Nicola Fletcher

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

Many thanks, Nicola!

I feel I did the right thing for me personally. I traded a fantastic scope for a fantastic slightly smaller scope plus a set of 6 excellent LVW eyepieces.

The new scope is a good deal smaller all around than the Tak:

The Vixen will save me I estimate around 4 -5kg in weight between the OTA tubes (Tak 7.5kg (plus the clamshell, see below), vs Vixen 6.2kg, tube only,

It will also save around 24cm in maximum extended tube length    (Tak 1176mm vs Vixen 930mm).

..and tube diameter (Tak FS128 145mm vs Vixen 125mm), so less bulky all round. 

In addition, the Tak's cast aluminium dewshield  is a hefty 185mm in diameter, and it's cast aluminium dewshield "manhole" cover (which is great), must add another 500gms or so, compared to the almost weightless, but efficient Vixen plastic dewshield.

Finally, the Tak Clamshell (which is fantastic!) must weigh 1.5 to 2 kg, much more than the Vixens' tube rings and dovetail.

All that said, in the flesh, the Vixen does still look like quite a large refractor..just not pretty huge like the Tak!

My Tak mount (think similar to Vixen GPDX capacity, perhaps slightly more) worked well with the FS128, thanks partly due to the heavy duty custom made wooden tripod..but the Vixen feels totally planted on this mount/tripod setup, like a glove on a hand!

And its nice to still be a Tak owner mountwise!👍

Dave

I just love how substantial it looks, and on that classy mount - very, very nice.

I can imagine the FS128 was quite a bit heavier. I’m sure you’ll get a lot of use from Superfox 🦊 It’ll be great having something that doesn’t feel so big that you don’t want the hassle of getting it out. I do love my 4” Tak and find that it gets lots of use because it’s so easy to set up, light and a true pleasure to observe through. The extra aperture on yours will make for some excellent evenings ahead!

Congratulations Dave on your very handsome new acquisition. It looks fantastic and I am sure you’ll be very happy with it. I wish Trinity’s new owner the very best also!

Looking forward to your observing reports.

Nicola

That's beautiful, not 'rough and ready' at all. It’s like the view I want as a visual observer , but very rarely get!

Thanks for that really interesting comparison. I often wonder if I made a mistake selling my 127 Mak when I got my 4” refractor, but I did feel that the Mak wouldn’t get enough use so I sold it on. Like you, I had some great times with that Mak but I think selling it was the right decision.

I think my favourite ‘wow’ moments so far have been:

The moon through my 12” Dob - a completely amazing experience.

Watching the GRS on Jupiter last year at a star party through a Celestron C9.25 - the detail that evening was magical.

At the same star party, the ring nebula through a C11.

M42 through my 3” refractor from Monument Valley in Arizona a couple of weeks ago.

Saturn through a 32” Dob at the Lowell Observatory.

All of these had in common wonderful clear nights and/or very dark skies. In all cases, it was impossible to sleep afterwards, thinking about what I had seen that evening!

Welcome Frank and I hope you enjoy being a member of SGL!

I agree with the above - I use a Giro Ercole Mini alt-az mount with my small refractor and have never missed slow motion controls. The simplicity of nudging it along makes the whole setup very straightforward. A good solid tripod is very important thought and I find I can use the setup with my 4” refractors if my tripod is stable enough and I use a counterweight (I don’t need any counterweight for my 3” which keeps it very light for travel).

I love your sketch! I really must pay more attention to the moon. There’s so much to sketch.

7 hours ago, Captain Scarlet said:

Unless I misinterpreted, it seems the 3” eyepiece was destined for their smallest telescope, the TEC 140.

I thought he said that too. Although looking at the date of the video, I don’t think they had the 24” Planewave then which they got in 2020. Maybe they got a second one or moved it off the 140?

You’re not far wrong, toothbrush, credit card, telescope and eyepieces almost covered it 👍😊

8 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Incredible experience! the telescope patio is just beautiful, regarding the 3" ES eyepiece, does it come with a set of counterweights? 

I think that Planewave was the counterweight 😂

I still can’t believe they were 3” eyepieces, I never knew they existed. I can say that the viewing experience was fantastic through them though. I’m wondering if I can put one on my FC76….

Thank you for that great write up! I love the comparisons between the different scopes.

57 minutes ago, RobertI said:

stupidly never visited the Lowell Observatory

To be honest, when I planned the trip I didn’t even know about the observatory. We wanted to see Navajo Nation and Hopi, so the astronomy aspect was a complete bonus!

7 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

What a fantastic report and such wonderful photos.

My Granddaughter is at a university in Flagstaff and I would to go and visit the area.

 

 

 

You should definitely take the opportunity. There was so much to do in the area, it was difficult to narrow down to the things we chose to see. Arizona is a beautiful state!

Whoa! A 3” Explore Scientific 30mm?! No wonder I was impressed. It was absolutely incredible. The video is so cool - I love how he keeps laughing with excitement. Thank you for posting that.

The open deck observatory was fantastic. So many great scopes and really nice and helpful staff at each one. It was such a treat to have them set up by someone else and I just had to walk between them observing whatever was on offer.

7 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

My God what a trip! What was the eyepiece situation for those scopes? Were they whatever was installed or could you use your own?

Magnus

Thanks Magnus! It was absolutely brilliant 😊

I had my 22mm Nagler in my backpack just in case there was an opportunity to use it, but to be honest the eyepieces were of such obviously good quality I didn’t ask if I could use it. The Dyer had a big 30mm 2” EP in it (I don’t know what it was but I don’t think it was a Televue) but it was absolutely fantastic. All of the scopes had very good 2” EPs in them.

I’m just back from a long work trip to the USA, which ended with a tagged-on holiday to the Navajo and Hopi reservations in Arizona and Utah, and a visit to Flagstaff. Flagstaff is the only international dark sky city, and home to the Lowell Observatory. 

First up was a flight to Flagstaff via Phoenix last Thursday, where I landed at the tail end of a snowstorm. It was a challenge getting into town but I made it with the help of a very nice taxi driver who kindly showed me the way to walk to the observatory from my hotel. People were very busy clearing roads and footpaths, so I climbed Mars Hill to the observatory that afternoon, which was definitely a good healthy walk and gave commanding views of the neighbouring mountains and the surrounding city. The Lowell Observatory is at about 7,200 feet above sea level, and I was very much looking forward to seeing the collection of telescopes including the 24” Clark refractor. It was at new moon and the forecast was for clear skies. Alas, upon reaching the observatory, the staff informed me that the telescopes and the museum were not open for visitors that night, due to the weather and the snowfall which had not yet been cleared from the paths. However, the exhibit within the visitor centre and the gift shop were open, so I whiled away a few hours spending money and looking at the exhibits, including a large meteorite from the nearby Meteor Crater and photos of the research instruments located outside the city,  before making my way back down to my hotel.

The following evening also had a clear forecast so I went back to the observatory that evening. I wanted to see the telescopes while it was still bright out and also stay to hopefully view through some of them as evening came in. Happily, although the Clark refractor was not open for viewing due to some wind, the 24” Dyer Telescope, a Planewave CDK24a f/6.5 Corrected Dall-Kirkham astrograph, was open for general viewing. This scope was only installed in 2020 and is normally only used for private viewing sessions, so I was very happy to have some early evening views of Jupiter through it.

On the way back down from the Dyer telescope, there was a beautiful sunset and I stopped to look at the view and the mausoleum of Percival Lowell.
 

The thing I had most been looking forward to was the Giovale Open Deck Observatory, which is a large platform containing a range of telescopes, within a building on runners that slides backwards off the telescope platform, and converts into a warm room lit with red lights, for breaks from the intense cold. The platform contains a smorgasbord of delightful scopes: 14” and 17” Planewave CDKs connected to cameras with live viewing of targets, a 32” f/3 Starstructure dob, an 8” Moonraker Victorian refractor, a TEC Apo 140FL widefield refractor and a 16” Meade LX200 ACF.  All had beautiful Feathertouch focusers and a range of 2” EPs. While I was there, the dob was tracking Saturn (by far the best views I have ever seen of Saturn!), the smaller Planewave was also imaging Jupiter and the TEC was on the double cluster in Perseus. I stayed for quite a while, warming up in the warm room as it was freezing out!

By the time I left the open deck observatory, it was dark and Orion was riding high in the sky. I was impressed with the grit that had been spread on the pathways which was also glow in the dark!

I then went back up to the the Dyer telescope to see Jupiter once again (by now it was about 9pm and the views were much better) and also to see the Clark refractor which is in a large dome close to the Dyer telescope.

At this stage, I was frozen to the bone, so headed back down to the visitor centre via the Rotunda Museum, which had a fantastic exhibit featuring Clyde Tombaugh and the discovery of Pluto, Percival Lowell and Robert Burnham. Some of the highlights were a first edition, loose leaf edition of Burnham’s Celestial Handbook and lots of letters, telegrams and suggestions for the naming of Pluto. I took tons of photos but will spare you from an avalanche of pictures! Very tired but very happy, I went back to Flagstaff and sampled one of the many locally brewed beers in the atmospheric pubs there, and then walked back to the hotel through the lovely,  minimally but safely lit city that has maintained Bortle 4 skies through its International Dark Sky City status.

The next day, my mum joined me for a road trip around Navajo Nation and through Hopi reservation. We rented a car and our first stop was Meteor Crater, about 45 minutes drive east of Flagstaff. It was a really amazing place with a visitor centre and several views from above the crater. It was difficult to capture its magnificence in a photo, but there was an Apollo astronaut model in the crater which I couldn’t even see from above. It was used to train the Apollo astronauts before their missions to the Moon.

We then drove up to Second Mesa in the Hopi reservation. The Hopi villages are located high on three mesas in the area, surrounded by vast expanses of flat land. It was hair-raising driving up steep roads onto the plateau of the mesa to our lodging for the night. While there, the locals advised us to drive to First Mesa in the morning for the annual Buffalo Dances. Unfortunately the sky was completely clouded over that night, but the terrifying drive up onto First Mesa to the village of Walpi, and the whole village celebrating the Buffalo Dances, was a morning to remember and something I doubt many people get to see.

On we went to Monument Valley which I was really looking forward to, as we had rooms booked at The View hotel, the only hotel within the Monument Valley National Park. Our room had a balcony with truly incredible views over Monument Valley and Bortle 2 skies (and the hotel were very aware of the attraction of stargazing from the hotel so had very dim lights that I think were turned off after 10pm). I had brought my Takahashi FC76-DCU and had two incredible nights of stargazing under crystal clear skies. The balcony was south facing so I concentrated on southern Messier objects the first evening, observing M35, M42/43, NGC1980, M41, M46/47, M48, M50, M93, M78 and M79. Many of these were naked eye objects, and looked fantastic through the little Tak. It truly is the 3”that thinks it’s a 4”, especially under those skies! M42 in particular was incredible, with so much structure and detail and perhaps a hint of green colour. I used a Tak prism diagonal and 24mm Panoptic for the whole evening.

The next morning, having left the curtains open so I could see when it got bright out, I awoke to a beautiful sunrise and got the little Tak out for a morning view of Venus, this time with the 9mm Nagler.

The following evening, I revisited many of the same targets, with a couple more including the Beehive and M67, and I tried without success to see Barnard’s Loop and the Flame nebula.

After this we continued on to the Grand Canyon via Horseshoe Bend and Navajo National Monument. Grand Canyon is another Bortle 2 dark sky park, and our cabin right beside the canyon rim had some beautiful sunset and sunrise views, but unfortunately another mostly cloudy night. At 5am, there were some wonderful naked eye views, reminding me of how low we were situated, at 36 degrees North. Arcturus was high overhead with Spica, Hydra and Centaurus visible to the south. We stood on the crater rim in the bitter cold, waiting for the sun to rise and light up the canyon as we watched. 

We headed back to Flagstaff that day, for one more visit to the Lowell Observatory and our flight home the next day. I had a fantastic trip and saw some of the best and darkest skies I’ve ever seen. I’d highly recommend a visit to any of these places if you ever get the opportunity!

Thank you for sharing such an enjoyable evening - I love the photo too!

I know you’ve had some great advice already and I completely agree with it. I thought I’d chip in as I was in exactly the same position as you a few years ago with a Mak 127 that I had been happy with as a solo scope for many years. I first bought a 102mm Altair Starwave (the 102 ED-R which I believe is the same scope as FLO’s Starfield and other vendors’ equivalents) and was amazed at the quality of it. It did replace the Mak which I sold. I then caught refractor fever and saved up for a Takahashi FC76-DCU which has revolutionised my enjoyment of astronomy. I still cannot believe the quality of that scope for its aperture, and being able to put it in a backpack (it splits in two) and take it all over the world with me is the icing on the cake. I was recently given a gift of a Takahashi FC100DZ (how lucky am I!) and I refuse to sell my Starwave as I love all of my refractors. So beware, you are opening a can of worms by getting a refractor and I doubt you will stop at one! 

I know you’ve had lots of great advice but I do think that 3 vs 4” refractors are quite different in terms of weight and portability, obviously depending on what you go for. I think, because you want to be able to travel with it, perhaps something in the 70mm range would be a good idea. My Altair refractor is so good, I think I’d be very tempted by @Stu‘s suggestion of the https://www.altairastro.com/altair-72-edf-refractor-dual-speed-rp-focuser-optical-test-report-451-p.asp. It looks nice and portable and the build quality of these scopes is excellent. The William Optics scopes are beautiful too. Good luck!

I’ve found that over the years I’ve moved further away from GoTo and other aids and now I really enjoy star hopping and finding things manually. I have wasted clear nights getting frustrated with a mount that won’t align or other gadgets that don’t behave. With 3 and 4” refractors, I now just use a red dot finder (one with a series of concentric circles) and a low power EP to find things. I’m attempting to do the same with my new 12” dob but I’m not sure yet how successful that will be! I might end up with a Nexus DSC or similar, but to be honest I’d prefer to keep things as simple as possible.

I like to use the instructions in TLAO, Cosmic Challenge by Philip Harrington (a really fantastic book) and websites such as http://themcdonalds.net/notes-on-finding-dsos/. Otherwise I use a star atlas (Sky and Telescope Pocket Star Atlas or Interstellarum) or SkySafari, but I plan the session indoors beforehand and sometimes draw out my own map of where the object is which I take outside. I tend to plan sessions around particular constellations or areas of the sky which I think makes things easier.

I observe in good Bortle 4 skies (just one area of light pollution to the North) so it’s easy to star hop from the RDF but I can imagine a proper finder might help in light polluted areas. Personally I find them very hard to use without a RDF to get me close to the general area. 

9 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

Thanks! I’ve spent hours on Jupiter and generally the seeing has been poor for some time now. There’s been plenty of people mentioning this in the imaging section. On occasion it’s been frustrating with moments of good seeing, sometimes a few seconds to a few minutes of good seeing and then back to being fuzzy. But I have to say that on this night - 12th December - it was the best I’ve had since early Autumn. I’m surprised no one else mentioned it but I was probably lucky in my location, Southampton, with a clear cloudless sky. 

My advice, as you also say, is keep trying. You’ll eventually get a good night!

Thank you - that’s reassuring and I will definitely keep at it! I was a little disappointed that my 4” Tak has given more pleasing views than the dob on the one night I got them out together. Even at the time, I thought it was because the seeing wasn’t good enough for the dob. It is so great to see your video though and I am looking forward to some good nights with the dob - I’ve wanted one for years. I really appreciate you posting the video - and thank you also to the OP for the great thread!

13 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

This is basically what I prefer and do too. I have an 8” Dob and have tried coloured filters on Jupiter and cannot see any benefit. Eg a blue filter doesn’t seem to bring out any more detail and just makes the planet, well, blue. And I don’t find a variable polarising filter any use. Although I do find it helpful on Mars and Venus.

I’d also add that for Jupiter and the bright planets do NOT get eyes adapted to the dark. Your eyes are poor at seeing colours and colour contrast when use to the dark. When observing Jupiter I often look at a bright light (like my phone screen) or go inside for a break/coffee. 

I’m in an urban environment I find that a simple dew shield (you can make one from black foam from a camping mat) useful in keeping out stay light.

Spend a good time observing. I’ll can go around 3 hours on Jupiter, especially if something interesting is happening, eg a shadow transit. I do enjoy those! 

For a Newtonian make sure that it’s well collimated.

Form some reason some eyepieces have better colour contract and show colours better than others. I’ve noticed that the 12mm BST StarGuider is decent in this respect. Using a 2x Barlow to give 6mm still retains this aspect.

After practice you will get use to nudging in order to keep things in view. After a while it becomes second nature and you hardly notice it. As suggested a wide angle eyepiece will help. However, for the future (and if you have a Dob) maybe consider an EQ platform. I made an EQ platform for much less than the price of good hyper wide angle eyepiece. I followed the great guide ‘10” Equatorial Platform for Dummies’  in the ‘DIY Astronomer’ section in this site and it cost me about £85, although I already had some of the bits. It’s fine for smaller 6”-8” Dobs too. Now planets etc stay in the FOV without constant nudging.

When trying to use a camera it is possible to record both the bands and moons by playing with exposure/brightness. Sure, if you process the image further the moons can be lost. To illustrate this I’ve attached a short animated GIF from a video taken on 12th December. The little dot bottom right is Europa.

This was recorded using a basic iPhone camera via the stock iPhone camera app. Adjustments & crop made in the stock camera app. No fancy processing, editing or stacking. Out of interested, I used a BST StarGuider 3.2 mm for x375 plus the camera x2 zoom. Far too much for the then average seeing conditions, but you can still see the bands and details. The GIF process looses some resolution too but it still does a good job of giving an idea of what I could see through my 8” Dob. Mind, visually I could make out more. Just about everyone has a smartphone these days so it’s something most can do. 
 

This is amazing. I have a new 12” dob and haven’t seen anything like this level of detail through it. I’ve only had it out three times and I’m pretty sure it’s cooled (2 hours outdoors before use) and collimated. Maybe it was just that the seeing wasn’t great. I will have to keep trying!

3 hours ago, Paz said:

Very nice, you will have lots of good times with that, and it looks good in front of the book case, you can just leave it there when not in use!

I completely agree. Let’s see how long I get away with that 😂

43 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Thanks Nicola but it is the secondary mirror holder i am asking about. The ES dobsonians have a completely different design to standard dobs.

Oh, my apologies, yes I see you did ask about the secondary. I’ve no problem whatsoever with it. Collimating the secondary is so easy with the tool they supply, and I really don’t think there’s much of a risk of hitting the mirror if you’re careful. I had absolutely no issue collimating it in the dark with just a torch when attaching the tool to the collimation screws. I think this is one of the big advantages of this scope design and it definitely works for me!

24 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Last question Nicola. The secondary mirror holder is a different design to the norm I've noticed. Do you have any problems with adjusting this during collimation? Thanks.

No problem - delighted to talk about it as my whole family are sick of hearing me talk incessantly about it 😬

I have no experience with other reflectors and I understand that this dob uses a non-standard design. I have found collimating the primary to be dead easy by adjusting  the three knobs behind the primary, but I did use a laser collimator. I don’t know if I would run into issues if I used another method as was recently highlighted in another post on this forum. But I was extremely impressed with the views given the less than ideal conditions so far. I observe using premium refractors so that’s a caveat in terms of my ability to critique the design of the scope - but I am used to excellent optics and I would say that I am very impressed with this dob so far. 

12 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

Congratulations on the new scope, and thank you for the report! It sounds like a real gem 🎉

Your 22mm Nagler was awesome with it! Thank you again 😊