F15Rules

16 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

 Not at all. In fact here it is in use the other day on the Mewlon 210

Phew, that's a relief!

Just so long as you have a handle on its location, Jeremy👍

Dave

On 24/08/2022 at 17:10, Louis D said:

So, where's the new Apollo 11?  Living in its display case?

I think it's in storage at the Bank of England..

Dave 

Not more Muskian satellites!🤦🥴.

I have not had one observing session for about 2 years in which I didn't see at least 3 or 4 satellites crossing my field of view - even short sessions of 20-30 minutes.

I'm a visual only observer, so I can grumble and live with it, but I imagine all these additional satellites going up must adversely affect our imaging colleagues? Streaks etc across images??🤔

Dave

I haven't tried the Axiom LX 19mm, but I imagine it's a good deal heavier than the LVW 22mm (which I rate very highly indeed, IMO the best of the whole LVW range).

My 23mm Axiom LX  is optically excellent and works well in my FS128 with its large tube (145mm ID) and robust 2.7" focuser with Baader furniture.. but it is much heavier at well over 900gms than the relatively small LVW 22mm - and so, on smaller scopes, the Axiom may just be too physically large/bulky. From my own recollections of the LVW22, I would say that the Axiom 23 and the Vixen are very close in performance: if you like wide fields, the Axioms' c84 degrees (vs the LVWs 65 degrees) may swing you in that direction.

I mainly use a driven mount, so for me the extra c 19degrees of the Axiom do count.

Both are excellent eyepieces. I'd expect your Axiom 19mm to work well, and look forward to reading your impressions.

Dave

24 minutes ago, Franklin said:

Well said that man, there is wisdom in simple methods such as using a set screw to secure an eyepiece, who cares if it marks the barrel they're meant to be used.

Until you come to sell them on and people want to knock down your selling price "due to all the unsightly marks on the barrel"..

Dave 

2 hours ago, cajen2 said:

These EPs have been replaced by the Luminos range, I believe? Are they as good?

Anyone wanting a wide FOV 20ish mm 2" EP should also consider the StellaLyra (= Orion = Long Perng) 80°LER/UWA . I have one and it's one of my favourite EPs. Because it's 80°, it has almost exactly the same FOV as my 30mm Vixen NPL - the EP I used to start every session as a finder. Of course, the SL has more mag and is thus more versatile. Stars are pinpoints across the whole field and contrast is excellent.

Yes, the Luminos were intended to replace the Axioms..however, the consensus is that while there is less visible difference between the short focal length Luminos' Vs their Axiom equivalents, the longer focal length Luminos' are not as good as the Axioms, especially in 23mm and 31mm versions. Different manufacturers, with the Luminos meant to look like the Axioms but different innards..

I did own a 7mm Axiom for a time and it was excellent..I'd buy another if one came up.

Dave

Further to this thread on the Axiom LX 23 and 31mm (both of which I have, and like very much, I found this really detailed review on CN USA. A really good read for its own sake, and very useful if you'd love a Nagler 31mm, will never be able to afford one, and can't decide if the Axiom LX could possibly be in the same league as the Terminagler 31...

https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/user-reviews/eyepieces/eyepieces-14mm-55mm/the-ax-files-r1827

Enjoy,

Dave

5 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

The eyecup can be removed, saving a lot of weight.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/635087-celestron-15mm-axoim-lx-how-do-i-decloak/

It makes the eyepiece a LOT smaller and lighter.

Yep, done it here:👍

Dave

I had an Ultima LX 22 some years ago, when they were discontinued and new stock was available in an online sale for as little as £60.

I felt the 22mm was the best of the ones I tried ( IIRC I also had 8mm and 17mm🤔)..

I never had a problem taking in the whole view, but I don't wear glasses.

Perhaps not the prettiest eyepieces to look at, but actually the body shape prevents them rolling off eyepiece trays and also provides good grip. Optically I found them very good on axis, with varying degrees of softness towards the edges.

I replaced mine with a Vixen LVW 22mm which is now as rare as hens' teeth, but optically superb.

Nowadays that slot in my eyepiece case is filled by a Celestron Axiom LX 23mm which matches the Vixen optically but has an 82 degree fov vs the 65deg of the LVW 22mm..it's a heavy beast though at around a kilogram in weight!😂

3 hours ago, Cleetus said:

What I don't want to happen is to wait a few months, order a Mewlon, only to be told there's a year wait. And then we now have shorter days and Jupiter and Saturn becoming favourable. Think I'll have to sleep on it and decide during the next day or so.  Is there an emoji for someone in a quandry?

Yep..

Dave

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

my back couldn’t cope.

With a decent handle it could..🙃

Dave

"Normal a tractor man for visual, I thought  I’d give one of these mirror-y things a go for a change"

That's ok, Jeremy, we forgive you..at least you'll be looking through the correct end!

Dave

PS..and it does come with a proper little scope too👍🤣

On 31/08/2022 at 12:24, Sunshine said:

I am here from the future to compliment and congratulate you on this beautiful Tak, I suspect  It will not be your only Tak.

Thanks, Sunshine👍😉.

Well, 5 and a half years on I still have "Trinity" (that what I call "her"😁), and still love the views she gives me.

To be honest, I still don't quite feel I've had the best from her yet..not the scopes' fault at all, but our local micro climate means that good seeing often comes late into the night (takes a few hours after the sun has gone, to steady down).

But when the sky is steady, boy, the views are fabulous 😉👍

Dave

30 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Nice… you have an “ex” Roger Vine review scope too… I’ve got his FC-100DZ 😃

It was Roger Vine's excellent review of the Tak FS128 that first got me interested in that particular model..

http://scopeviews.co.uk/TakFS128.htm

Looking forward to seeing your fleet of Taks soon👍😊

Dave

3 hours ago, Stu said:

I must say, I do like the look of these TSA-120s 👍

Yes, they are lovely looking scopes..not too heavy either, at 6.9kg (my FS128 is 7.5kg). A little nose heavy being a triplet, but not difficult to balance the tube. I just wish they'd made it a 128 or 130mm, then it would have been a wonderful like for like replacement for the FS128.

The TOA130 does hit the aperture target, but is a good deal heavier at 10.5kg, and I suppose when you add a finder, 2" diagonal, binoviewers and eyepieces, that could easily lift it up to 12 or 13kg, needing a very substantial mount. Very expensive, too..

Beautiful scopes though..

Dave

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

Did you miss the Orange one earlier Dave?

Nah, it's not a refractor.. it's an astogruf, or astogrub or astrograph or something daft like that..so it doesn't count..😋

Dave

21 hours ago, Alan White said:

Have to share 'First Light' of the roughly set up, new to me, yet quite old
Vixen GP (manual only) at present and my most trusty Vixen ED103 in White Light mode.
Oh and a 12mm Vixen SLV for good measure.

 

 

Fantastic, all Japanese setup, Alan, so solid looking.

Vixen's ED and SD Japanese doublets are right up there with their Tak equivalents IMHO👍

Dave

2 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

There seem to be a lot of people looking through their 'scopes. 

I hate to admit it but I have never looked through mine 😉 

 

What..??  a RED Tak???

Nooooooooooo!!!😱😭🤣😂

Dave

11 hours ago, Chaz2b said:

 Tak FS78, the best three inch refractor?

chaz

..I think very likely so, yes! Gorgeous little scope which by all accounts punches well above it's weight 😊👍

Dave

Further to my post above regarding my FS128..

Here are a couple more photos..the first is the earliest photo of an FS128 I found some time ago..it features a 1994 scope mounted on an EM1 equatorial which is quite similar to the 1998 EM2s my FS128 came with (it's a 1999 model).

I just think the setup looks so "right", and so balanced (I know I'm biased!😂).

Next is the scope out under dusk with Orion over our house..

Finally, is the photo I use for my avatar on SGL, I just like the way the shadow hid half of the scope tube..

Lovely report, Steve👍..

..and, just for that first picture of your makeshift seat I think you should be awarded the O.B.E. (Order of the Boot Extended, of course!)😊

Dave

I know (and respect the fact) that some just don't "get" the appeal of a Tak..so I thought that a repost of my original thread from when I acquired my first and only Tak to date back in 2017, might share in some small way how I felt when I was able to buy it (after 9 long months of gathering the funds together), and why I felt that way..

I was 60 years old when I finally got a Tak, and I waited specifically for a 5". Over the years I've bought and sold far too many scopes, and with most of them (not all) found them less than completely satisfying. 

Before the Tak I had owned two fabulous Vixen ED103s 4 inchers, and truth be told, if Vixen had made a 5" apo I would probably have gone for one. I'd been looking for a premium scope (refractors only for me), that could do everything I wanted it to..for me, that's Doubles, Clusters, planets and "young Moon" lunar and bright nebulae like M42. And I love the sharp, crisp high contrast stellar images that good refractors do best.

To be honest, I'm not interested in wispy grey "hard to see" nebulae and I don't like reflectors, so in a way my choice was made easy..there weren't many excellent 5" refractors around (although there is more choice now, with some excellent ES125 scopes coming out of the Far East), so, given that Lzos lensed scopes are very heavy (triplets), often too short focal length for my taste, (stubby) and as rare as Hens Teeth as well as fiendishly expensive, as are very rare Televue 5" inchers, I thought that if a Tak FS128 came up, used and in excellent condition, I would try to buy it.. and in 2017 circumstances just gradually came together for me.

The scope is all I want.. beautiful to look at, (for me, White is THE colour for refractors😁), fabulous to look through, and "at", and easy to manage despite being quite large, as it only weighs 7.5kg.

There are many, many great refractors available today, especially in 80-100mm aperture. There still aren't many 125-130mm scopes optimised for visual though. And I feel blessed and so fortunate to have one of the best of them in my care.

Dave

1 hour ago, philj said:

Well it,s been awhile since I posted on here, fracs have come and gone over that time. Mainly gone due to house move and health.

But I have fallen in love again. I got a baby Tak at auction back in June and I love it. It,s a 2001 FS60C, slightly longer in body than the latest CB offering. Came with q etxtender to turn it into F9, Tak diagonal and 24 and 7mm Tak LE eps.

 

A great little spotter/ widefield scope/ OK at f9 with the 1.6 q extension and a really easy scope to image with here it is rigged for the 1000d

 

Yes, that is an ed80 flattener/reducer on there 😀

 

 

In F9 visual guize

and a quick shot through it and the 1000d

 

 

 

Hi Phil,

Firstly, it's great to see you back on SGL, you've been missed! I'm sorry to hear you've had health issues, and hope you are well again now.

Secondly, what a lovely little Tak that is, and an amazing image with such a small aperture..it's crazy to think that all those stars are there whenever we view visually, but we just can't see them.

Hope to see much more of your great posts on here in the coming season👍.

Dave

6 minutes ago, kev said:

Here you go my SP102M with a Solarscope50 piggybacked

With apologies for the washing behind! lol

 

Nice, Kev!👍

Dave

On 27/08/2022 at 16:50, Franklin said:

The 32mm prism with a 2" snout is the way to go imo.

Or, if funds permit, a Baader BBHS Zeiss prism..it has 34mm of clear aperture vs the T2 prisms' 32mm. It's only a 6% difference but the Prism is made to old original Zeiss specifications and, importantly, the extra clear aperture means it won't vignette eyepieces with a field stop up to 34mm.

In my case that means my superb Axiom LX 23mm UWA with 82 degree field can be fully illuminated by the Zeiss prism.

When cyclops viewing I use the Zeiss prism with a 2" to T2 nosepiece on the front end and a T2-2" Click lock on the rear end, to hold the eyepiece firmly (it weighs about a kilo!).

For binoviewing I can thread the prism straight onto the adapter of my Vixen SP102, with a 2" to 1.25" clicklock on the back to hold the binoviewer. In the Tak, I can use a 2" nosepiece to T2 straight into the prism again.

This does work with either prism..

The picture shows the two prisms (T2 and Zeiss BBHS) side by side to illustrate the clear aperture difference..quite striking, I think?.

HTH,

Dave