Starblast 4.5 Sketch Jupiter

Sketch of Jupiter from January 15, 2015.

17mm 2x barlow 52x

Starblast 4.5 Sketch Comet Lovejoy

The first sketch with the Starblast is comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy).  The sketch was made from my balcony on Monday, December 29, 2014.

Astro Tech High Grade Plossl - 17mm 26x

Orion Eplorer ll - 17mm 1.5 x barlow 39x

Starblast 4.5 Degree Circle

Due to the fact that the Starblast only came with a red dot type finder I thought it would make finding objects easier and faster by adding a degree circle to the base.

 I found the circle on the Cloudy Nights forum and had it resized to 12 1\2" and laminated.

 Since the circle rotates under the pointer the direction of the degrees have to be counter clockwise. 

 I used a pick tool for the pointer.
 I cut the pick in half with a dremel tool then painted it black and orange.
 I then drilled a hole in the base and put the pick in with a drop of super glue.

A compass is used to align the base.

The base is turned until zero is under the pointer.

The compass declination is set to True North and then placed against the base handle.  

The whole base is then turned until the compass needle lines up to North.

I use the same Wixey digital angle guage as my AD10 to get the correct altitude.

To use the degree circle I first find the object I'm looking for on Skysafari and get the Alt-Az readings. 

Turn the base until the azimuth reading on the degree circle is under the pointer and then move the tube in altitude to the correct alt reading on the Wixey. 

 I find that the object is never perfectly centered in the eyepiece but is close enough to find it easily!

Handles on the Apertura AD10 Base

Carrying the AD10 is not an easy task.  The only way to set it up is to take the tube from the base and carry it in two pieces.  But when I want to move it from one spot to another, I would have to bear hug the tube and base and this thing is awkward and heavy!  I decided the base needed handles.  Instead of adding handles and adding weight, I decided to cut some handles out of the base.

I used a drill with a spade bit and a jig saw.  After cutting the handles I used moleskin to line the insides of the handle holes.  Now carrying the scope is much easier.  It is still pretty heavy but it's not as awkward as before.

New Scope! Starblast 4.5

New goto scope the Orion Starblast 4.5!  This scope is easy to carry and setup on the balcony for quick viewing sessions.  I already used it to check out comet C/2014 E2 (Jacques).  The views are great and the mirror cools quick.  But since I like messing with things and making them to my liking, I took it completely apart and did some modifications.

First thing I did was flock the tube.  I used some of the self adhesive flocking paper I had left over from my AD10.  It didn't take much and it was pretty easy to do.

Next was the mirror center spot.  The original circle was pretty well centered but I bought a Farpoint Cheshire that came with a center spot triangle so I decided to use that instead.

The Farpoint centering template didn't have a 4.5 so I used the Catseye template instead.

Now using the Farpoint cheshire I can center the triangle in the cheshire much easier.

The secondary and spider.  

Using a compass to center the spider in the tube.

Putting the primary mirror back in the tube.

All together again and ready for the night sky!

Regluing Secondary Mirror

The edge of the secondary holder was pretty tight against the mirror and I read that sometimes the holder can pinch the mirror and mess with the views.  So until I can afford a better secondary mirror I decided to pry the mirror off and sand the holder.

  I also read that sometimes the mirror is held on with three pieces of double sided tape and sometimes silicone.  I had no idea what was holding this mirror so I drilled a couple of holes in the back of the holder hoping to be able to push it out from behind but the mirror was pressed in pretty tight and I couldn't get it to budge.  So the next step was to pry it loose from the front.
  I used a couple little flat screwdriver tools from my fishing reels and proceeded to follow the edge of the mirror around the holder to loosen it up a bit.  It was in pretty tight so I went slow and easy so I wouldn't chip the mirror.  Then I put in both tools and slowly pried the mirror up until I could feel the glue popping loose.

Finally I felt the last of the glue pop loose and the mirror was free!  This process took me about 30 minutes as I was being really careful not to chip the glass or slip and scratch the face of the mirror.  Very nerve wracking half hour!  The folks at Apertura just put globs of silicone on the back and pressed it in tight.  There was more silicone on one side than the other.

I scraped the silicone off with a razor blade then used alcohol as a degreaser for the back. Then I started on the holder.  I sanded the inside edge and kept checking until the mirror fit without touching the sides.  Once I got it to my liking I used alcohol to clean the holder edge where the silicone would sit.  

While the mirror was out I blackened the edges better with a Sharpie.  Being careful not to get it on the face of the mirror.

In my reading I found that there is supposed to be a space between the holder and the mirror so that the mirror can expand and extract on top of the silicone as it cools and not touch the holder itself.  I saw that most used toothpicks as spacers.  Since there was no way to pull out the toothpicks after the mirror was glued in , I figured I could use a thin cord that was about the same thickness as a toothpick.  For the silicone I used black Aquarium sealant from Petco.

I marked 3 spots with the sharpie where I would put the silicone then threaded the cord through the holes I drilled when trying to push the mirror out.  I also threaded some cord through the center screw holder.  Then used small pieces of tape to keep them in place.

Three globs of silicone and the holder is ready for the mirror!

I cut up a business card and used them to center the mirror in the holder.

I let the mirror dry for a couple days then pulled out the cord.  It worked like a charm!  The mirror was stuck on pretty good and there was a space between the mirror and the holder.  I screwed on the little holder at the top edge of the mirror and it was ready to be installed.  In my excitement to install and collimate the newly redone secondary I forgot to take a picture!  

The final step is to wait for the clouds to clear so I can try it out!

Update:

The secondary is working great!  Pinpoint stars in the clusters and great definition in Saturn.  Next is to take it out to my dark spot on a moonless night!

Messier Objects List

I've been out on the balcony a couple times and to my dark spot once (which was a different camp site than usual so I had trees blocking some of the sky).   There's been lots of clouds lately so I can't do much viewing.  Here's the Messier objects list so far.  I'll update it as I check off the objects.

 1          23          45          67          89

 2          24          46          68          90

 3          25          47          69          91

 4          26          48          70          92

 5          27          49          71          93

 6          28          50          72          94

 7          29          51          73          95

 8          30          52          74          96

 9          31          53          75          97

10         32          54          76          98

11          33          55          77          99

12          34          56          78        100

13          35          57          79        101

14          36          58          80        102

15          37          59          81        103

16          38          60          82        104

17          39          61          83        105

18          40          62          84        106

19          41          63          85        107

20          42          64          86        108

21          43          65          87        109
22          44          66          88        110

    

  List updated 11-26-14
  59 Messiers
List updated  1-28-15
  66 Messiers
List updated  2-18-15
  95 Messiers
List updated  3-16-16
  106 Messiers