Nakedgun

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Clear skies again this morning, so here, the Unitron 60mm f/15:

The original finder missing, I substituted this one. The OEM finder bracket quite small.

Takahashi FOA-60 clamshell & ADM Tak dovetail plate hold the OTA.

It arrived with one screw missing from the lens retaining ring, and I have not been able to source a commercial replacement. The one seen here is not proper.

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5 hours ago, Astronomist said:

Hi everyone

          BTW I absolutely do NOT believe in flying saucers!  

thanks in advance,

Astronomist

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Never too late to start!

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You got out there, sometimes that's well enough.

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As promised in another thread, clear weather this morning prompted me to take images of my recently delivered Mayflower 60mm f/15.

Here goes:

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Artificial star test looks excellent, the best of all my recently acquired 60mm f/15s.

When it might get first light? Saturday night looks best just now.

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We get our bill, due in December. It can be split into two payments if desired - December and April.

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On 05/01/2023 at 19:09, Nakedgun said:

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For some time now I've wanted a Japanese 60mm f/15 to use on occasion, and it must be the collector in me that is driving this, as I have now obtained my second (as yet, untested) refractor this month, with another(!) arriving next week. I hope they do not all prove to be duds, otherwise this search will continue. 

Raining now, but a chance of some clearing late tomorrow. We'll see. 

 

 

 

 

The blue patch just a teaser this afternoon.

 

 

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Arrived today:

We ever get any decent weather around here I'll post a shot of the entire rig.

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11 hours ago, pastiche said:

Just a few days …. 26th

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Ahh, I agree with you, the 26th was a great date to be born on.

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And just how early is it, hmmm? My birthday comes August, perhaps I'm due for an early present, too.

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13 hours ago, Stu said:

A 6mm and 10mm BCO for me. Mainly wanted the 10mm to try out as a Bino pair with one I have already.

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I do like the fact they have no "safety groove" to cause fumbling.

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For some time now I've wanted a Japanese 60mm f/15 to use on occasion, and it must be the collector in me that is driving this, as I have now obtained my second (as yet, untested) refractor this month, with another(!) arriving next week. I hope they do not all prove to be duds, otherwise this search will continue. 

Raining now, but a chance of some clearing late tomorrow. We'll see. 

The blue patch just a teaser this afternoon.

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21 hours ago, F15Rules said:

I've now got 3 proper pairs of bins for Astro and occasional wildlife/holiday use, all made in Japan:

9x63 Orion Mini Giant Porros Prism FOV 5 deg

7x50 Vixen Series B B4 model Porros Prism Waterproof and Independent Focusing FOV 7.3deg 

Vixen 8x32 Apex Pro Roof Prism, Waterproof FOV 7.5 deg

They are all excellent performers..the Orion 9x63s I use almost exclusively on my Ravelli Pistol Grip and Ball Head with adjustable height tripod.

The B4 Type 7x50s are like new, heavy for their size, and with Independent Focusing on each diopter. They are best used on the pistol grip and/or when handheld while lying down or reclining. Very sharp out to c 80-85% of the Field.

The Apex Pro 8x32 Roofs are my most used bins. They are light, Uber sharp and have (just) the widest FOV. Actually, they look and feel as though they have much the widest, largest apparent FOV, but slightly less sharp to the edges if I'm being picky. I love these bins. These were well over £300 when new c 7or 8 years ago, and can also be found used now and then under the Ace Avian Brand name in the UK. Both made by Vixen and of great quality.

All 3 pairs deliver very pleasing, sharp and contrasty views 

Dave

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I waffled on buying Orion Mini Giant models when they were still made in Japan. 

Nothing quite like a missed opportunity.

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3 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

Ordered just before Christmas and now arrived. I've the Cambridge star atlas but this smaller pocket atlas will be more more convenient at the scope and comes highly recommended by many and proved quite hard to find at a reasonable price. 

Lee 

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Quite a handy scope-side atlas.

Perhaps it's my monitor, but the cover should be blue, rather than grey, as it appears here.

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Shopgoodwill find. Star test must wait till this damnable weather improves.

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It must have been preordained - the transparency and seeing that night was the best during the entire month.

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On Christmas Eve the sundown gathering of the Moon, Venus and Mercury was enjoyed from my driveway by neighbors from several households, one family having recently moved in next door.

Christmas night the new folks came over to my backyard for their first telescopic view of the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter (they had to depart without observing Mars, alas).

You can imagine their excited reactions, and perhaps they'll now have a deeper appreciation of the night sky.

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Nothing except cloud bottoms to be seen here for the next 10 days, at least.

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5 hours ago, Franklin said:

The postal services over here could learn a thing or two from the Buyee team in Japan. This was posted from Japan on Boxing Day, arrived just now, speechless!

I've been hunting down one of these Vixen SSW 7mm for a long time, my wide-field collection is now complete.

Glamour shot with his new mates!

 

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Nothing like the feeling of having a completed collection.

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4 hours ago, paulastro said:

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Glad I wasn't there in 1516. D'ya s'pose they woulda hurt?

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I had neighbors from four households in my driveway this evening watching through binoculars and a spotting scope.

Sky still bright, a plane passes over the 4% Moon at center:

Venus about to set near ridgeline, Mercury difficult to make out, right of Moon:

Near setting, Mercury an easier target:

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14 hours ago, ukskies said:

Thanks Jeremy the tripod is too light I think, vibration damping is way too slow and i tap on one leg takes over 5 secs to stabilize. It does look good on the SP tho.😀

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Is that the Report tripod? In the photo it appears a bit overmatched by the load, but that could be the impression given by the angle of view. Perhaps try a set of vibration suppression pads?

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2 hours ago, allworlds said:

Wed night it was I think I managed to spot Mercury at about 4 pm, just after sunset. Scanning the area with binoculars I spotted a point of light which I could then also make out naked-eye. Now either that was Mercury and Venus was behind the bank of cloud below it, or that was Venus and Mercury was invisible, but I don't think it was bright enough to be Venus. Jupiter was also visible and brighter than probably-Mercury.

Solid cloud Thurs and tonight so I haven't been able to make another try.

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I will try tonight, and let you know. 😁

13 hours ago, F15Rules said:

I want out delivering cards around the village last night, around 6.30pm, and was struck how (unexpectedly) clear it was. 

So I got out Trinity the FS128 Tak and turned to Mars. Sadly, the seeing was poor, although transparency was pretty good. Using an orange red filter did help a bit, and I could see some rather vague darker areas, but the north polar hood which was so prominent in last week's -7 deg freezing skies was almost invisible this time. I couldn't get anything like a decent view much past c100x (Pentax 10.5XL), whereas last week I was getting over 300x with reasonable image quality.

It was a strange evening: the temperature dropped quickly to freezing, and condensation(not ice) began to form on the scope tube, and my RACI finder began to fog up more than once..but the objective stayed clear!🤔🥴.

I checked out Alnitak, couldn't split it, Rigel, (I could split that at 7" but a mushy sight), and M42 (nice tendrils and contrast of the Bat Wings, but only the 4 main Trapezium stars were visible, with E&F only suspected once or twice).

General transparency was still quite good, but deteriorating, so I abandoned thoughts of further higher power views and just went over to the Pleiades. Out came my Celestron Axiom LX heavyweight UWA pair: 23mm 82 deg and 31mm 82 deg, the latter a hefty 1.4kg😱. So, a little rebalancing of the scope was called for, but Oh My, the views!

Using the 23mm first, the whole field was littered with dozens and dozens of scintillating pure white points on a jet black background..but I couldn't quite get the whole cluster, which is almost 2 degrees across framed comfortably (this was at 45x, with the 23mm giving a 1.81 Deg fov in my Tak), so I popped in (well, heaved in😱😂) the big 31mm to give 33x, and this did the trick..I now had a 2.41 Deg fov, so the whole cluster was beautifully framed, with the long tail from Alcyone of c7 fainter stars standing out like mini beacons.. 

All in all I was out for about an hour or so..not by any means a great session, but those Pleiades views made it so worthwhile👍

Dave

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I must stop reading any of your reports using the FS128. My heart still grieves the moronic decision I made to sell mine, some years back.

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5 hours ago, dweller25 said:

You were very lucky @Nakedgun 👍👍👍 Nice scope 🙂

I use a standard Vixen GP with two locking bolts and always triple check that the scope dovetail is located correctly and both bolts are tight.

So far so good……

PS - Now you should go do the lottery 🤣

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I believe I will.

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6 hours ago, Peter Drew said:

Although you can't eliminate human error, dovetail clamps rather than the dovetails themselves, are often inadequate.  Specially the dual fit versions that result in too shallow a holding face and don't get me started on the spring loaded ones.  Finally, if you're going to drop an OTA, make sure it's a Mak-Cass.     😱 

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I swear, TEC built them like tanks!

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