Roy Challen

While I used only achro refractors, I thought it was the lens causing me to see colour on the moon. Then, with a Maksutov, and an apo frac, I see that the colour is indeed real As @Peter Drew and @Ags mention, it greatly helps if the moon is 75% or more to being full. I guess more light agitates the eye's colour receptors more.

I don't have a picture to hand right now, but for 10 years, my only scope was a Meade ETX70. The only eyepieces I had were the ones that came with it. I saw so much with that little scope😊

I have no experience with the telescope or mount you mention, but when I had a Tal 100RS on a Vixen Polaris, I would balance it in EQ mode before putting the mount into AltAz. If I didn't do this, it would be fine, but it was much better if I did do this. More for system stability than anything else. I also balance with my Altair Mini AZ and Skymax 90. Again, it's not strictly necessary, but it does work better like that. So, unless extreme portability is the priority, yes it's worth doing.

I guess the angle that the pic was taken from hides the size quite well😃, it's quite a big mount really, HEQ5 size maybe, or Vixen GPDX. 20kg anyway. So it holds the little Tak quite well 😅

After a long period of cloudiness, last night was clear enough for me to get the Baby Tak out for a quick look at the moon. Set up in daylight, quick alignment, then waited for twilight. I guess it isn't really a lunar scope, but it's pretty good nonetheless, moon image heavily cropped 😊

I don't currently own a Tal, sadly, but have enjoyed a 1, 100R, and a 100RS. All fine telescopes.

Nice scope, I had one a little while ago

The like was for the memory rather than anything else! Remember when people were allowed to pollute other people's air indoors - not just work places? Actually, it wasn't that long ago! But seriously, yes , I'll sign too although with little hope things will actually go our way. Our meaning amateur astronomers.

Very nice Dave, gotta love a long achro! Despite having recently joined the fluorite apo club, I still enjoy my f/16 and was delighted to find that the tube sizes are the same...so I don't need to change anything if I decide to use one scope or the other😃

Yes, they should fit. I don't have it now, but I used 140mm internal diameter rings with a Tal 1 I had a couple of years ago.

So many threads to choose from: show us your frac, what did the postman bring, etc. But obviously this is the place to be! Thanks to @surfindogg, I am the new custodian of this little beauty. And thanks to everyone on this forum for not buying my TS90 mount, so I have somewhere appropriate to put my new scope😃. It's gonna feel weird doing wide field; up until now, my fastest scope was f/13.8! This scope will also be doing plenty of miles on my dark site travels in Kazakhstan.

Great set of images. I particularly like the last one, the mountain just south of Plato looks amazingly detailed.

Another vote for the BCO, be it 10mm or 6mm. They're both great, although I echo the thought that the 10 is greater than the 6. In fact, the whole range is exceptional, even more so considering the price. When I'm not in the mood for eyepiece swapping, the Hyperflex 7-21 does the job surprisingly well too, at least it does in my f/16+ achro😄

That is very cute😊

I recognise that telescope! Here's my other one, on an Altair mini AZ and Horizon tripod. It lives abroad at the moment.

Sounds like a well-spent hour, but be careful - white light is feeder into Ha 😃

Excellent, thorough review Zermelo. Particularly interesting (to me at least) are the comparisons to the Baader BCOs and the Hyperflex zoom - my favourite budget eyepieces.

Great images Nigella, typically, it happened while I was at work 😐

This.

Often disregarded when the Baader BCOs are mentioned, the 32mm plossl from Baader is a superb HA eyepiece for my Solarscout. A totally underrated ep imo.

I recalled just today that I used to go galaxy chasing with a Meade ETX70. I could easily see M87 with that scope 18 years ago. I couldn't even see M81/2 with a Tal 100 a couple of years ago. Pretty soon, I'll only be doing lunar and solar

This would be my concern - getting into another expensive sounding hobby😁

Interesting, I'm not that bloke, but I did own both R and RS at the same time and thought of swapping the lenses over. However the R tube is about 50mm longer than the RS. It might not have been an issue with the RS's better focuser, but I didn't want to have to chop anything. Either way, I'm glad I didn't, the RS was simply the better telescope. The Skytee 2 easily copes with two Tals, I doubt an ED instead of one of them would make any difference.

I've owned both the 100R and the 100RS. They are both good achros, but as others have said, an ED scope will be better. They're not too heavy, around 4.5-5kg with rings and finder iirc. Everything is basic but adequate and functional. The finder is very good, as is the bracket. Once aligned, you'll likely never have to adjust it. The dewshield on later RS's is plastic, it fits and works fine, it's just a bit of a shame that they didn't make it out metal, like the R's. Out of the two samples I had, the RS was definitely better, which seems to be contradictory to most reports. On a night of good seeing, it could take x375 mag on the moon while still being very sharp. As I was using a barlow at the time the f ratio = 22.5! So, very, very little CA. I would probably have another if it were cheap enough, I guess I shouldn't have sold my example as it was a good scope.

Sounds like a great session. If you ever have doubts about the LZOS, I'd be happy to check it for you! 10mm BCO - so capable, yet so affordable, my absolute favourite eyepiece...ever (maybe😉).