A McEwan

My Vixen GP which I've had for.... longer than I'm actually sure of, but it's survived many other mounts over the years! works perfectly and I use it on my Berlebach UNI-18 whenever I want tracking or an EQ experience. I would love to try an SP too but have never had the chance.

<Polaris-envy...> 🥴

Orion is calling....

Thanks for all the help and advice. I have ordered a ZWO ASI178MC to get me started. Looking forward to getting started with it. Ant

A Takahashi TKA-21110 FS-60 to 2" adapter, so I can attach my DSLR. (which is not something I do very often at all!)

That's what I was thinking. Thanks! (Great Jupiter image by the way)

Ok, so I'm thinking I could probably increase my budget a little bit to get the ASI178. With the FS 60Q at f10 it would match the pixel size correctly, and if I could get the FC100 to ~f10 from f7.4 it would suit that too. I see there are colour and mono versions. Mono is more sensitive, but colour means I wouldn't have to use colour filters if I turned it to planetary imaging as well. I don't want to spend lots on this - filters and wheels would be a step too far at this point. So as a first lunar/planetary cam, would you recommend mono or colour ASI178? Ant

I started big and have worked my way down! FS-60Q arrived the other day.

I have an Extender-q 1.6x so I can get the FC100 to operate at f11.8. I believe I can also use it on the FS-60Q to achieve f16, but have not tried it yet. I will try and absorb the above information. Ant

Thanks also. The 178 has a lot more megapixels - an advantage in information acquisition, I assume? I think now some suggestions have been made I'll need to watch some reviews and see if I can work out the exact benefits of one over another, etc.

Am I right in saying the advantage of the 462 over the 290 is the increased resolution to capture larger areas and reduced noise level? (This is all a bit new to me, but I've seen ZWO cameras mentioned in a lot of places - and I like the red! )

Just for fun (or mostly for fun), can you suggest what would be a good effective way to get into lunar imaging with a limited budget of £250 tops! Let's assume it applies to me (🤪) and that I'll be using either of my Taks on a driven GP non-goto mount, and I'm most interested in lunar, either full disc or closeup style images. I have a Macbook Pro with SSD drive and USB 3.0 Let's also assume that I'm not "extremely" techie, but I can follow instructions! Although I do already own a DSLR it's really dedicated astro-style cameras/equipment that I'd like to see recommendations for. Thanks! 🌙

Have had some views! Last night and tonight I observed the Moon. Found I needed to use a shorter eyepiece holder to achieve focus with my eyepieces, but when I replaced it with a shorter one (saving 15mm of light path) all began to work well! I've only used it in f10 mode for now, and the Moon has been a blessing and a curse. Lunsr views are lovely with this scope. I really enjoy lunar viewing with small refractors, so this will fit perfectly for me. Razor sharp, super contrast. No flaring or scatter. Extremely minimal CA off the limb, and even that was only because I was specifically looking for it. The detail within Copernicus tonight was outstanding, and I had the best views with a 5mm Ortho (120x) The first cluster I looked at was the Pleiades, and it was radiant in the 24mm ES 68-degree eyepiece. The Nebulosity Was Obvious! Really Obvious! I've seen it in a 60mm scope before, but that was under a moonless sky, so I was surprised and pleased at how great the view was. M42 was next, and again a superb view, but I recently viewed it in 100mm and the difference was noticeable. Trap was split into four easily enough at 48x (12.5mm Ortho) and although I looked long and hard, no hint of E star. Upping the power to 120x didn't show it either but the seeing wasn't "perfect". I looked for various other DSOs in the region, and this is where the Moon became a curse. M78 was not seeable. No hint of the Flame. So I reverted to clusters and caught M35, M36, M37 and swung over for M1 the Crab Nebula too. It was easy enough to see, which did surprise me, but again the Moon drained the view of contrast. M81 and M82 were ok, but ....same problem again.... So I really need to get this scope out again after the Moon wanes to see what it's really capable of. I had two other frustrations too! 1) the centre spreader bar detached from one leg of my tripod as I was setting up! Not a big problem - I'll just fill the wood and redrill; an easy fix. 2) I could NOT get my Skysurfer III to align properly with the OTA. I had similar problems using it with my Tak FC100Df too. They both have More Blue finder attachment feet. I wonder if there's a link.... It feels like there isn't enough movement in the adjustment wheels. I will have to test in daylight again and maybe make a shim or something to make up the necessary adjustment distance. All in all a night of great fun and great frustration! The fun was the fault of the Tak. The frustration was the fault of everything else! 😛 Edit: fixed the finder issue by tsting n daylight and shimming the finder foot base. Perfect now.

Oh yes. 😕 Hoping for proper first light tonight now...! 🤩

It's possible (likely?) that Takahashi sell these exquisitely precision engineered (EXPENSIVE) end caps as optional extras. I expect they're on a "system chart" somewhere....