jetstream

One night I had a quick grab and go with my 90mm SV APO- thought I could avoid plumes from the woodstove by pointing off the roof line a bit. Yeah it was a boiling, blurry mess and would have been in any scope.

Thanks Stu! I just loosen the adjusters a bit and use it manually, it works pretty good actually and sits on a 8'x8' concrete pad. I carry it out assembled with counterweight no scope but the old bones are creaking lol! The SW controller wont work well in the cold and the cable insulation is too stiff...I need silicone rubber cables and a way to heat the synscan controller. Last night was superb! and so was the night before and tonight looks clear on the map.

That is substantial actually.

Good to know. What was the settling time difference at what mag?

Btw, my area has many conservation areas around me ie all the islands, areas of unique ecosystems etc, theyre not really listed like the big parks.

Nice spot! I went on the Blue Marble and it boggles my mind how much light cities like LA and London put out.Sorry to sidetrack. I looks like youve got a swath of darkness in the area, with a block of trees in the park, trees are natural light absorbers IMHO. SQM? sorry to @JeremyS for sidetracking and I can start another thread if need be. I think I'll stick to the basic mount, for now, as I do have tracking with the Az mount. That Rowan mount looks superb and being able to adjust gear mesh should make my temps a non issue I think.

Eagerly waiting for your report!

Sounds vg there nice spot, no idea where it is though maybe I'll look it up. I havn't used the AZEQ6 much.., but yes its kinda loud. Carbon fibre- I'll check then out.

Seriously? You have lots of trees there then? What is a conservation area in UK? Nice mount btw that SXP2. I hauled the out the EQ6 assembled, counterweight, etc and all last night-got a new technique lol! Superb views- the Takahashi MTF was very high last night!!Excellent seeing. I think the Rowan will give excellent Tak MTFs from the lack of shakes . Are Berlebachs that much better for steadiness than the steel tripod? What do you use?

You runnin the Rowan?

I'll trump myself! the other night I was observing in -35c... no medal just supremely good views 😀

Just talked to a CDN vendor who will talk to them, thanks.

This looks to be an extremely well made mount and good to know about the grease. Its the gears tightening up in the cold that is my concern, its a lot of money. Any North America vendors?

There is a fine line between precision and function when it comes to working in the cold. The Rowan AZ100 looks superb- I wonder how those gears will work in the cold? Same for the Losmandy.

I truly wish I could purchase from here to avoid the current shipping/import mess. Using the TSA120 last night for high power lunar only confirmed the need for a substantial mount for it. It would be nice to get a crank up Berlebach, with enough mount to handle both the TSA120, the FC100DF and the Mewlon 180mm. This could be just a dream though... I'm looking at Vixen mounts as well, possibly used ones.

Well, my 90mm Raptor and the TSA120 have survived years of sub -30c temps, both with FLP53. Last night was no exception as my lunar report indicates. The lens cell in the TSA120 has never twisted up in the cold, the Raptors has and no glass exploded out of it. If I was selling scopes I'd probably say don't do it- so no one could come back with broken glass saying "you said it was ok!". Last night in cold temps the TSA120 took all the mag I could test it with... a testament to its lens cell and glass. Its pretty big though and needs a substantial mount IMHO. Agree. In fact my little 90mm with Chinese glass does very well.

An unusual combination of crystal clear skies and superb seeing came together tonight. I must say again, seeing was excellent. The TSA120 is rumoured to be good on the moon, ok maybe I started the rumour! Eyepieces were the Zeiss 25.1-6.7/VIP and the Vixen HR 2.4mm and 3.4mm.Mount is a SW AZEQ6 used in manual alt az. Stored in my seacan the scope is perfectly equalized as was the Zeiss prism diagonal (important). Temp about -27c. The first view through the scope rocked me back using the Zeiss zoom native, razor sharp crystal views and winding the zoom out showed zero degradation. From experience I knew what comes next- throw the 2,4mm HR in there to check the seeing. This eyepiece gave an in your face, crisp, sharp view at 375x, unbelievable. So sharp, hence the razor 120 title. I have tried to break the optics down in the TSA120 and am unable to do so, using the HR/VIP combo. Well, back to my favourite combination- the Zeiss zoom VIP- long story short is that I kept adding rings to the adapter such that it gives about 2.6mm fl. The Zeiss has a virtual field stop location and I forget where Zeiss told me it was, but it is a bit up from the bottom lens- so my calc is conservative. it gives about a 67 deg AFOV maxed out. This combo matches the HR's performance but in a zoom with a wide field and scatter? what scatter.... Hercules and Atlas were in a perfect position to observe- stunning, just stunning. A jet black terminator near these 2 favourites. Somehow I never realized the detail in Atlases floor-riles and sharp eruptions on the floor. Then there is the scalloped edges... How did overlook this previously? Man these two looked good with mags up around 335x or a bit more with the ZZ/VIP. This eyepiece with its wide field eclipses the Vixen HRs view. I spent a good while out there on the moon, what a great combination- excellent seeing with the moon up high, a razor sharp scope and matching glass to look through. It doesn't get better than this. IMHO.

The scopes look so good, the quality is superb across the line up. So many choices...The 90mm Raptor will be retired, unless more of those sled trips happen and I was thinking of a 100mm to replace it. This summer I'll pour concrete in the carport and sheath part of it in for scope storage down here. It will only be 10 steps out to observe. The rest of the equipment will be up in the seacan on the ridge.

I just looked up the WO mount- it looks very good. The Planet is THE tripod to have for stability I hear. Settling times? Being able to raise and lower the scope's tripod is a vg feature that I think I'd like to try... The DZ is a very highly recommended telescope.

I think that f6 or 7 with the 50mm ?plossl with be fine for f3 or 4 equivalent. I look forward to showing people the views with one- theres no chance a first time observer will see Barnards Loop without it for example. There is the Losmandy AZ mount too, but it looks very precisely made with slow mo controls- guaranteed not to work in the cold.Even the diag holder threads tighten up too much, some wont work.

I just have a weakness for good glass! I'm attached to my Raptor, it was a very good dark site adventure buddy. Many trips on the snowmobile/atv etc. Its the length of the 120's thats the issue. Yes Im looking at a Diskmount but no way to get it over here atm, everythings being brokered by the shippers and they are charging a lot. I do have a Stellarvue M2 that works with the Raptor but a step up might be nice. One of those Berlebach crank up tripods would be good with an AYO... no idea if they are still available. I'd like to put encoders on the mount for my SkyCommader box, it is deadly accurate.

Yes, I just set the TSA120 up on the AZEQ6 and would like a lighter, faster to set up 100mm. Question is DC,DZ,DF... I actually know little about these scopes. A mount /tripod recommendation would be good as well. Up on the hill the trees obscure the south view but down by the carport I can see longer, a bit worse local seeing down here though. The fast to cool FC100 should be perfect I think.

Ok I'm going to break down and buy a doublet Tak, but there's different versions?...doesn't much matter I guess- they're all out of stock.

Didn't try lol! To try this properly I need the smallest TFOV possible with a 40mm eyepiece. Some day I'll try making a small "field stop" at the end of a tight 40mm (that I dont have). One of the reasons big dobs work is their ability to have a narrow TFOV with vg large apparent field eyepieces IMHO. Alnitak destroys IC434 with very wide field, eventhough I have seen it like this. The TSA120's inherent lack of scatter makes this much easier and some day I'll try straight through. What grabbed my attention last night was the Flame... this was the very best refractor view I've had of it- again the lack of scatter IMHO. I did have a 12.5mm ortho on deck but the aurora came out before trying. Another surprise was M43s lane- I dont ever recall seeing this feature in a scope this size. The above was no filter ^^ filters cause too much light loss for some harder features.

Yes, for years lol! It takes true dark adaptation, no TV, no bright sunlight during the day and my best skies to see this kind of thing. I can see "texture" in the sky in many places, kind of a liquid grey mottled form and big. I decided to put a name to this and some of it is IFN I believe, other parts are just forms of dust (I think). The galaxy on the far left in your image is my next spot to try. Btw- what I see has variously been described as noise, brain filling in information and illusion lol! I see Barnards Loop no filter but so far my limit is the Eridanus Loop... so far no go. I know IFN is different but I mentioned for reference.