11/04/2025
Story time...
A few weeks ago, following my return from an astronomy trip out to the Southwest, I started experiencing issues with my very much beloved Svbony SV555 telescope. My crystal clear images and pinpoint stars suddenly showed warping and discolored rings around medium to large stars. On a prior scope I had the same issue and it turned out to be a light leak coming from my filter wheel. Frustrating but an easy fix. I thought this was going to be a similar fix.
After examining the scope thoroughly and re-testing several times, the issues persisted. I was getting worried when I noticed something odd on the front of the dew shield - new scratch marks that I hadn't put there. I was never able to prove it conclusively, but I suspect that baggage handlers dropped the case carrying the scope and it popped open, dumping the scope on the ground and causing alignment issues. Of course they'd never admit to this so I was basically screwed. I pondered returning the scope to SVBony for repairs, but that would have been an expensive option.
In a last-ditch effort this past weekend, I completely disassembled the scope myself. It broke down into about four or five parts. Everywhere a lens was attached I checked the stability and tightened the cells. I also took apart and reseated the stops for the focus ring and cleaned each lens. After putting it back together I assembled it with my ZWO ASI585MC Air and ZWO autofocus in a very basic configuration. Last night I tested it again for the first time.
Aside from having a terrible time getting my guiding to work properly (which could be mount and not camera related) I finally got a good image (NGC 281, the Pacman Nebula). No halos, no rings, no warping. The color even looked good with the SV220 narrowband filter. I didn't get a lot of time on target, but I'm pleased with the result from these 5 minute exposures. Only two were unusable, again because of wonky guiding.
With all of my astro-gear breaking lately, I finally am able to say I fixed something. Next up is getting my Skywatcher EQM 35 Pro mount repaired so I can add my camera rotator and filter wheel back to the setup. My Star Adventurer GTi is a great little mount, but can't handle the weight.
