Marki

8 hours ago, Spile said:

I can recommend the Stein Inn for its real ales, location and just about everything else! We stayed in the cottage at the top of the hill.

Love the Stein Inn  - good beer and a decent meal too.  Stayed a couple of cottages down, near the jetty a few times, a couple of years back. Took a 125mm scope and had one really good night, but rained out the rest of the week both times we stayed up there - still, washed the midges away!

And its not a "school night".... . Forecast looks excellent here! Fingers crossed... .

 Well, the BBC forecast is looking good. Clearoutside shows the total opposite and tells me I'm currently under 91% cloud.... better put me coat on again as the blinding sunshine I can actually see had me fooled

Me too - in the steady moments I can get down to 4km or better in that group (and the set just above X). Nice and sharp earlier to about 270x. Not worth going higher (althoguh I tried - bigger dimmer images, but not any real extra detail). Now the moon has just gone behind my roof ; can't be bothered to move the scope, so going for doubles in Bootis instead.

Already had some lovely time on the moon tonight - seems pretty steady and good seeing to me so far (and really enjoying what my 130mm can show me in terms of lunar detail!).

Hope you are all having as good a night as mine is promising to be!

As a newly minted Russian miracle glass afficionado, all I can say is the Lutkarino Zavod is Observing the Situation... .

11 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Not the biggest or most expensive, but it in my most humble opinion, deserves a place in the 'frac' thread...

 

We don't care about size or expense - just so long as its long(ish) and pointy with the glass at the right end

APM LZOS 130 F/9 in action last night (too tired for tonight). Flippin' love this machine

Hi and welcome

Welcome back :). Another TAL fan here - I have two of the TAL achromat refractors, a 100RS and a 125R. I love the robust build of the TALs and their generally excellent optics! Hope you get some quality time and clear skies for your Alkor soon!

Impressive!

The ingenuity of SGL members never fails to impress me! Do you intend to "finish" it, or will it be an ongoing "work in progress" to be updated at each apparition?

Thanks John. I use the AZEQ in mainly EQ mode at the moment - this is mainly as it gets the tube a little higher fromthe ground. I did have short prier extension but it wasn't really "tight" with shifted as the scope slewed - not ideal. I've been looking into different models of pier extension/mounting recently but I don't have the option of a permanent set-up regretfully. For now bend or kneel. And my back doesn't tahnk me for it... .;)

A few observations on my LZOS. I find the dew shield cover a bit of a pain; its one of those screw-in  types (how do you call them?) and is surprisingly noisey at 2am when packing up.... :). The scope is really quite heavy; I've just weighed it at 11.5 kg with rings, plate and handle and dewshield cap. Thats fully 2kg more than my SW Evostar 150 ED.

The tube is finished in that slightly textured powdered paint. The dewshield cap is metal.

I nearly dropped the scope whilst trying to get it on my mount. I'd forgotten to open up the saddle grip enough for the losmandy plate (only ever had skywatcher/vixen dovetail plates before). I started to rapidly unscrew the grip even more whilst trying to support the scope, and went too far and the grip piece fell out of the saddle entirely! I'd have been in serious trouble but for the handle!

Once safely attached and balanced, the AZEQ 6GT handled the scope with no problem at all, with little vibration. I wouldn't like to use anything in a lighter class though. Although heavier, the scope seemed happier on the mount than the 150 - maybe because the overall configuration is shorter and the mass more centrally balanced? I felt there was less vibration in the whole setup anyway.

Despite some episodes of cloud-dodging I was able to get a couple of hours in last night. The seeing and transparency were variable - seemed to be a fair bit of moisture in the air, but things generally got better after c. 1am. My initial impressions were effectively confirmed with regard to the optical qualities of the lens - simply better than anything else I have looked through (I admit my experience is somewhat limited though). I can only put that down to the way light is just put in the right place, so that the contrast is maximised.

I tried it out on a number of targets. A few gighlights from my notes: M3 and (especially) M13 were wonderful  - subtly scintillating with myriads pinpricks of light as the edges of the clusters just began to resolve. M57 a clear ghostly smoke ring. M81 and 82 clear and obvious. I tried many of my usual doubles in and around Bootis, with very pleasing results. Izar was a walk in the park. I even had some luck with Zeta herc, a target that has repeatedly frustrated me in the past. Although not clear, I could distinctly see the secondary, waving in and out of vision on the edge of the first diffraction ring as moments of clear seeing came and went. 240x  - went to 360x but wasn't really any better (I think seeing wasn't really up to that high mag). I don't know whether this is simply because I'd got my eye in better or the seeing had improved or this is really a tribute to the opitcal quality of this scope, but I've never got that close with any of my other scopes before.  Can't wait to try this out on the moon and the planets!

A couple of final thoughts. M13 in particular does look better in my 150ED. Not withstanding the better quality of the LZOS's lens, up against a decent quality ED in tonights seeing, the extra 20mm of aperture edged it on this sort of target. Actually, the SW150ED holds up pretty well, especially when you consider its effectively more than three-times less expensive.

Nevertheless, I am very happy with last night's first night for the LZOS and consider myself very fortunate to be able to have both this and the SW150ED in my current stable.

GReat report!

'Though I did eat two Curley-Whirleys earlier' made me actually laugh out loud

So, the clouds have parted and the scope has been out an hour. I'll post a proper first light report later, but for now all I'll say is, I get it. I now get it. I really finally get it. I get why a premium 'frac justifies its title. I also have a better appreciation of just how good a telescope a third the price can actually be as well.

A quick star test on Arcturus shows no false colour, absolutely none, inside or outside of focus (or actually at focus more importantly ;)) @240x. Near perfect and identical diffractions rings either side too and so far as I can tell given the conditions, no sign of coma or astgmatism etc.

So far so good.... 

Thanks John.

33 minutes ago, John said:

 

It is quite hard to track the model history and specs of the TMB/LZOS/APM triplets. Quite a lot were made to bespoke specifications or have been later modified by owners.

 

 

You're not kidding. Just been reading up some of the very long, convoluted, tortuous and even heated threads about the evolution of the 130 f/9 (ish) design, cool-down times and actual focal lengths over on CN..... . Informative, but exhausting in equal measure ;). After all that, at this point all I want is a clear night to try mine out... ;).

That's stunning.!

Blimey - braver man than me, Space Hopper! A kruppax tube would be well worth it though!

I'm hoping that there might be some breaks in the cloud over York tomorrow, so I might be able to get a first light in. I'm curious to see how long the scope needs to cool down too -  I imagine it might take a little longer than the doublets I'm used to... . John, how long does yours take?

I'm sure its availability, as you say John. The waiting lists coupled with export/import costs for us here in the UK probably really have a limiting effect. I'd love to look through one though!

1 hour ago, Ags said:

Today in the post: a true marmite item... i hope I like this Marmite!

I bought the turret set with the four orthos and the barlow. All the eyepieces are excellent pieces of kit, but oddly, I haven't got around to actually using the turret :).

29 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

Really nice @Marki

I'm sure some beautiful views await you.

I have the smaller brother (105/650 : No.509)  same tube / rings, handle etc, but with the smaller 2.5" focuser.

It will shortly be undergoing 'modification'.

 

 

Thanks :). What modifications do you have in mind? I must admit I was tempted to add an FT .... ;).

Thanks N.F. Mostly visual with this, which is why I went for f9 rather than the f6 version. I think there is a reducer available for the f9, but I have other options for imaging (a nice little teleskop-service 80mm ed to practice with :)).

I have succumbed finally. Too much reading of too many posts about exotic glass has finally sent me over the edge. So here is the object of my desire, the telescope I have been dreaming of since I first read about them.

It arrived well-protected and well-packaged. Rupert at Astrograph was excellent with his advice and communication. This one has an aluminium tube, with a 3.7" stock focusser. Came with a losmandy plate, cnc rings and carry handle. I love the deep green tinge to the coating of the lens, serial number 133 (and the clouds are rolling over the skies of York right on cue, so I don't know when the first light will be....). Much more front-end heavy compared to my SW150ED doublet, and I think about the same weight (if not more) with rings etc. fitted. Feels like a nice piece of equipment, really nicely made.

Mine is badged as an APM APO Super ED 130-1200. Although, the focal length is given as 1170 to get to f/9. Not sure if earlier versions were longer (like f9.23 and really 1200mm in length)? And I'm not sure whether the serial number refers to the newer production run for 1170 f/9 only?

Anyway, obligatory unboxing photos below:

So, this happened ;). I'll put a proper unboxing post up in the Discussion SCope/Whole Setups section later ... .

I don' know, some scopes are truely beautiful things to look at and to feel and handle.... . May has well have a nice one to look at given that here in the UK the clouds will generally mean I'll not be looking through it anyway ;).