The glory of the 'heavens' above us are real, their starry splendour is visible to those who look up; but the glory of 'Heaven' is a sad delusion of human minds. This is the personal blog site of an atheist astronomer.
Wise words
"Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people."
It was easier than I thought - once I knew what to do!
I've had my Meade LX-90 since 2008. It was my second telescope and it served me very well for eyepiece observing. It also helped me to get into astro-imaging using a DSLR camera, although imaging is not a strong point for any alt-az mounted telescope. It's been magnificent and was still fully functional right up to the time I decided to de-fork it.
In 2017 I decided that to go any further with astro-imaging I would need to acquire a telescope with an an equatorial mount. I purchased a Skywatcher Esprit 120 telescope with an EQ6R-Pro mount and the fork-mounted LX-90 with its own integral mount was then only used occasionally for general observing. Over a period of four years I also purchased a ZWO ASI071 astro-camera and upgraded the systems to ASCOM and EQMOD, giving me full laptop control.
The LX-90 languished in its box; and for a year I have contemplated mounting it on my EQ6. When I finally took the plunge, I de-forked it in less than an hour using the amazingly simple instructions I found on the Cloudy Nights Forum, without which I would have taken much longer and probably would have damaged the telescope in the process.
In no time at all I had it mounted it on my EQ6 and it is now waiting for a test run.
The Esprit, at 840mm focal length, gives me images of 1.5° x 1.0° using the ZWO ASI071. The LX-90 at 2000 mm will give me images of an estimated 38' x 25' using the same camera. Hopefully it will give me some improved images of planets, planetary nebulae and small galaxies.
This is what it looked like when I first added it to the EQ6:
This is what it looked like with everything wired up:
Now I am left with the remaining parts - the fork, the mount, the handbox etc., which are all worth something to someone in need of a replacement fork or spare parts.
I cannot be contacted through this blog site but I am contactable via twitter @ggreybeard or through the contact page of my other blog site: Cosmic Focus