Nakedgun

Keeping it simple/inexpensive is certainly the goal, here.  For me the 8-24mm zoom and barlow combo does nicely.

This Celestron zoom even comes with a screw-top protective case:

I have a Celestron bino-viewer, and considering employing it for outreach, too.  Figuring ep sets that meet the above criteria is the challenge just now.

1 hour ago, John said:

Great setup David.

Those ADM finder mounts are excellent - I have put one on my Tak FC-100 DL:

With the demise of the BT Technologies owner and their color-matched bases, ADM provides us Tak users with the only option in town.

The BT model seen here on my FC76:

3 hours ago, JeremyS said:

That#s a cracking set-up set-up David. Good to see the Extender Q as well.

What's the story behind the blue Tak finder? Off  another piece of kit?

The blue finders were offered by the Tak importer here in the U.S. and with the blue accents on the OTA I just wanted something not usual.

I transfer the finder between the FC-100, FC-76 & FOA-60.

A few years back I decided to lighten up, after having aperture fever push me to get ever-larger-and-heavier scopes, including triplet designed refractors, as it became just too much to deal with in spite of the color-free and/or deeper sky views offered by them. As a result, my triplets had to go, one of which was the Tak TSA102. So, when Tak released their FC-100DC I bought one in October 2013 to compare with the TSA. 

I'm not an imager and found the Tak doublet fit the bill visually, and mounting became much less complicated, as a bonus. The TSA went to a new owner.

Parallax rings:

Tak 6x30 finder:

Tak 1.6x Extender Q:

3 hours ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

I have two cats. In the background you can see th Trusty old Celestron C8 on Vixen Great Polaris mount. I usually have a 14x70 finder scope attached to it as well. It is my main visual and planetary imaging scope. I have had it for nearly 25 years, so it must be doing something right. In foreground you can see my Meade SN6 6"F/5 Schmidt-Newton on a Vixen GP-DX mount. It has become my main comet sweeper and DSO imaging scope. Got this OTA for just €165 second-hand in January 2020. 

Just some imaging results: Jupiter with the C8

DSOs with the SN6

Leo Triplet

M101

M13

I think I will hang on to these scopes for a while. 

Nice pair of mounts.

Clear

32 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

The pocket rocket Skymax 102 had it's first proper run out tonight. Happily splitting the Double Double pairs at 325x with a cheap Ebay special 4mm 'TMB II' eyepiece and still sharp. 

Clear skies? Was clear here, this week, now the weekend is a humbug.

I dug through some old photos and found this 20-year-old snap of my C-14, along with my wife, who accompanied me on an observing trip to the Kofa Wildlife Refuge in western Arizona. Sold this beast sometime after the 2003 Mars apparition.

Bought my C-9.25 soon after, and had a C-5 also, which I held onto till around 2007, I think, and then sold to a colleague whom I introduced to astronomy . Never took any pictures of the C-5.

I always wondered whether a C-11 would give enough boost over the 9.25 to make it worth having so I bought one to compare. It did not make me want to unload the 9.25 and was heavy enough to push it into the "for sale" category. I did not own it long, and this was another scope I never took any photo of. Sold it to a guy in Australia. So, the 9.25 was my only SCT until I thought I should have a smaller, more agile unit of the same type for use on a smaller mount and began to look at the C-8. They went on discount in April '13 and that was all the encouragement I needed.

This unit was made in China (I think my first SCT to come from there, can't remember where the C-11 was made), and I have no complaints about the views produced by it.

Added an 8x40 finder as the 6x30 factory finder was not adequate for my visual needs, along with a Rigel.

Pretty sure I won't be buying any more SCTs, but I sort of wish I'd kept the whole Celestron lineup - that's the collector in me talking, now.

Reminds me of a Coulter Odyssey I once owned, very basic, almost primitive, hardware on them.

18 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

Beautiful scope, but also love the eyepiece! 

I have the 30, 18, 12.5, & 7.5mm in pairs, with the 5mm a single. I should have bought the others when available.

I've wanted a 90mm refractor for many years, but had no luck with them, having received a new discontinued LOMO triplet with some sort of astigmatism issue, returned; a new discontinued Astro-Tech triplet with loads of dust between the lenses, sold in-person to a willing buyer; and then there was the Tak Sky 90, which had its own lens cell troubles, never bought one.

Ted Ishikawa is the Borg U.S. importer and he sold me my first scope from this mfr, a 76ED f/6.6 pictured elsewhere in this topic, in June 2001. Oasis Studio, the Borg makers, have a 90 f/5.6 Fluorite doublet which, I am told, is not the same as the Sky 90 though both are/were sourced from Canon Optron. I decided to take another chance on this aperture and bought one from Ted 18 years, to the month, after my first purchase from him.

This time I struck gold. Compact and lightweight (a Borg trademark) it is also an optical plum, a pleasure to sit at the eyepiece with.

Closed up it is short, added a Chinese 6x30 finder as I haven't located an adapter allowing the use of a Tak finder stalk on this base:

90mm rings from AliExpress:

Dew shield and focuser extended. I weighed it last summer and seem to remember it was at ~ 7lbs, as pictured with rings, dovetail plate, diagonal & ep:

5 hours ago, johninderby said:

Just a  much higher spec scope than the Skywatcher. Great 2.5” R&P focuser, 9 point mirror cell, proper bearings, tube rings make it easy to balance OTA or mount on an EQ mount, anti reflective coating inside etc. etc. 

In the US it’s sold under the Explore Scientific brand.

https://explorescientificusa.com/collections/dobsonians/products/firstlight-10-dobsonian

Looks like the tube can be rotated to place the focuser on the other side, as well. If so, that is a nice feature.

Haven't seen them over here. The minor differences from the Classic model in the above photos are interesting. 

5 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

Total Tak looks so much better, and that amazing tube clamp allows for easy rebalancing when needed. Loving that scope Jeremy. Each time I look at the pic's my heart rate noticeably increases. It's almost erotic! Almost!!

What do you mean "almost"?

4 hours ago, JeremyS said:

I’ve dispensed with the manhole cover on my FS 102. I still have it stored away of course, but I have replaced it in general use with a much lighter tube cap. 
the manhole cover is an impressive piece of engineering, but it had a tendency to fall out when carrying the OTA and it upset the balance when putting the OTA on the mount.

But these are first world problems 🙂

 

 

Nothing wrong with first-world problems, in my view!

1 hour ago, sloz1664 said:

Can I throw this in the mix. TAL 200K Klevtsov f8.5.

 

Steve

 

Looks to be a robust mount you have, there. First I've seen one.

2 hours ago, Paul M said:

@Nakedgun I understand these scopes weigh an awful lot. But that doesn't look like a lot of counterweight!  Was the scope just posing in minimalist mode? 

 

 

Paul M, 

That is garryblueboy's rig.

After selling my C-14 I downsized to the C-Nine-Two-Five in April 2004 (a little dusty just now).

I use it primarily for planetary observing, so it doesn't get out as much as some other scopes I have.

Denkmeier binoviewer along with their SCT locking diagonal attachment completes it.

Close-up of the interface:

I really like this size instrument, it seems the sweet-spot for SCTs.

6 hours ago, garryblueboy said:

My last one it was a beast 

My first cat was this beast, as well, circa 2000. I don't have any scanned photos of it, currently. Ran it on a G-11, and kept it through the 2003 Mars opposition, but I'm not an imager and without an observatory it became just too much to deal with. Sold it to a guy up in Anchorage, Alaska.

 Vic Maris started Stellarvue sometime in the 90s, and I first met him at RTMC, a nearby astro-expo/starparty in (I think) '99 when he was there showing his first 80mm f/6 refractor, which may have had the item #1006 attached to it, but I'm not sure of this. I bought one, and a lapsing memory also prevents me from bringing up the price I paid, but since this was a relatively new hobby for me I just used it for what it was worth. It was an OK performer, but nothing special. 

When I saw him there again in '07 he mentioned that he was gathering up this first scope from owners, said he was donating them to schools, and if I would send it to him he would swap it out for an 80ED f/7. So I did, and in January '08 I received the scope pictured here, with rings, at no charge. 

Who else in this hobby would have done such a thing?

I keep it in my Toyota Tundra pickup truck, ready to go, day or night.

15 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Mines under there somewhere 😂

Dave

Cable management is for sissies!

6 hours ago, Graham Darke said:

Here’s my Intes MK67 out under the night sky.

Orion USA imported this (or was it the MK66?) and called it the Argonaut 150. It came with a fixed primary, crayford focuser, carry-handle attached to the top with a fixed mounting plate underneath, and was painted black. They sold for $999, if I remember correctly and were optically very nice. I bought one in '99 and used it until I bought my TEC MC150 in May 2005. 

I never used them side-by-side but don't believe I gained twice the scope for twice the price.

3 hours ago, stuy said:

He will make them up to f30 !! Just tell him the configuration you require 

Thank you, I will inquire.

Catadioptric, that is.

I could not find a thread devoted to this topic, so I'll post mine.

I owned a C-5 for a few years. It was the smallest cat I've had, and although the views were OK, my refractors cooled faster, and provided more contrasty pictures, so I sold it.

I was new to this hobby when I met TEC founder Yuri Petrunin at RTMC, a now-defunct astronomy expo/star party in the early years of this century, where he displayed Maksutov-cassegrain scopes built by them. Eventually, I decided to get their MC150 model, which at the time was priced near $2K. 

They made an eight-inch model, also, which was twice as much, and more than I wanted to spend. Alas, I regret not getting one, to this day.

Before long, TEC decided to abandon Mak production and cash in on the refractor boom, to Mak lovers' loss.

I do love using the 150 on the Moon!

I opted for rings, rather than a fixed dovetail plate. TEC finder mount on top of tube.

Grab handle, micrometer focuser, 2" visual back.

The business end. Number 38.

So, we have two dob threads going? Perhaps they could be combined, somehow?

Looks like they only make Maks in f/5.6, now, unless I missed anything slower.

I missed my opportunity to acquire anything larger than 150mm back when good ones were still being produced, and this topic reminds me, once again.