John

15 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I have a 4mm TOE for lunar and there isn't much between that and the 4mm Nirvana 

I tried the TOE 4mm for a while but could not see any benefits from it that the Nagler zoom and XW's don't show. Nice eyepiece though. 

Well, if the OP's Lacerta UWAN is the same as the Nirvana's pictured above they should be "slightly improved" over the one that I had and have those better ergonomics as well. Win, win 🙂

I now use Pentax XW's (5mm and 3.5mm) and a Nagler 2-4mm zoom to cover that focal length.

It seems to be around magnitude 12.5 or 12.6 visually, according to this (latest record is at the bottom of the list):

Supernova 2023ixf in M101 (rochesterastronomy.org)

That seems to tally with the last time I observed it which was a few days ago now. 

Are zooms allowed ?

I've been a follower of space art since I was a teenager, Bonestell, Hardy, Foss, Dean and many others. The example you posted is one of the most evocative I agree.

I also discovered lots of these artists from 1970's album covers and the classic sci-fi novels that I used to read 🙂

I had the flat topped version for a while (as per the photo below). I think the optics in the new style bodies are the same. I found it a very good high power eyepiece. Better than I expected in fact. The very wide and well corrected field of view helped me because my scopes are on undriven alt-azimuth mounts. The eye relief is stated as 12mm but may be a little less than that in practice because of the inflexible eyecup on the type that I used. I don't wear glasses when observing so I had no problem seeing the whole field of view. Overall a nice eyepiece I thought. I used it in a 12 inch F/5.3 dobsonian and also in my 102mm and 120mm ED refractors which ranged from F/6.5 to F/7.5 back then.

29 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Was it a rotating Chair, John?

I didn't get that until I read your post twice Jeremy. Doh !!!! 😁

21 hours ago, Mr H in Yorkshire said:

Wow, that is one hell of a benefactor.

Yes indeed. A previous Chair of the society I believe.

20 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

Does the chair have any kind of reference system so you know where you are pointing John, or is it point and pan from your first known reference point. Either way, I want one 😉

I don't know yet - when it is up and running I hope to have some test drives.

I believe that it can be connected to a GOTO system on a mobile device but such things are not my forte 🙄

49 minutes ago, stormioV said:

Baader Zoom fov 

8mm 68 degrees
12mm 63 degrees
16mm 58 degrees
20mm 53 degrees
24mm 48 degrees

 

I think it is closer to 44 degrees at the 24mm setting.

2 hours ago, HollyHound said:

Bit late to this thread, but this is my setup for my DZ… also primarily using 1.25” eyepieces (XWs, ES 24 68deg and Nagler 3-6 Zoom).

Using the same 2” Baader diagonal as John, and all eyepieces come to focus around mid travel.

Good luck getting it all working… it’s a fantastic step up from the FC-76DCU 👍

I used a similar arrangement for a while. The 2 inch click lock that I used was the 2 inch push fit version. 

There are many solutions that work - it can be a bit bewildering 😵

Currently I've gone back to 1.25 inch only with my Tak but I may dabble with a 2 inch compatible arrangement again at some point.

11 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

It’s just as well Tak doesn’t make cameras otherwise I might have to take up photography 😊

Canon do though and Canon Optron make Tak objectives 🙂

Would you really want a sand cast camera ? 😁

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I have been solely observing for 40+ years. It may be a minority pastime these days though 🙄

In defence of imaging (which I don't do) you do not have to spend "thousands" to get into it. You do need to give more thought to your mount though. This is very important for the imaging side of amateur astronomy.

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

I personally wouldn't trust 4 x Morpheus in the Baader Q turret. It's only got one screw without a compression ring and was designed primarily for the BCO eyepieces.

I agree. I believe the Baader Q-Turret is largely plastic with alloy eyepiece sleeves. Fine for the lightweight Baader Classic's but Morpheus are much longer and heavier eyepieces.

16 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Clear again tonight 👍🏻

It's clear here as well ............. as far as the cloud base that is 😒

The 150mm binoculars and Starchair are being installed in a purpose build roll-off roof shed at the Bristol Astro Society observatory few miles west of Bristol.

We hold public observation events there as regularly as the weather allows.

The other instruments are a very high tech 12 inch Meade ACF installation within a dome and an 18 inch NGT newtonian in a roll-off shed.

I've been feeling a bit like that lately. Loads of lovely equipment but few chances to use it over the past few months 🤔

However, I'm trying to take the view that not being able to do much astronomy for a while will mean that a sweeter experience and heightened enthusiasm will come when conditions do get more favourable and I am able to get out under the stars again.

So far, I think I've managed to convince myself this will be the case. If the poor conditions continue for another couple of months though ........ 😬

10 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

.....Though you do get the impression Taks are a throwback to the sixties. 

This video covers the first 10 years of Takahashi telescopes, so from 1967 to 1977.

It is interesting to see what features you can see on the early ones that are still used on the more recent models and it's not just the focusers !

Takahashi Telescopes The First Ten Years - YouTube

Apologies to the OP of this thread for posting more on TAL's which I don't have - at least they are TAL's ! 

I've been doing a bit more digging (it's still raining !) and come across a couple more photos relating to the TAL Apolar 150 - a page from a manual which shows the specs and a photo of the objective. It clearly got close to a production model and was quite ambitious at F/6(ish).

The last 2 photos I've come across show a 1-off special that TAL apparently made for an observatory. It is a 200mm F/9 refractor. 1st time I've ever heard of this one:

I've never used or even seen one of these but I wonder if any made it into production ?

The 150mm TAL Apolar refractor (the original images of the prototype had the faces blanked out):

34 minutes ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

I don't know if I am right, but I always think Taks are designed for straight through viewing first off, and they do provide instructions on how to use other setups via the system charts....

 

I understand that Japanese folk like observing straight through so that could well be the explanation.

I can think of a number of other brands that have "quirky" focuser arrangements. TAL, Skywatcher, Orion Optics to name a few.

Luckily we have forums such as SGL where solutions and experience can be easily and quickly shared 🙂

25 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Here’s the DZ with 2 inch BBHS mirror and Pan 35 (I don’t have 41). It reaches focus at maximum focus extension. So I raised the the eyepiece a couple of mm

 

The Panoptic 35 has a different focal plane position to the Pan 41 according to the TV specs page:

Tele Vue Optics: Tele Vue Eyepiece Specifications

6 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

....I normally use in 1.25 inch mode.

 

I have my FC100-DL out as well.

I'm normally in 1.25 inch mode with that too 🙂

Your 1.25 inch Tak adapter seems a little different from Nicola's and mine Jeremy ?

The 2nd knurled ring seems deeper ?

Just now, Nicola Fletcher said:

No, apologies, this is the Tak 1.25 prism diagonal. It seems neither the  2 inch or 1.25 diagonals focus with the supplied extensions. 

I use a Baader T2 Zeiss prism diagonal with 1.25 inch fittings front and back. That goes straight into the 2 inch fitting on the end of the drawtube without the 71L extension. All my 1.25 inch eyepieces reach focus somewhere around the central part of the drawtube travel with that arrangement (pic below).