DirkSteele

After 6:30pm (which happens to be when the meetings start), the Outer Circle is free to park. Recommend you be somewhat near London Zoo as the Monkey Gate is the only one that remains open after dark as we have a key.

Where in London are you? If you are able, bring the scope to the next Baker Street Irregular Astronomers star party in Regents Park and we can take a look at the collimation (Nick, one of my fellow committee members is good with Newt collimation). Next meeting is probably last week of February. Find us on Facebook / google to get notified when the next meeting is.

You should reach out to Markus Ludes at APM in Germany. They are the worldwide exclusive agent for LZOS objectives so even if was made by another brand, the lens likely passed through him and he tends to keep a copy of the test certificates. If it is a custom job, he almost certainly sold it.

Certainly looks like a legitimate LZOS objective. There have been a couple of manutfacturers over the years that integrated LZOS objectives into Carbon Fibre tubes but your model does not exhibit shall we say some of the colourful flurishes they have. A&M example Officina Stellare Hiper Apo (believe they may have originall been A&M before a rebrand)

My breath condensing in the air every time I exhaled and the pretty glitter of ice forming on the paths! 😉 Was definitely a cold one last night! It was the monthly Baker Street Irregular Astronomers meeting in Regents Park. About 50 brave souls embraced the cold for some very clear skies. Long overdue after cloud cover during our last few meetings. Took the Tak FC-100 which was its first proper outing under the stars. Around 6 other telescopes in attendance including some of those clever imaging direct to your phone scopes which were quite impressive. Started out with Jupiter and the Moon, both of which showed some lovely detail though seeing wasn’t great. Then moved on to my bread and butter, DSO, taking in M42, M44 and M45 before going on a bit of open cluster kick In Cassiopeia including my favourite, NGC 457. Everyone who took a look was able to make out the little stick figure. Made a reckless attempt at some galaxies including M81/82 but with a manual mount and light from the Hub shinning direct in my eyes while searching, that ended in failure. Finished the night with my favourite colour contrasted double, Almach in Andromeda and back to M42 after a request from one of the brave and cold last few which was actually much better than earlier with some significant extension to the nebula surrounding the trapezium which were sparkling away. A great night of very cold (and I was wearing full ski gear!) observing. The wind that picked up after the clouds cleared was bitting.

The Tak FC-100 was throwing some very pleasing views of Jupiter, the Moon and several DSOs last night at the BSIA star party for the few that braved the cold.

It might have arrived at the end of October, but thanks to way too much work, birthdays and Christmas and rubbish weather, first light (not counting the 5 min check on Saturn sitting 40ft up on the roof of my house to mark sure all was well with the scope) for the Tak FC-100 only happened last night at the Baker Street Irregular Astronomers Star party in Regents Park. As forecast, cloudless skies arrived by 9pm but so did a bitter breeze and ice was forming on the pavement by the time we ended. Super impressed with what the scope delivered. Multiple bands on Jupiter and the GRS along with obvious differences in size and brightness of the four moons. Though seeing wasn’t great with anything above 150x being a fools errand today. Though I know this scope will do far more based on that 5 min peek at Saturn when it first arrived. Jet black shadows and icy whites on the moon with some wonderful detail along the terminator. It might be Bortle 9, but that never stops me chasing down DSOs to show off. M42, M44, M45 we’re highlights to the south, but I also hunted down several OCs in Cassiopeia including NGC 457 (E.T Cluster) and most attendees were able to see the little stick figure. A few more experienced astronomers noted that star colours really came through with this scope when they were taking peeks and I agree. Couldn’t resist a quick peak at the Double Cluster and I finished the evening with my favourite colour contrasted double star, Almach in Andromeda. Well not quite finished. With lights now off the Hub, the skies seemed just a bit darker and one first time attendee asked to see anything interesting so I spun the scope back round to M42. Using the 10mm Delos for 74x, the trapezium was nestled in warm robes of nebulosity which ha remarkable extension considering sky brightness. Transparency has clearly improved from earlier in the night. Very pleased with the performance and mounted on a Series 4 Gitzo carbon fibre tripod and Tele Optic Giro Mini, the whole setup weighed about 6kg and I could lift the whole thing with one hand. Made travelling across London far easier which was a primary motivation to buy the scope.

Took the Takahashi FC-100 to the Baker Street Astro star party in Regents Park last night. Fab clear skies but blimey, it was chilly! BT Nebula in the background.

Oh and in case anyone wants to learn more, thank the physicists at Trinity College Dublin. https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/how-does-santa-deliver-billions-of-gifts-in-one-night-quantum-physics-of-course/

A nice haul for me, though to make life easier I ordered part of this but my wife wrapped it. Happy Christmas!

It’s actually macroscopic quantum coherence. So both of them are correct.

About as tangential as you can get for the Astro Lounge but could not resist celestial crackers with stars. For those that celebrate, I hope Father Christmas brings you all the Astro goodies you asked for, and best wishes to all for a fantastic (and hopefully far clearer) 2024.

Nice write up and photos. Makes me want to do the same.

I think it is fantastic that someone is trying to push what is possible in optical technology forward (though I think we are probably spending the $1mn to get 1/10th of second lap time improvement like in F1 here) but I fear for the prospects of the company here as even idiots like me who spend way too much money on scopes won't spend 20k on a 4" scope. Still, if they want me to review one, I am more than happy to put it through its paces.

Opposite actually. Only has the 2” Feathertouch on it so the heavy lens pulls it forwards so need the scope far back in the tube rings to balance it. But balance it does when I do that.

Probably not adding much having read all the replies but I would be big advocate for a 5” scope when you already own a 4”. The increase in light grasp is as much as 70% which is very noticeable on DSOs at the eyepiece and the extra resolution on planets and double stars is also obvious. Given average seeing conditions, 5” will often show all that can be seen on the planets. It is however, amazing how quickly the scope seems to scale up with that extra 25-30mm of aperture. Even a lighter weight doublet will be that much longer such that moment of inertia becomes a factor meaning a more robust mounting solution is desirable. The below image exaggerates things a little as the 105/650 has a long sliding draw tube to keep transportation length down but compare it to my 130/1200 (both set to transportation length). On to the mount. My Tele Optic Ercole is more than up to the task of 2 4” class refactors, both triplets which with finders, diagonals and eyepieces was probably c.16kg. But it started to struggle (above 200x magnification) with my 130/1200 which is around 12kg with the same accessories.

Up until my early 30s I was able to see a couple of Jupiter’s moons naked eye so if they were not in the field with Jupiter (they would look like stars at 100x mag) then almost certainly your aim was off. To align your finder aim the scope at a distant terrestrial object like a telephone pole or building and then use the alignment screws on the finder bracket to adjust the finder so it shows you the same object as you see in the main scope. Centre it on the crosshairs. It is possible the scope will need to be collimated but we can get to that once you are definitely pointing where you think you are pointing.

A great age to start stargazing. I gave a 30 minute unprepared presentation about the solar system to my class when I was 8 as I was obsessed with the topic and knew far more about the planets than I do now over 35 years later but this was the age when I started using my dad’s binoculars to look at the night sky and I never stopped.

I hear stories like this so often with eBay. Unfortunately you have sold to a thief. Honestly, if I were selling something on eBay, I would film the whole packing and posting to prove it was dispatched as described so I had concrete evidence when this happens.

Just to be clear they are not 10x and 20x eyepeices. The 10 and 20 refers to their focal lengths in mm. To calculate the magnification they will produce in your scope, you divide the focal length of the telescope (in this case 650mm) by the eyepiece focal length so you will have 32.5x and 65x with the two supplied eyepieces. If the scope is well collimated, the 65x will show some modest detail but you will need a shorter focal length eyepiece to get the magnification up a bit more to really start getting a satisfying view of the planets. A barlow is one option but it will only "create" 3 eyepeices as the 20mm becomes 10mm (assuming 2x barlow) and the 10mm becomes 5mm. Do not buy a really cheap one as it may have plastic lenses and perform very poorly but that is not to say you need to spend a fortune either. The alternative is to buy a shorter eyepiece. Something around 4 to 5mm would be a decent choice.

One of the first articles I wrote for my website back in 2013 was "Prettest Colour contrasted double stars." I had been on a bit of a double star kick that year and in particular the ones that show different colours so I collated my top 35. Table of that list is on the link. http://alpha-lyrae.co.uk/2013/11/13/prettiest-colour-contrasted-double-stars/ Makes me want to go back over the list as I have not visited a great many of those in many years.

Welcome back though its not quite you without your Worzel Gummidge profile pic!

The focused image is when it is at is smallest. Stars will still look like points of light regardless of magnifcation used as they are too distant to be resolved in telescopes. Planets are also in focus when the image is smallest. If you want a larger image of Jupiter for example, you need to use a high power (shorter focal length eyepiece). But once again the focused image is when it is at its smallest. As you move away from focus, the spider vanes and secondary mirror shadow will become visible. As Stu mentioned in his post, you will see defraction spikes around stars and planets which is perfectly normally for a Newtonian scope.

I believe the fork mounted C8 sold for $795 back in 1974 so goodness knows how much the C14 was!