Rainmaker

Fixed that for you !

I did not find the FS102 to be able to better the TSA in either contrast or magnification but the little bit of 'colour' the doublet exhibits (in comparison to the triplet) made some of the colours appear slightly more vivid. I think this is why some people prefer the FS to the TSA. I have owned three of the FS102 and three of the TSA102S and they all performed as above....

I was going to order the 130/F9 as my friend had no intention of selling this 152/1200 at the time.... then I thought I would just wait a while, turns out my friend had a 28" mirror on order from Normand Fullum and needed to sell this... It was then a case of begging for some money from my wife ..... 🥰

John, this was built in late 2007 it is number #245 🔭

Still waiting for clear skies here in Canberra...... first it was smoke for two month, now its rain every day...... The TMB152 has a new hiding place under the seats of the motorhome..... waiting.... waiting for a decent night....... here's a couple of pics from clearer skies before the summer fires started...

Up close and personal with the Skylight AR101/15. One of only two all brass versions sold by Richard Day, this one was made in January/February 2015 and sent to Melbourne, Australia March 2015

I am going to try to put the two side by side for a comparison once these bushfires are under control and the skies clear. My friend bought FOA60Q #1D013, mine is #1D014 so all things should be good to go after I remove the Extender from mine. I have several matches eyepiece pairs to test as well. I thought the FOA60 was visually as good as it gets so I don't know if I will discern much difference in the Q.....

Excalibur 18" F3.5, now in its second year of service, seated viewing even at zenith.....

My lucky find yesterday was this beast, the Skylight AR101/15 in full brass OTA with 2.5" Feathertouch rack&pinion, a 900 mile trip last night to collect it from Melbourne.... Now dusted and polished up (and waiting for clear skies....)

The FOA60 is superb, I foolishly sold mine to friend......... I have just replaced it with the FOA60Q but it hasn't had first light yet due to our bushfires....... at the moment my scopes are all sitting around waiting for a clear night......

The LOA eyepieces in the TSA102 Super Apochromat are one of the most enjoyable setups I have used in a long time. Yes, the 3D effect is artificial but it also is a fantastic way to separate a target from the surrounds. Seeing M42, the Trapezium region in particular, through the LOA eyepiece with the array set to 'FAR' setting is breathtaking. Another target that is amazing is NGC104, using the array set to 'NEAR' the globular cluster (47Tuc) takes on a whole new look.

Some of my other cases for the accessories, red again for the 18" scope and another yellow case for the dew control system for the binoscope:

I did buy a pair of the excellent APM 30mm UFF for my binoscope but there was not enough room between them for comfortable viewing, In my big scope the 30mm gave a larger than ideal exit pupil so I found a Nagler 26T5 which gives a 6,35mm exit pupil that matches my dark adapted pupil of 6.4mm.

Thanks Paul, I did buy the Ethos 21, 13 & 8 and tried them for a few weeks but did not really like or use the 100º field. I think the Delos are the best of the TeleVue lineup. I wish they made a 24mm Delos !!!

I think I have arrived at my final set (finally....) Red case for the 18"F3.5, Yellow case for the TSA binoculars......

Thanks, I am indeed very fortunate that my understanding wife allows the scope to live in the lounge room..... though she does insist I clean the kangaroo droppings off the tyres before bringing it inside....

Hi John, Took me quite a few weeks to convince a friend to part with his pristine TSA102S to pair up with mine. I had to give him my excellent FS102NSV as a sweetener.... The TSA120 binoscope was just a bit too heavy and bulky so I sold the two 120s and ordered a new cradle to be made for these baby-TSAs. I am not allowed to buy any more scopes (at least this year). Roll on 2019....

My TSA 102S and Friend:

Tak TSA102S and FS102NSV optics comparison setup...

I am suffering a bout of 'Reverse Aperture Fever' at the moment: Takahashi FOA60 F8.8 with Baader Zeiss T2 Prism on a SW AZ-GTi / Manfrotto MT055CXPro3 combination Total weight 7.1Kg Grab&Go Nirvana, gives beautiful views of doubles ....

Thanks, The blue things are anodised aluminium computer cooling system clamps that go around the linear bearings that are at each end of the two 90º s/s wire slings. The carbon/kevlar sheet was made for me by ProTech in USA, the truss poles are JTW100 paddle shafts from ExelComposites and the focuser board is 3mm sheet from China, cut and drilled my me. Here is a picture of the linear bearings being assembled: The linear bearings first have heat shrink tubing over them, then the clamps which hold swaged 2mm pre stretched stainless steel wire. There is a 10mm polished stainless shaft in the four corners of the mirror cell and the two slings run from diagonally opposite corners, crossing under the mirror. The slings run between two strips of self adhesive velcro at 19.5mm from the back of the mirror (at the COG). I also fitted heat shrink tubing over the wires where they contact the mirror.

My previous Dob was an 18" F5.6 which meant climbing a ladder for the views at least 50% of the time. This time I wanted a sit down scope so that I can study objects at length. Yes, we are lucky that we have the best part of the night sky directly overhead here, Omega Cent is an easy naked eye sight and at the moment the planets are also almost directly overhead. I recently spent a few hours with my friend's 32" F3.3 so have to temper my expectations with the 18" but still it is going to be a great joy for years to come. I will be taking it to the Mount Stromlo Observatory each month for our outreach. Last month we had 1800 visitors for the evening....

Thanks Mark, I finished the Dob build a week ago when the Nexus DSC arrived, Lots of planning and lots of work but I am really pleased with the end result. I can sit down to view even at zenith, the scope is an 18" F3.54 so a focal length of 1618mm or 63.7" (Effective focal length with the SIPS in place is 1860mm) The brass scope has travelled a lot in its lifetime, it began life in London (probably at Watson & Sons) but is labelled Berry&Mackay Aberdeen) and perhaps belongs in a museum back in Scotland. Berry and Mackay, was a business in Marichal St Aberdeen and this scope dates from c1890...

My new DSO hunter, "Excalibur"

We found that a single OTA of 150mm aperture with binoviewers splitting the light was quite noticeably dimmer than the 120mm binoscope. Having said that, there are still advantages to binoviewers if your targets are sufficiently bright. Remember that an actual measurement would not show is as it is the 'binocular summation' that our brain is responsible for that makes the perceived brightness so much more, there is also a perception of an increase in the image scale that comes with binocular viewing. The comfort factor of viewing with both eyes means I can sit at the eyepieces for a couple of hours without eye strain rather than a few minutes if using a mono-mode setup.