Nicola Fletcher

Yes, that’s just what I was thinking of! It would be even lighter than my current travel setup. Thank you 😊

That’s such a cool setup. What is the mount?

This is what I grab - here it is mounted on an EQM35 Pro but I prefer it on a Giro Ercole mini mount with a Gitzo tripod. It’s light and can travel almost anywhere with me.

Welcome and best of luck with your new interest in this great hobby!

Isn’t that brilliant! I didn’t think that would fit in the Airport essentials backpack. Such a great way to take a telescope on a plane. I love being able to take mine away to dark skies and places with completely different views of the sky.

Well…it kind of does if you buy an FC76-DCU!

Looks like ‘A Decade in Stargazing’ is out of stock already! I will have to read it on Kindle 😊

I’ll keep trying - I’ll get there eventually! Thanks for your help!

I used a Tak prism diagonal and my 9mm Nagler followed by the 3-6mm Nagler zoom. Everything just looked over bright with colour fringing (the scope is an Altair Starwave apo and I definitely gave it plenty of time to cool). I have a set of Celestron planetary filters and tried the red and yellow ones but both just made everything so dull it was difficult to see anything. I doubt the equipment was at fault so maybe it was the weather/me/lack of patience. I realise Mars is a challenging target but honestly I thought I’d see some features! Any advice would be gratefully received 😊

I’m really glad you’ve asked this question as I’ve been observing for a few years and still haven’t figured out Mars! I was all geared up for the opposition this year but only saw a red over-bright disc through my 3 and 4” refractors. I think I just need to have more patience and keep trying. I suspect the conditions just weren’t good enough each time I tried observing it. I also doubt I gave it enough time - I just got frustrated and moved on to other targets! Your post and the encouraging answers have made me determined to keep trying. Thank you!

I was out at the same time as you looking at the comet through my Olympus 10 x 50s. I still can’t believe how easy it was to find and how enjoyable it was to observe. The clouds were also threatening but I ran in after about 15 minutes and got my 3” Tak. The clouds were really closing in but I got a glimpse through the telescope - I have to say it was nicer through the binoculars though. Still waiting for the clouds to clear but the binoculars will go everywhere with me for the next few nights just in case there’s a break in the clouds! Magical is a great way to describe it.

Me too, and I completely agree, I’m so glad I bought mine. The focuser on them is really nice to use as well. Still can’t believe I got such a nice refractor for that price!

That’s an absolutely beautiful thing, just imagine having that set up in a true dark sky site. I have a Tak and love it, but having thought about this, I find amazing-looking telescopes fit the bill. Great idea for a thread topic @Sunshine!

I’ve never seen one nor observed through one, but I find the Planewave scopes to be just so amazing looking. Plus giant dobs - all of them! I’m not sure I’d like these in my living room - I’ll stick with my utterly beautiful 3” Tak for that 😊

Hello and welcome 🤗 I think you’ve some great books there and I also found that chatting to people at my local Astro club was really helpful and it was brilliant to try our different equipment before I bought my own (don’t be in a rush to buy anything)! The one book that was recommended to me on this forum, but I didn’t discover until I was involved with the hobby for a few years, was a book called ‘Starlight Nights’ by Leslie Peltier. It’s now one of my favourite books and I’m so glad I found out about it. It’s out of print but you can sometimes get secondhand copies and it’s available on Kindle. I hope you enjoy discovering more about the night sky.

I got a used copy online for peanuts. I bought it after re-reading Starlight Nights, and was interested in the first book Leslie Peltier read on astronomy from his local library. It’s a lovely book, beautifully written, with a chapter devoted to each of the brightest stars and then a section on constellations. It would be great for someone learning the night sky but is also just a really nice read if you already have a good knowledge of the night sky.

Fabulous sketch and also, lucky you getting to use a 12” in Namibia!

Thank you for writing this - I loved your descriptions! The sketch of Jupiter in particular makes me imagine how much detail you must have seen. Fantastic!

@JeremyS This is absolutely fabulous- please tell us how you get on with it! I’d be really interested to know whether you would have this or a TSA120 if you could only have one…for visual use. I can’t afford both!

My FC76-DCU last weekend at Star-B-Q in Wicklow, Ireland, with its friend the Starwave 102 ED-R.

Thank you for the report and super photos Sunshine, your Tak looks so classy! And that massive dob - wow!

I haven’t taken to Barlows either - just as an option, what about some of the Tak TOE eyepieces (I’d LOVE one - and you were looking for ingenious ways to spend money 😂) or I do have the TeleVue 3-6mm Zoom which is fantastic. I haven’t tried the Tak extender Q which sounds very interesting. Really looking forward to hearing how you get on with all this amazing equipment! Edit: ooh just reading back on all the great advice you’ve received - definitely some stuff to file away for the future!

Enjoy every minute with that beautiful scope @moonsafari!

Hello and welcome to the forum! It’s a very friendly place and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the conversations and advice from members. I wouldn’t claim to be an expert by any means but I’m also pretty obsessed with the Takahashi brand and have done a fair bit of research on the various options for accessories. I have an FC76-DCU so will leave it to others to comment on the FC100 options. However, like you, I was also daunted by the variety of diagonals, eyepieces etc etc. Following some great advice from this forum, I ended up going for a Takahashi finder, Takahashi 1.25” prism diagonal and Televue eyepieces (24mm Panoptic, 13mm Nagler and a Nagler 3-6mm zoom), for a simple yet portable setup which was my objective when choosing the FC-76. You may not need such portability and might prefer a 2” diagonal and/or binoviewers which I have yet to try but would like to at some stage on my 4” refractor. I’m delighted with my setup which I also use on alt-az mounts, both manual and go-to (personally I use a Giro Ercole mini and a SkyWatcher AZ-EQ5 which can also carry my 4” refractor as well as the Tak). Best of luck with your selection and I certainly think it will be a fitting tribute to your grandfather and a telescope that will give you many years of enjoyment. I hope you find my experiences helpful.

Thanks @Captain Scarlet and @MalcolmM! I’m still thinking of whether the scope is essential- but a good pair of binos is which I have. I can’t wait to see these - it blows my mind that these will be upside down. Thank you both very much for your help and I hope I’ll report back with some interesting observations.