Kobayashi Maru

Can I ask why the preference? My main concern re Unanometria is that it's a book rather than spiral bound so may be difficult to use in the field. I do like its map scale though.

Purchased new telescope when I’m wanting to do a lot of observing…clouds….so many clouds. Get a clear night after weeks of clouds. Set alarm for 2am. Woke up to observe…full moon.

I assume this is the correct forum? Looking for a step up from the Cambridge star atlas. Interstellarum or Uranometria all sky? Both are approximately the same price.....I probably can't go wrong but views would be appreciated. I suppose I should also consider their supporting guides. Thanks in advance.

Surely something in astronomy cant be as simple as you first expect! I'm going to need a lie down.

Yeah I saw that as well. Originally I saw the TSS Panther mount referred to as isostatic. https://trackthestars.com/tts-160-panther-telescope-mount/ . Someone on SGL made DIY solution with similar mechanics. I think some other reversed fork mounts are also referred to as such.

One day Ill get into imaging/EAA....but so many wires! I already spend way too much time tweaking my scopes...I would have to give up my day job!

...and the size. A 10 inch is a big boy. Mine is a solid tube and pretty awkward to move about. The truss dobs would be easier but have other issues obviously (collimation, light shrouds, set up).

I would reiterate the benefits of tweaking the mount on the cheaper dobs. Replacing the needle bearings with Teflon pads did wonders for my 10" GSO.

Do these sorts of eyepieces work well (or ok) in F5 scopes?

Out of interest the Actual astronomy podcast (not affiliated) has a resent episode on the history of the 100mm Taks...there are quite a few. Interesting listening as they also go into the history of the company.

Please forgive my ignorance but what is an isostatic mount? I know what one looks like and I think I understand why they would be well balanced and easily panned...but what makes them isostatic? - The counterweights ensure even balance in altitude - The fork would help with torsional forces when panning Is that it? If that is it wouldn't a T mount with a forked tiller also be isostatic?

Welllll……when I say teeth I mean those we picked up after our farther had beaten us to death the day before for complaining about the lack of stars. Inky blackness….We used to dream of inky blackness! All we had was clouds! And we couldn’t even them due to the death beating of the day before…of course things were tougher back then.

Grinding your own mirror!? Luxury!!! When I was young we had to make our telescopes out of used drinking straws and the bottom of coke bottles which we ground with our teeth! Try telling that to the young ones today and they won’t believe you!

Thanks for all the replies. the mythic telescope idea is interesting. I’ve always wondered how much magical thinking there is in astronomy. Is it similar to hifi with their god speaker cables etc.

Yeah. There is also that matter of diminishing returns I suspect

This seems a good approach to me. I’m in NZ , have fairy good seeing, and I’m not too far away (30mm) from pretty dark sky’s. I have a feeling a 100mm may make to to those dark sky’s more often

A second hand one is/was available on trademe here in NZ. $15k nzd. Ouch

My question was badly phrased. It’s more around whether a triplet or quadruplet makes a discernible difference. Seems like they may but with diminishing returns?

Thanks. Nice to know. Do you use the counterweight with the refractor?

Thanks Gerry...that is quite an endorsement of the 100mm Tak. I imagine the TSA is amazing. I may have to start saving my pennies.

A very nice scope. Does it being a triplet help visually? I'm not too concerned about weight, I have the 72ed for that, just wondering if the difference between a doublet and a triplet is apparent?

Just found this thread on page two. Seems pretty close to what I'm doing.

Hi all I currently have a sw72ed and a 10' dob. seems like a nice complimentary pair. Visual only. Low tech mounts I'm looking to start searching for my next scope. I have acquisition fever. My immediate reaction is a 5 inch apo/achro or a 6/8" mak/cass but as I'm relatively new to this game I'm not sure what would be a better fit. Anything up to Takahashi prices would work, although I assume that for visual I don't need perfect optics. Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

The bolts would still have to pull through 7-8mm of aluminium. Even with the leverage of a long scope that would require a huge amount of force. The scopes tube would deform and collapse well before the bolts pull out. Just did a quick google search. There are calculations you could do but the first result seems close enough. https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=292990 TLDR - 5/16th bolt with 5/8th engagement has a pull out resistance of about 6.8 tonne. The plate itself would fail well before you reach that i imagine.

An old engineer (my father) tells me a 1/4 inch bolt will hold about 1 tonne in tension. While there will be a little shear force in your setup I suspect you should be good.