Meade ETX 70 First Impressions

Ok, this is my first ever scope and I wanted to give my impressions on it as a beginner.

First of all I haven't really got to use it a lot yet as it's been far too cloudy over the last few days. I did however get some nice views of the moon. Awesome.

For what I wanted it for the scope is pretty good (i think), its portable, easy to set up, its goto is definately a bonus for a beginner and itll complement my 10" dob nicely (whenever I finish it.......). Plus it was a bargain, good ol lidl.

I set it up and wandered out last night. It was cloudy but auriga and surrounds were clear enough. I aligned to north as best I could (i have no compass and polaris wasnt visible). I needed to set it up for two stars then to align it properly. So I set it up to capella, and eventually settled on what I thought was deneb (its pretty difficult to figure out which star is which when its cloudy!). It managed to find the moon on its own after that :shock: . The goto was working fairly well for a while but then disaster. I tried the andromeda galaxy (which I've seen before through binos) but couldn't find it.....maybe the moon was too bright? Anyway I kept searching for it and I must have confused the scope because it ended up thinking andormeda was in the middle of my hedge and I couldnt get it aligned again (damn clouds). Anyway, I dont care I got some great views of the moon; would've stayed out there all night if the clouds didnt ruin my plans.

Some things I dislike about it though. when the scope is tilted waaay up its a pain in the arse to use the focus knob and its a bit jerky when moved manually, ie without the motor. The left to right inversion also takes a bit of getting used to.

There was also something weird. When I was looking at the moon there was a thin bright yellow ring surrounding it. Is this a natural phenomenon or is this a failing of the optics...? I'm thinking optics, right?

All in all i think it was a good purchase.....plus I got a bag!

i just realised this should probably be in the Observing Equipment section.....
could some kindly moderator please move it?? :oops:

Thats chromatic abberation,
I found that I coukld induce it be having my eye too far from the eyepice,
and if I have my eye dead center and close to the lens, the yellow goes away ?? a wierd affect that I've not seen before.

i even managed to get it in green too.....weirdest thing to see the moon like that........

I looked up those meade ma eyepieces. Bottom of the barrell eyepieces apparently ( www.scopereviews.com/page3.html ). So, psychadelic effects are to be expected then I guess......

Spudnik - bottom of the barrel yes, but better than those supplied with the Skylux!

Wait 'til you get your hands on a 40mm Televue Nagler.... :shock:

I'm new to refractors so I'm looking forward to a psychedelic viewing session!

Dave

Spudnik - bottom of the barrel yes, but better than those supplied with the Skylux!

bottom of Meades barrel would be a compliment to most eyepieces you get with scopes!

Wait 'til you get your hands on a 40mm Televue Nagler.... :shock:

Those $500 hand grenades?

I've looked through a nagler once, and it felt as though I was falling into the eyepiece. Comparing these things to normal eyepieces is like comparing a TV to an IMAX theater! Once of these days I'll splash out on one.

Cheers,
~Al (yep cloudy and foggy again in Dublin!)