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After a period of about six years when it was not really possible to have a telescope I took up the hobby again in 1988 with the purchase of a state-of-the-art Meade LX5 10 inch f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain. This fork mounted 'scope sat on an equatorial wedge which in turn rode on a sturdy field tripod. It had a built-in RA drive and sported an add-on declination motor both of which were controlled with a handbox. No Goto of course.
This 'scope's optics never really lived up to my expectations. Wide angle views using a low powered eyepiece were satisfacory but high power views of the planets were usually disappointing. Many attempts were made to cure this by carefull collimation but to no avail. After the arrival of the Meade 12 inch SCT this LX5 was boxed for a while and then lent to a family member. In due course it was returned to storage but an attempt was made in 2011 to bring it back into use by adding an Argo Navis unit and associated optical encoders on the two axes and using the GStar-Ex mono video camera to deliver live views to a laptop screen. However, this was thwarted when the handbox failed and the drive motors on the two axes could no longer be controlled. It remains to be seen what will become of this elderly 'scope. |
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