Welcome to the Backyard Universe

Checkout our useful upgrades for Newtonian telescopes from Skywatcher & Co.

Especially the CNC-milled secondary spiders provide exceptional stability, both mechanically and in terms of collimation properties, and produce perfect star spikes. An upgrade that many of our customers have described as the "best investment for the telescope".

Due to high-precision manufacturing on modern CNC milling machines, the struts of the secondary mirror spiders have a perfect edges and are precisely aligned, resulting in diffraction effects close to the theoretical optimum. In combination with the matte surface of the secondary spiders which are made of aluminum 6061 (EN AW6061), the results are razor-sharp and fine spikes.

The CNC machined mirror masks can be eliminate disturbing diffraction effects which come from mirror holders as well as errors caused by the grinding process of the main mirror (e.g. a falling edge). A perfekt match!!!

NEWS

For all star gazing enthusiasts from the UK, there is now good news!

FirstLightOptics has added my products to their portfolio.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/misc.html

New Products

HowTo's - Installation instructions and tips for tuning

In order to leave no questions unanswered for the installation of our products, we have added installation instructions and useful tips for the tuning of Newtonian telescopes in our new HowTo's section.

HowTo's

Installation Instructions and Tuning Tips

Top Seller

An overview of the advantages

Especially in the field of astrophotography, our upgrades offer significant advantages and improve the imaging performance of the entire system significantly. But also the mechanical stability and collimation properties as well as the collimation stability will be improved.

Star Imaging

The diffraction-induced spikes on stars become razor-sharp. The typical spreading, which is caused by the inaccurately aligned struts of less stable secondary mirrors, is therefore impossible.

Collimation

Due to the stable design of the aluminum (EN AW 6061) secondary spiders, the collimation properties of the Newtonian telescope are significantly improved. Once adjusted, the Newton holds the collimation longer.

Stability

The solid outer ring of the secondary spider stabilizes the tube in the area of the focuser (OAZ). This reduces deformations caused by heavy weights on the OAZ (cameras and accessories), especially when using steel tubes.

Original configuration, Skywatcher 200PDS without any modifications

CNC machined secondary spider SW200 made of aluminum (EN AW 6061) and mirror mask made by 3D printing (PLA, treated with anti-reflective paint)

CNC machined secondary spider SW200 and CNC machined primary mirror mask SW200

The images shown here are single subs of Dubhe (original sub, background corrected), Deneb (unprocessed) and Sadr (unprocessed) captured with th 26MP QHY268C on my modified Skywatcher 200PDS. You can clearly see the improvement (star spikes) due to the cnc machined secondary spider and also a significant difference (haze around the star) between the 3D printed primary mirror mask and the CNC machined primary mirror mask made of matte anodized aluminum.

(NOTE: The image of SADR was taken at about 90% moon which results in a slightly brighter background)