", f/12 refractor plus accessories into this bag though? I think that's the Mak attraction. 

 

 

I think I'll give Saturday's killing moon a miss. 

[+Bino-viewer]

Haha, my favourite track by the bunnymen !! 😀

 

Today, whilst in the local area with work, i popped into Rother Valley optics to pick up a flight case for some eyepieces.

So, as usual, i left with my head spinning having had an 'upstairs tour' of their new showroom, basically full of telescopes.

I checked everything out 🙂  and i still have scopes on the brain !! 

Next year, hopefully i'll have some funds, and plan to add a smallish grab and go (90-100mm class) telescope to my main scope.

 

And i'll be out tomorrow, to try and see the eclipse. Always loved eclipses ; tomorrows forceast in Derby does not look great,

so it may be just a binocular session, if i'm dodging rain clouds. Fingers x'ed 🤞🏼

 

 

[Nightspore]

3 minutes ago, Bino-viewer said:

Haha, my favourite track by the bunnymen !! 😀

 

Today, whilst in the local area with work, i popped into Rother Valley optics to pick up a flight case for some eyepieces.

So, as usual, i left with my head spinning having had an 'upstairs tour' of their new showroom, basically full of telescopes.

I checked everything out 🙂  and i still have scopes on the brain !! 

Next year, hopefully i'll have some funds, and plan to add a smallish grab and go (90-100mm class) telescope to my main scope.

 

And i'll be out tomorrow, to try and see the eclipse. Always loved eclipses ; tomorrows forceast in Derby does not look great,

so it may be just a binocular session, if i'm dodging rain clouds. Fingers x'ed 🤞🏼

 

 

 

The Bunnymen rock! The forecast here (Worcestershire) is cloudy and rainy, nothing new there then lol. Good luck tomorrow.

 

 

 

My favourite Bunnymen track.

[+Bino-viewer]

Thanks 🙂

 

'Lips like sugar' is another of my favourites, and one you don't hear so often.