Dave1

Hi, as someone that has been following and using classic telescopes for awhile now. I can tell you circle K was made by Kenko. in Japan. Congratulation on a fine telescope. Very nice indeed. Dave

Very nice telescope. May you have many a enjoyable night observing with it.

This is a statement I whole heartedly agree with. I have the exact same sentiment.

Nice report, enjoyed reading it. Its surprising what can be seen with a small refractor.

It is indeed nice, its the original Skylight 102mm F15 telescope, the prototype the AR101.15 was based off of. It was the telescope all the astronomy magazines reviewed, and some of the experience observes here. The experienced observers, who wrote the review for the magazine rated the optics at 1/8 wave, which is very good indeed. It was up for sale, but I'm taking if off for sale. As I want to see what it will do on the planets when they are favourably placed in the night sky.

You've hit the nail on the head there, that's the only time that I could think a rotatable focuser would be an advantage, is imaging. I too took the decision not to go down that root. I just sketch at the eyepiece. 😀 I'd buy an 102ED now, but I don't think it would go down to well, here! When I do get around to getting one, if I still have my Skylight 102mm F15 I will do a comparison. The Skylight has 1/8 wave optics, so not to be sniffed at. I would expect an 102ED to do better though. All the reports I've read suggest they are excellent telescopes.

I will probably be buying one of these telescopes at some point. I don't see the fact that it doesn't come with a rotatable focuser as a big disadvantage. If I want to observe sat down in a chair, I simply loosen the thumb screw in the focuser tube and adjust the diagonal to the required angle, tighten thumb screw back up, and job done. I only usually do that adjustment once in the observation session. But then I only really observe the planets!

Congratulations on the new telescope, good find! From your first light report it sounds promising. You may guess from my signature, I like slow telescopes. 😎

Congratulations on the new telescope, it looks fantastic. Look forward to reading the first light report. 😎

Yep I behaved myself too and didn't take the plunge!

@F15Rules I was watching that auction on ebay too! Glad it went to a good home, and that it performs great. Dave

Looks very good! Interested in reading your first light report with this telescope.

I've been a member of the Brandon club for quite some while. It's my second Brandon, my first Brandon was the 8mm flat top. Which put up the best views of the moon I have ever seen. The 8mm has done just as good on the planets. I have high expectations for the 12mm Brandon on the Planets.

Well look what I went and collected from the post office today! Very excited to receive this. Brandon 12mm Flattop.

Hi Stu, I posted the results of last night's observing on my observation thread. Here's a photo of my new to me Skylight 102mm F15. Ready for an observation session tonight.

Ready for a Jupiter shoot out tonight. Towa 80mm F15 Vs Vixen 80mm F15. Which telescope will reveal the most detail!

@Lockie Yes I find exactly what you say to be the case. Quite a few people that have never looked through long focus refractors, comment on how good the stars are, and the contrast between the stars, the inky black back ground. @DirkSteele Richard is sadly not as active anymore on the astronomy front, due to personal reasons. I think now if you supply him with lenses he will make a telescope around them, and he may have the odd telescope come up every now and again for sale.

@Lockie I bet you regret letting the Skylight 60mm go. There is no false colour what so ever in my Skylight 60mm. Excellent optically. @Alan White Yes the history was on of the attractions. That and the fact I hold the 4" F15 telescopes as "the" classical telescope for viewing planets. Good job its arrived in time for planet season.

Yes I certainly do

That's right folks, I purchases the original prototype 001 Skylight 4" F15 telescope which Richard Day of Skylight telescope created in 2009. Which some of the members here tested, before letting the Astronomy press review the telescope, one of those magazines was Astronomy Now. It was made in the image of a Cooke refractor telescope , which separates it apart from the later Skylight AR101.15. Richard created a wonderful box to house the telescope. Can not wait to use this telescope! Will upload photo's as soon as possible.

Is that an encoder with the AYO Master II or a full goto system?

I didn't think you did have an axe to grind, I just like to learn and read everything I can to make a fully informed purchase. I have read some of the stuff on CN. At the moment I would say its between investing in Brandon's or the TAO's.

Crikey BillP, I'm not going to get all of them in one go! Not unless I win the lottery! It would be a very progressive purchasing strategy. I appreciate that they are somewhat speciality eyepieces. Most of my viewing is of stars or planets. I've never even seen a ZAO come up for sale on the secondhand market, so I don't have a clue to there value. Dave

From what I read in the review, the TOA's didn't best the TMB monocentric on axis performance on planets? I certainly didn't read it that way, the way I read it it was very close, with the TMB monocentrics just having the edge. I'd be very interested in reading over reviews of information on the TAK Ortho's If you don't mind sharing? Dave

Well as it goes I might buy a set Mike! That's one of the reasons I'm reading a lot about eyepieces and sharing some of what I find. I was going to invest in a set of Brandon eyepieces. Which I've already started down that road, with my acquisition of a Brandon 8mm. Although I have yet to use it, weather... I'm not so sure about the psychological impact thing, the reviewer in the link did come across as knowing what he was doing. Only using exactly the same focal length eyepieces, same scope, same diagonal, all in the same observing session, and his telescope was a TAK FS128, so a high quality scope. In good to exceptional seeing conditions there is every chance he could see the difference. To me it came across Apples for apples review. I'm not a fan or recessed eye lens either, prefer mine to be flush. Dave