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| At left, the Celestron Nexstar 6SE. To the right, the new Acuter Maksy 60. Note: the light blue Maksutov does not have a conventional finderscope but rather uses two sighting bumps on the left side of the tube. |
THE MINUSCULE MAK SERIES
Acuter 60mm Maksutov First Tips & Techniques
* Periodically check the tripod legs as they may need tightening.
* The frosted projection eyepiece will have a significantly different focus compared to the 20mm eyepiece.
* The frosted projection eyepiece shows the image in 1:1, i.e with no magnification as there are no magnifying lenses present, just a flat piece of glass. The projected image from the telescope is like prime focus, there is no extra magnification, i.e like a 1-inch FL eyepiece, the 750mm focal length will give approximately 29.5x.
* The telescope mount takes a standard 1/4th-inch camera mount/tripod screw
* At a pound weight, the lightweight telescope is perfect for attaching to other telescopes, to have a second powerful telescope, to use as a special finder telescope, to use with an autoguiding setup, to have a second telescope running at the same time but with different parameters (image scale, accessories, etc.).
* Use one of the three mounting holes and vary the position to help balance the telescope.
* The telescope does not need a finderscope, just use the two raised ticks to sight along the tube during the daytime. For nighttime use, dim illumination such as a nearby astro red light can provide just enough light to see it. You can get these on a headband, flashlight or as a nightlight. The red light will help keep the eyes dark adapted.
* When using the accessory solar sun filter, it normally goes on tight and then has an additional two screws to hold it as a safety feature.
* Try using lightweight aspheric EPs to maintain the telescopes lightweight.
* The minuscule 60mm aperture is ideal for viewing through a swath of window glass as it sees a smaller deviated angular wavefront thus making the image more sharp and clear.
* To better balance the telescope with a mobile phone and get greater tripod mount stability, move it back over and above the OTA Optical Tube Assembly.
* When using a mobile phone, use a remote bluetooth shutter. This will prevent the need to touch the phone screen when taking a photo and avoids vibration that degrades the image.
* Keep the side educational cover on to prevent dust from entering the inside.
The deck observatory floor is too narrow with elevational step levels to accommodate Celestron's tripod for the Nexstar 6 SE telescope.
The solution is found with an IKEA item of the proper diameter, thickness, shape and stability.
Deck 2 has a 16-inch width floor with a railing 49.5" high. The telescope is 16" from the base bottom to the top of the tube when pointed horizontal. The circular base is about 6.5" in diameter.
904.621.24 Ikea 2 is 15.4" wide and 29.2" tall.
(16+29.2=45.2", 49.5-45.2=4")
The legs will fit on the floor.
The height with telescope is 4-inches below the rail.
The bar stool is not tall enough.
Is there another solution using the tripod only? Open the window door and insert one leg of the tripod through onto the far end of the deck floor butted up against the limit, while the remaining two legs are inside the room. The height is full tripod adjustable.
This laundry shelf unit is 37" tall and 14" wide, wire mesh, 3 shelves. The telescope will set (37+16=53" to the top of horizontal tube)
The tripod was another story. As seen at the top in the photo, the pointy side of the legs had dug into the protective foam, gouging out a large area.
To the left in another box was the wrench and the tripod leg spacer plate.
Now it was time to set the parts on the table and inspect in more detail.
In the next post, we'll learn more about the alarming broken glass sound.
