F15Rules

On 28/05/2024 at 09:38, osbourne one-nil said:

I managed first light with my SD115 overnight and....I'm quite happy. I only managed to get about an hour and a half, due to cloud and the time of year, but I got something.  According to astap, there's some pretty severe tilt, but that would be because I was using a cheap rotator and hadn't locked it down. 

This is a very quick edit in Pixinsight. 

https://astrob.in/titx68/0/

Great image!

Forgive my visual only ignorance, but what is "tilt"?🤔

Dave

29 minutes ago, John said:

I'm in my mid 60s and both these chime strongly with me.

I've recently parted with my TMB/LZOS 130mm F/9.2 for those reasons despite it probably being the best scope that I've ever looked though 🙄

Got to be realistic though and I'd much rather a fine instrument is homed where it will get frequently used 🙂

Hi John,

Sorry to hear of you no longer having your fantastic Lzos scope, I know you made some amazing observations with it.

You still have some excellent scopes I believe, and maybe you will choose to acquire another, large, but lighter scope at some point? 

Whatever your plans, I am sure you will continue to inspire us with your interesting and informative observing reports!

Dave

1 hour ago, lunator said:

It is always good when an opportunity presents itself. Sounds like the vixen is a good balance of aperture and weight 😀

Cheers

Ian

Hi Ian,

Thanks, yes, the balance is pretty much perfect..the Vixen tube weighs c 2 kg less than the Tak and is c 150mm shorter. Add to that it is less "bulky" than the Tak (Tube diameter Tak is 145mm vs 125mm for the Vixen). So, all in all a very noticeably easier setup to carry with the Vixen than it was with the Tak.

I would emphasise, though, that I am now in my late 60s and it's only been in the past few years that I have found the Tak setup a bit cumbersome to move about.

And I have found, in the past 2 years or so, that the periods of clear skies we get where I live are noticeably shorter than they were, so a lighter setup should encourage me to take those quick session opportunities more often.

Dave

This is the first time for many weeks that I've had any session to report, due to a mix of weeks and weeks of awful weather, family related needs involving multiple trips around England, pre-planned short breaks, and flu like illness (not Covid) for nearly 3 weeks..🤦‍♂️🤨😅

But last night I got out for a short 45 minute session!🍾🥳.

It was not "remarkable" or "amazing" in itself, but just so great to be out with my new Vixen SD115s scope..only the 3rd time I have had her out since February l, when I bought her.

I went outside at 10.40pm and it was still not properly dark..there was about 50% cloud cover, but the eastern aspect was pretty clear, so I turned to Albireo in Cygnus which was low down at the end of the "Northern Cross" asterism which was "on it's side", still very low down in the east..I just wanted to look at a couple of "celestial lollipops"!

I used just 3 eyepieces, LVW 22mm, 13mm and 3.5mm, giving respectively x40, x68 and x254 in the Vixen. Even though Albireo was still quite low down, the views were lovely. The colours actually stood out best last night at the high power, perhaps the low power, which showed such bright, smaller images, was suppressing the colours..

The second target was Regulus in Leo..a hot, blue/white Spectral Class B8 star which is actually a 4 component system. I wanted to check out the purity of the colours in the 115s and I wasn't disappointed..a white,tight, hard point, a single diffraction ring, and no visible CA at all...the images were very like my late departed Tak FS128..just a tad less bright due to the 1/2" aperture difference. I can live with that!😊

Finally, I turned the scope vertically upwards to the Mizar system in the Plough..again, textbook, pure white components of Mizar itself, with Alcor and the fainter star between them, Mag 8.5 "Sidus Ludovicanum" sitting between Mizar and Alcor..all against a very dark background.

And that was it. A short, but very refreshing session, most enjoyable...oh, and I really noticed the weight difference between the new "Svelte" Vixen ota and the "Yard Cannon" FS128 when lugging the rig back under cover to it's storage building!

The weather may settle a bit this weekend, and no further trips away planned for weeks.. so I hope to get out again for a "proper" session very soon!👍

Dave

On 25/05/2024 at 13:00, JeremyS said:

Easily done on first outing 

She clearly got confused looking in vain for the handle, Jeremy!🙄🤭

Dave

Hi Nikolai,

I wish you well with your exciting new venture.

Good luck!

Dave

On 24/05/2024 at 12:03, osbourne one-nil said:

It was always a matter of when rather than if.....

 

 

Simply gorgeous!! Sublime design, great engineering and superb optics all in one delightful package!

And that's the first of the very latest 115SII series I've seen 'in use".

The only other 2 115"s I know of in the UK (but I am sure there are a fair few more) are mine and Steve's (@Saganite), and they are the previous generation (although both almost new scopes).

I believe the only difference is the presence of traditional "foil spacers" between the objective elements, while the Series II 115s has no foil spacers but a plastic spacer ring between the elements..I understand that this is a slightly better arrangement for imaging ( I'm visual only)..see photo of my objective below..

Perhaps it's time to set up a Vixen SD & ED owners' section..(only joking, this thread does the job just fine, for all Vixen stuff -including eyepieces!!..).

..and with that thought in mind, here is my full set of Vixen LVWs..sadly discontinued a good few years ago, but still wonderful eyepieces😊👍.

Dave

For sheer value for money, an older 80-100mm achromat is great value, has virtually no CA, and although long, is very light. Images from a good one such as Vixen are superb. I paid just £150 plus shipping for this one.. (1980s 80mm F15)..

However, you have said you prefer a shorter scope so I'd say go for a used Russian 150mm Maksutov, usually between F10 and F15.

I've owned 3, all 150mm ( and the Russian Maks are full aperture, not stopped down like some of the chinese ones), and all optically superb.

A good, well cooled 150mm Mak can deliver wonderful lunar, planetary and double star images, very similar to a good 5" apo refractor..

This one was made by Lomo, marketed under the "Ylena" brand name, and cost me £450 complete with EQ4 class mount, steel tripod and various accessories about 13 years ago. The other two, made by Intes Micro, were the MK66 and MK67..a bit more common than the Lomo, and both very good optically..

I don't know where you are based, but a wanted advertisement could be worth a try..these fine scopes are no longer made, but are worth trying to track down..and can be bought used for at or close to your stated budget.

If I recall correctly, the MK66 and 67 have the same optics, but the 66 has a rack and pinion focuser and the 67 has a helical focuser ( or maybe its the other way around!)..

Dave

2 hours ago, dweller25 said:

However, overall the TSA120 cools quicker and will be useable on more nights in my poor seeing area.

Just for the record, I made my tongue in cheek remark about sticking with fracs precisely due to my local seeing. We live at the bottom of a hill (in Lincolnshire!!🤦‍♂️😂), a hill which rises from the bottom, where we are, at just over 100 feet above sea level,  to c 440 feet just a few hundred yards up the road.

This may not sound much, but it does cause regular temperature inversions which often play havoc with seeing into the early hours, after which time it does steady down a bit.

When we moved here I didn't know about this micro climate phenomenon, but was tempted by the Bortle 4 skies vs Bortle 5 back in the Midlands. In practice, since we lived here, this has definitely and regularly reduced my opportunities to observe in good seeing conditions.

Lovely though our rural location is, knowing what I know now, if and when we move again, my first astro priority will be a level location, with good southern horizon and no very close by tall trees and conifers!

I do agree that the Tak 180 Mewlon is a very interesting scope..it's light, compact, a nice aperture, and I just love the way the finder stalk doubles as a carrying handle (seriously, Jeremy!)..that feature alone speaks to superb, high precision engineering by Takahashi..👍

Dave

I have read all of the above with interest.

I think I will stick with refractors.😉

Dave

6 hours ago, bosun21 said:

This was my first light for my 180 Maksutov and also first use in the field for my AZ-EQ6 mount. I made sure that it was cooled properly as I needed to check the collimation accurately before covering the scope with Reflectix insulation. I set up the mounts home position and balanced properly with scope and its accessories etc about 5pm to give it plenty of time for acclimation. Aligned my RDF which I swapped over to from the RACI. Polar alignment is a lot easier with a 90° adapter fitted. Once I did the customary 3 star alignment I went straight to Arcturus to check collimation. It was ever so slightly out, but not enough to really notice with the views visually. But now that I knew about it i had to sort it. I used a reticle eyepiece to ensure that the star was centered each time before adjusting the collimation. Several adjustments later and the magnification increased to 432x I was happy with it so locked it down. Final check and all was well. The transparency was good and the seeing pretty mediocre. I tried to capture a hand held photo with my phone but Arcturus had slightly moved off centre or it's the angle I'm holding the phone.

I then was amazed at the resolution and detail that I could see on M13. The stars were easily resolved and could even start to make out the propeller. I then shifted to M3 next door for an equally impressive view however I immediately returned to M13 to soak up the view. Next was M57 which I'm glad to say was centered in the eyepiece. The go to was extremely accurate and everything was held solid. The mount is heavy but it's a price I'm more than willing to pay for NO vibrations. CA and vibration are my nemesis. M57 was well defined in the eyepiece although I do like to use a UHC filter on it which I forgot to include in my gear. I then had a look at Albireo to get a look at the colour differential which was lovely. Up to M51, M63, M81 & 82. The galaxies although dim were easily seen in the eyepiece. M103 in Cassiopeia next followed by a return to Hercules and M92. Finished the night off with a final look at M13. I am pleased with both the 180's performance and the overall solidity and accuracy of the AZ-EQ6 mount. I bought the 180 mainly for lunar, planets and double stars but it's also pretty capable on some of the brighter DSO's like clusters and PN's. It's now 1am and time to put the kettle on.

 

Great report and a good read😊👍!

I do like a good Mak..when properly collimated, they can rival an apo refractor for colour free, sharp images..

Dave

Thanks Jeremy,

It will be good to keep a handle on the developing Mars Opposition😊..

Dave

19 hours ago, Flame Nebula said:

Thanks John 

Indeed, I started saving up, on a slow trajectory from early 2021 towards planned purchase, late 2024, as I am essentially a planet person, and checked when jupiter would be high in the sky again , back in early 2021. I even have my wife's permission to buy a 'special' scope. Not exactly mentioned the mount, plus AP accessories, but given I originally intended to get a C9.25 evolution, you're already talking around 2.5K anyway. So, what's a K (ish) more, between friends. 🤔😉. Initially the cost of the mount and vanilla 200pds would be < 2.5K anyway. It's adding AP stuff that increases cost. If all goes well, I'll have saved 4k by September. So, the budget will cover most of the things I'd like. Do you think a used SW120ED will be as good as newest version? I've heard some things about different coatings? 

But, what will stop me, is if things go sideways on job front, as I can't really justify that sort of expenditure then, even though I've tried to ring fence it and keep it separate from other expenses. Fingers crossed. 🤞

In 2017 I was in the happy position, at the age of 61, to acquire my dream scope, an immaculate 1999 Takahashi FS128 Fluorite Apo complete with Takahashi equatorial mount, tripod and a few Tak accessories. It was to be my "lifetime scope", and my wife fully supported the purchase.

I owned the setup for 7 years but in the last 2-3 years began to have to accept that my deteriorating eyesight would prevent me from getting the best from the FS128 going forward. Also, the FS128 is a large, bulky scope for it's aperture (although not too heavy), and with our poor climate for astro, I reluctantly decided to slightly downsize the scope but to keep the Tak mount.

Here is where I think the point I want to make kicks in. When I sold the Tak in February, it was a 24 year old scope, albeit in superb condition. I had 3 firm offers to buy it at the asking price within 3 hours of offering it for sale: I managed to get back very close to what I paid for it in 2017, and with the proceeds I was able to buy a mint 1 year old Vixen SD115S apo (itself a superb scope), and a set of 6 high quality Vixen LVW eyepieces, with some change left over.

So the Tak depreciated very little, and I doubt that any reflector would hold it's value in the same way (although the reflector would of course cost far less to begin with).

I actually feel that your stated plan to end up with ED 80mm and120mm to 128mm refractors and an 8" reflector would give you an ideal spread of scopes that would cover all your needs for the rest of your observing life. On different objects and in different conditions, a 5" refractor and a  8" reflector can show a fantastic, wide range of objects really well, and are different enough to justify owning both if you are able to.

I hope your future work and eye health circumstances allow you to achieve this. All I would say finally, is if/when the opportunity arises, seize it!..your eyesight will likely never be better than it is now, nor your physical strength for lugging equipment around.

I have never regretted buying the Tak, and am fortunate to have found a worthy, if slightly less powerful replacement.

Good luck with achieving your astro goals.

Dave

2 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

The benefits of jumping from 80mm to 102mm is massive. You definitely won't regret it if you do.  As for mounts, I really like a German equatorial, as it follows the object you're studying but simply turning one knob, or if motorised it will track for ages with very little tweaking. Of course an Altazimuth gives you the ability to sweep across large vistas of star fields, stopping to admire the sights as you go. Ideally having both types of mount has its  advantages. 

..and there is a fantastic Vixen ED103swt apo refractor on the for sale forums right now!

Right up there with Takahashi and a bargain at under £700..

Dave

7 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

Here's a blast from the past. When I first bought a Takahashi telescope back in 2003, their catalogue showed some lovely large aperture finders/guide scopes. Unfortunately for me, buying the scope itself wiped me out financially and by the time I'd recovered, these large finders were nolonger available. It seems to be my lot in life to miss the boat by minutes! I guess I'm not alone in this?

 Today Mr postman drew up outside in his time machine and handed me a package. Inside was a vintage 70mm Takahashi finder/guider with swivel bracket. Now attached to my FS128 I'm hoping it will give me a slight advantage when it comes to fuzzy finding and double stars. 

 

35 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Thanks Dave.

  I had chance to look through it for the first time earlier this evening. The Moon was crisp and highly detailed despite the low power. 

  I think the finder stem should really be attached to a Tak accessory ring which  goes around the lower end of the scope. I know Tak provide them currently for the TOA and even for the FC100D series, but I think I've missed the boat for the FS128 as I think its a different tube diameter. However I bought the 70mm and worried about how I was going to attach it when it arrived. I decided to use a threaded rod that extended the length of the top dovetail bar that has doubled as a handle. On the underside of the dovetail bar there's a channel through which I ran the threaded bar. At the top is a nut and at the bottom a fancy knob that I scrounge of an old Japanese mount. Together the nut and knob allow me to tighten the stem which is sandwiched between the the knob and the bottom flat face of the dovetail/handle and lower ring. There are washers on either side of the stem to allow movement. It will suffice until I acquire a FS128 accessory ring in another twenty years. Unfortunately for me, by that time someone else will be looking through my telescopes most likely. 

That's an ingenious solution Mike!👍

I almost bought one of those finders some years back for just £85 I think it was.. but I couldn't figure out how I'd fit it to my FS128 at the time..

Great job.

Dave

6 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

Here's a blast from the past. When I first bought a Takahashi telescope back in 2003, their catalogue showed some lovely large aperture finders/guide scopes. Unfortunately for me, buying the scope itself wiped me out financially and by the time I'd recovered, these large finders were nolonger available. It seems to be my lot in life to miss the boat by minutes! I guess I'm not alone in this?

 Today Mr postman drew up outside in his time machine and handed me a package. Inside was a vintage 70mm Takahashi finder/guider with swivel bracket. Now attached to my FS128 I'm hoping it will give me a slight advantage when it comes to fuzzy finding and double stars. 

 

Cracking finder Mike, it should be a nice low power scope in its own right!

I saw that for sale, it had an odd looking connection "stem"..how did you make it fit on your scope setup?

Dave

Lovely mount Neal, and it looks great in the black painted version.

What scope will you be mounting on it?

I have a lovely old Vixen 80mm F15 (1200mm) focal length refractor which would have come on a mount like yours.. I don't have an SP mount at the moment  but I am storing one long term for my son in law, so am using his, in the traditional Vixen "Hammerite Green"..and a Skywatcher EQ5 tripod..

Enjoy!👍

Dave

I'd look for a used Takahashi 1.25" prism or Baader T2 prism diagonal, both come up fairly often for c.£70 used. 

Both optically excellent, but the latter is more robustly built.

HTH,

Dave

13 minutes ago, Franklin said:

Tee-hee! 😁

You'll see, Tim!!😜🤣

Is that yours, Paul?

Are you coming back to your senses, er, I mean, to the dark side of refractors??

It looks great, one of the few frac finishes other than white that I can stomach!😜🤣

Seriously, congratulations, and enjoy that lightweight beauty!👍

Dave

33 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

One approves of your taste in eyepieces 👍

An entirely Logical response, Mr.Spock.. - thank you, and live long and prosper! 🖖🖖🖖

Thanks to my good friend Steve (@Saganite) (and Tim, @Franklinof course), my recently acquired Vixen LVW set is now complete..

The new to me 3.5mm will give me 254x in my Vixen SD115S, and with the 1.6x barlow, 406x.

Here's the full set.. (L-R, back to front) - 3.5mm, 5mm, 8mm, 13mm, 17mm, 22mm, 42mm..

Plus decloaked 2" Axiom LX 23mm & 31mm 84 deg UWAs at bottom right..

Scope and Cyclops Eyepiece wise, I'm now done!! 😂

Dave

Of course, I was being tongue in cheek (being myself the owner of an Apo wich costs almost £3k new), but it does beg the question..

...and it does also remind us that even the most humble, cheap scope available today is far superior to the tools that early astro explorers such as Galileo could dream of..we are very fortunate!

If only we had their levels of dark skies!😊

4 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Thought I'd add my drawing from a few nights ago.

A sketch like that, showing an image from a 4.75" cheap achromat worth perhaps £150 versus a Japanese hi end 4" apochromat costing c £2k does beg the question..why pay out the £2k??🤔🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Dave

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Super setup. All you need now is a backpack

..with a strong handle?🙃😊