Space Hopper

A beauty.

I've often thought about a C11 Edge.

Very nice.

John tried to persuade me to buy one at the IAS a couple of years ago, and he offered me a nice discount too.

But i didn't take the plunge that day. I was ever so slightly tempted and had the funds, but i was saving that up for my refractor.

I really like refractors and i've read the OMC 200 is perhaps not best suited to UK skys

Best of luck with the new scope ; it looks a beauty and i hope it gives you some great views / images.

I'm a little late with this discussion. Two of my own mounts :

I purchased a Discmounts DM6 from the US when we were getting $1.70 / £   (2015 i think)

Manual alt-az only yet is designed to carry upto a 150mm refractor / 11" SCT class of scope.

Its excellent and i've fitted encoders / Nexus DSC to it. No slow motion controls though, but it doesn't really need it.

I wouldn't say it was easy grab / go, but its fairly straightforward to manage. It has a pier extension for a larger refractor as well.

I would say a Berlebach Planet is a minimum spec tripod for a Tec 140. Or a Losmandy FHD.

I used to own a WO 132 FLT which is a similar size / weight to a Tec 140 but used a Berlebach Uni with it. Borderline, but is ok for visual

I also purchased a TTS-Panther at the beginning of 2018, but then sold all of my refractors and Cats, and some other gear with a plan to save and purchase a new refractor,

a kind of retirement present and thats still where i'm at.  So i have the mounts but not the Tec 140 !!! 

Cloudy in Derby mainly ; with the odd clearer bit here and there

Had a quick look with the binocs, but it wasn't clear enough to get the scope out.

Wow..! I thought you'd see a few mm, but 1.5" ?? 😵

Thats a big difference. Little wonder you're seeing comets for stars.

Good idea. It will be interesting to see the results.

Eddgie is a top man on the CN site. I've learnt alot from him.

It does indeed sound like you have a touch of focuser sag.

When i first purchased my old OO 10" i could see noticable sag when using my old N31 eyepiece (1 kg load)

OO focusers didn't ever have enough out focus with a 2" eyepiece so you were always forced to use an extension.

The bottom line : the older type OO focusers are not up to the job a lot of the time. Certainly not for a heavy binoviewer setup. Mine weighs 1.85kg fully loaded

and cheap, crappy focusers are simply not designed to carry that sort of weight.

The Moonlite is a good starting point, but even that could eventually start to fail as Eddgie points out and it happened to him.

But he's a prolific user and observer, and to 'wear out' a focusers bearings takes a bit of doing.

The extravagant solution would be to spend £600- £700 on a Feathertouch which are bomb proof and last a lifetime,

or invest in the cheaper Moonlite (£300 ish with kit) which is a lovely focuser and should do the job ok with normal usage.

Mine certainly works well enough. 

I cant do the binoviewer laser test with mine as i only have a 2" laser, but i'd be very interested to try it out with an 1.25" given the chance.

I've no reportable issues with the thin rolled tube 'flexing' either.

It may flex a tiny tiny amount, but i've not seen any degradation in performance.

I've thought about doing a tube upgrade, as another chap on here has done recently to a carbon fibre tube, but its not on the top of my list of priorities at the moment.

I don't get too concerned with collimation at all with my F4 either : it seems to hold it pretty well with only minute adjustments needed with my Glatters.

All 3 power settings with my 24P's yield good views and star shapes. Ok : the outer 10% of the fov may not be perfect but its not too noticable for me and my 52yr old eyes.

I get 60x 90x and 120x magnifications which is ideal for most deep sky work and other stuff as well, and i often do a whole session with just the 24 eyepieces alone.

The photo below shows my old OO scope and its rather poor focuser which had the in built extender in it.

Even fully racked out i had to unseat the eyepiece by a centimetre to reach focus.

Although the image doesn't show it that well there was an obvious sag with that 1Kg eyepiece in that position. No surprise really.  

The focuser worked well enough otherwise with 1.25" glass, but fell well short of what i personally required.

I'm not sure you should 'remove it'.

Its designed to 'extend' to enable you to focus. Note how mine is extended a touch.

Nice system you have there. In fact its a beauty. I love the 45mm OCS. Mine is a 40mm as its an Earthwin. It works well enough, but with an F4 the 45 OCS is a good move.

A Coma Corrector is not needed with the OPs binoviewer set up.

The OCS will remove it sufficiently for it not to be as issue. Baader do a similar item for use in their own systems.

Regarding collimation, i've never had a problem with my own F4 which i find just as easy to do as when i had my old 10" F6.3

(i also use the excellent Glatter / Tublug combo)

10" too big / heavy......?? 

I would suggest a gym membership and / or a well positioned carry handle 😉

I'm still a bit puzzled as to why you can't get focus on mid or high powers ??

May be worth asking on the CN forum (bino-viewers). 'Eddgie' who is the expert on there may be able to help.

If you could post a pic of this alledged 'sag', that would be useful.

I went for the Moonlite CR2 from FLO, but with the non standard extra long drawtube. Mine is a 60mm, and they used to do a 70mm as well.

As these are non standard there may a wait to get one shipped in from the US (a month or so)

However, the 'standard' 50mm will probably be ok : If you use the large 1" spacer or both the 1" and 1/2" that they supply.

Another possible option is to raise the primary up to its higher setting (OO have 2 different settings for this ; mine does)

Its a bit of a trial and error thing with a bino / powerswitch / newt setup. A bit of a juggling act.

What you want to look for is being able to get the low power switch to focus as 'close in as you can' by either raising the primary or trying different focuser spacer options etc.

You can of course simply adjust the OCS position to do this, but remember, the further out you set it the higher the base power will be, ie it won't be the advertised 1.2 or 1.3x

but more like 1.4x or 1.5x. And we want our low power to be as low as we can for those wide field, rich field views. Its quite a feat to be able to get 60x with a 12" Newt with a binoviewer.

Post some pics and keep us posted with how you get on.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/moonlite-focusers/moonlite-cr-dual-rate-tri-knob-crayford-focuser-for-newtonians.html

My light pollution is so bad from home, i recently took a 30s sub with my old Sony A7iii and 40mm F1.2 lens wide open, iso 1600

and all i got was a pure white image. No sign of any stars at all, just massive over-exposure.

Superb 😀

If only we could see it from UK latitudes.....

Its a stunning area of sky isn't it ?

I was in Boa Vista in April, and had several evenings tracking down Omega Cent and the southern cross, with the Eta Carinae  nebulae to its right.

Despite being a bit low down it was a memorable sight.

I was in there myself a week last Wednesday (6th) and had a glance at it.

Worth getting in touch with them.......

I know its a trek from Hampshire dude, but Rother Valley (near Sheffield)

have had a second hand OMC for sale for a while now.

Its not listed on their website (used items) so may have been sold.

Maybe worth giving Adam a call.......

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk

21 hours ago, djpaul said:

And I'm also looking to purchase a 4 inch tak as my next scope.

Ooooh.....Takahashi Paul. Very nice. I'm on the list for a 4" as well. Its not a Tak though....

Hopefully see you at the IAS perhaps in November ?

Paz : FYI the Maxbright Mk 2 will soon be available, sometime this autumn i think.

Info in link.

https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/baader-maxbright-2-binoviewer-with-case.html

Another recommendation......

http://www.astronomiser.co.uk/index.htm

Munich, Germany.

The total phase was clouded out......typical ☹️

I'm ready to see another one. (not on the other side of the world)

It looks to me to have similarities to the ES 92º range (12 &  17º ?) when you see that ES have their own 68, 82 & 100º options.

A comparison of the Tv A11 and the ES 92- 12 would be interesting.

I still think (knowing Tv) the price will be closer to £1000 than it will be to £500.

I have no plans to buy one btw, as i much prefer the 2 eyed view and have everything i need (pretty much)

My deposit was 30% (£2250 or thereabouts)

Mine is through Astrograph. Rupert is great to deal with.

FYI, there is currently a 12 month + wait time for the TEC140FL.

I know, because i have been waiting for precisely that long......

Shall we have a 'Sportsmans sweepstake' on the UK price ??

If indeed, any actually make it over here. 

I will take a punt at  £ 899 

My DiscMounts DM6. Unpowered alt - az. 

Its a rare beast in the UK.

Great for easy sessions and will hold a big scope.

No counterweights, no wires everywhere, no crappy handsets.

Add a Nexus DSC and encoders and the sky is the limit.

On 04/07/2019 at 23:42, devdusty said:

One of the reasons I wanted to buy a telescope was to observe the colourful double stars. Just read in July edition of Astronomy Now magazine that Albireo ,s wonderful colours will be washed out to some degree in a light polluted area.

it would seem pointless to buy a telescope for a light polluted back garden., If this is the case.

Chris P

If you're worried about light pollution, take a drive west to Dartmoor.

Its almost in your backyard. They'll be a lot less light pollution there.