F15Rules

1 hour ago, Zermelo said:

+1

Ooer..some definite ATM here now (Anti Tak Mentality)..

Methinks they do protest too much!!

Joking apart, let's all just appreciate these wonderful scope photos - whatever type, brand, age or focal length they are..👏

Dave

2 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Wow what a beauty! also, there’s no way this telescope is balanced, no way.

Well spotted!! Actually it was balanced in use..let me explain.

In the photo there was no (2")  diagonal or eyepiece, but the dewshield shown was solid, thick aluminium, about 15" long! It suppressed stray light brilliantly, being flocked with proper Matt black flocking, but it did mean the balance point of the whole scope was significantly shifted..

..so I usually used the scope without the dewshield, which allowed the position on the mount shown to be correctly balanced with diagonal and ep in place👍😊.

Dave

9 minutes ago, gorann said:

Should you not change your signature to F8.1Rules?😁

Er..maybe I should..😊

..but if I changed it, it would probably be to "QualityOpticsRule" - since I joined SGL c 15 years ago (when there were relatively few apo refractors around) I've been lucky enough to look through many different scopes, from F6 to F16..and most (not all) gave extremely pleasing views!

Dave

On 20/11/2022 at 19:23, philj said:

Still a big favourite scope of mine, 80mm f15 towa 339 heavily modified and modernised Just looks classy in my eyes

+1 for that Phil👍.

Here's Mark Turner of Moonraker Scopes' take on the same model, as commissioned by Neil English c 2014 before he went to the dark side of ships' funnels..🥴😁..

This scope, "Bessy", became a " gift scope", not to be sold for cash..I looked after her for several years, and she is currently in the care of Roger Vine.

A truly "pretty" (and pretty impressive) refractor with great achromatic optics.

Dave

14 hours ago, Piero said:

Some very pretty telescopes in this thread! 

Not sure whether my dobs are considered pretty, as I focused more on their function, but I like them.  

 

That chair is certainly a work of art, Piero!👍

Do you wear a parachute when observing at the top of it?

Dave

8 hours ago, fireballxl5 said:

Is this against the rules lol!

A daytime shot of the Lyra Optics 80mm f15 Carton objective 😜 refractor, though on a skytee 2 mount, doubled up with my Borg 101ED for some solar observing. 

There's something special about seeing defraction rings around the moons of Jupiter🙃

Beautiful.

That should feature in this thread..

Was this scope one of Richard Days' (Skylight) or Mark Turners' (Moonraker) creations?

It reminds me very much of the 80mm F15 Meade 339 I had which Mark Turner built..

Dave

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Looks like you have space for these in your armoury Dave. Nicely accessorised 

My wife has a pair of these...but "sans accessory"..

..and I forgot to mention too. These tiny Carton minis with 20mm objectives .

Dave

23 hours ago, Telescope40 said:

How many binoculars does that make 👍

Hi John,

Just the three pairs at the moment..all Japanese:

Vixen Apex Pro Roof Bins 8x32 7deg

Vixen B-4 7x50 Waterproof 7.3deg

Orion Mini Giants 9x63mm

Dave

Beautiful and pristine pair of waterproof wide angle 7x50 Vixen 7x50 binoculars with 7.3 degree field. They look unused!

Dating from (I think) the 1990's, these have the JB-2 mark next to the prism casing, denoting that they were made by Komatsu of Japan, a very prestigious and highly regarded maker who also built for the likes of Nikon and others.

These were superbly packaged (as always) by @Franklin - many thanks Tim!!

Complete with all Vixen original caps, these also come with IF (Independent Focusing), so great for Astro.

Quite hefty and Tim very kindly included a tripod adapter which will allow me to use them on my Amazon Trigger Grip mount.

Can't wait to try these out!👍

Dave

29 minutes ago, Froeng said:

I finally have all components together to use my “new to me” Avalon Linear mount. After a beautiful blue sky since this morning (!), the sky clouded over after I had built everything up and it was dark enough outside…

That mount and scope looks The Business!👍

Is the scope a Mak or SCT?

We had identical weather all day here in Lincolnshire, beautiful blue skies til dark, then varying levels of cloud moved in this evening.

I still went out and did get a few tantalisingly good glimpses of Mars..with a red filter the northern polar cap was evident at the 1 o'clock position, and large darker land masses across the southern part of the disk..

Dave

1 hour ago, MalcolmM said:

That's a beautiful setup. That deserves a posting in the 'pretty telescope' thread. I'd vote it number one 🙂

Thanks Malcolm, that's very kind.. I must say I love looking at this scope almost as much as looking through her!😊

Here's two more shots I took just after my short session.

Dave

Got Trinity the Tak FS128 out tonight as skies were unexpectedly clear (6pm)..

I've just cut 100mm off my fixed height hardwood tripod legs, to make seated observing more comfortable with my Nadira observing chair..it's now at an ideal height for most parts of the sky, I simply adjust the height of the chair as needed depending on the elevation of my target object.

Sadly the clear sky didn't last (3rd time in a week!), but I did get a nice 10 minute view of Jupiter with the binoviewers. Seeing wasn't great but 3 belts very prominent and all 4 main moons shown as nice little disks.

Just need a "proper" session now!

Dave

2 minutes ago, tomato said:

Nice, and it comes already flocked.😉

Brilliant!!..

You're cooking on gas now..(well, perhaps coal?😂😂

Joking apart, I'm sure the views through these huge Dobs are stunning👍👏

Dave

51 minutes ago, tomato said:

Exactly, it’s a celebration of complex engineering.

I’m sorry but when I see a white refractor it always reminds of these:😊

Exactly, it's a celebration of simple Galileo type optics..where our great hobby first started..

I’m sorry but when I see a big reflector it always reminds of one of these..😊

8 hours ago, tomato said:

I think all white refractors look just plain and ordinary (and I’ve got three of them).  If I wanted a scope for the visual wow factor it would be one of these:

 

That looks like something found under the bonnet of an HGV Truck!😋😂

Dave

On 21/11/2022 at 11:57, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Jeremy you may have opened a can of worms.

Please Dave don't start posting pics of yourself draped across your latest dob in suspenders, clutching a cigarette holder in one hand & in the other a Martini with a lemon twist.

It needs a handle, to allow for safe, er, handling..

Dave

12 minutes ago, Franklin said:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Edmund Scientific "Astroscan"

 

i

Related to R2D2 perhaps, Tim?

Dave

30 minutes ago, Elp said:

I wish my Z61 was all gold or even a blue one, they'd look almost too good to use. Think they've caught on with the thought with the Redcat and Spacecat all painted livery.

Of course it's each to their own, and there's no denying some of these are well put together, but for me white is the best colour for astronomical scopes whatever the type, and anything else (with the possible exception of black) is just "bling"🤦🥴..

Dave

22 hours ago, Swoop1 said:

A classic James Bond Aston Martin is a droolingly stunning machine but, pretty it ain't. 

No?..I've always thought that Aston is pretty stunning..

Dave

1 hour ago, Prador said:

This is what I like about this community. I ask a really dumb question and some really helpful knowledge falls out.

Many thanks for the very useful replies 😁

There is only One "really dumb question" on this forum, and that is..

"Is it likely to be clear tonight?"🤦😂😂

Dave

19 minutes ago, Franklin said:

And if you use the Baader fine focusing T2-1.25" adaptor instead of the clicklock you end up with a "Variable barlow" by using the focusing mechanism the mag factor of the barlow can be altered as it brings the field lens of the zoom closer or further from the barlow. No idea by what factor though.

That's interesting, Tim. The same could apply also to my proposed setup above, as we would be increasing the distance between the Barlow optics and the eyepiece by the depth of the clicklock body?

Perhaps Louis (who is very good with calculations like this👍) could chip in with his thoughts on the likely effect on the magnification with both permutations?

Over to you, Maestro!😂

Dave

Something perhaps indirectly related to this?..

Like many others I suspect, I only use my zoom barlow with non Baader 1.25" eyepieces.. but when I bought my zoom barlow kit, I basically ignored the connecting top (widest) part of the kit which threads into the zoom itself, and just used the bottom 2 sections containing the optics (threaded together), inserted into whichever eyepiece I want to use..

But the other day, when fiddling about with my bits box, I remembered that my Baader clicklock 2" to 1.25" adapter has a T2 thread underneath it. So I put the whole 3 section Barlow together, so it makes a nice single Barlow unit, and then threaded that into my Clicklock. This makes the whole assembly very stable. Moreover, the Barlow/Clicklock assembly can then be a permanent assembly if you wish, and the required 1.25" eyepiece you want to barlow can then pop straight in and out of the clicklock/barlow, with no need to screw and unscrew the eyepiece into the barlow body each time.

I'm sure others do this routinely, but it might be of help to some who don't..?🤔😊

Dave

1 hour ago, Franklin said:

Some pretty Vixens on show, past and present, and a couple of Taks for good measure. (Who ever thinks Takahashi scopes are ugly needs to visit Specsavers) 🤣

How do you get your Vixens to breed so well in captivity Tim?😂

Dave

Hi Ian,

The scope in question didn't have a focussing mechanism as such..it had a simple push fit eyepiece of c 20-25mm fitted with crosshairs for sighting purposes. I think the fit was 0.965" (you can check that by measuring the tube diameter). If so, you could look out on ebay etc for any similar focal length eyepiece in that fit size.. all you would then be missing is the crosshairs, but you could maybe make some yourself..

Alternatively, just buy a modern 6x30 finder for the scope?

Hope that helps.

Dave

36 minutes ago, Stu said:

A random selection of some of the better looking ones. All non Taks for those of a delicate disposition 😉

Think I'm changing my SGL, er, handle (sorry🤦) to VixenRules..👍😊

Dave