F15Rules

21 hours ago, dweller25 said:

AND I replaced all the refractor clamshells with tube rings - one securing bolt is not enough for me

..and not a tube ring in sight..😋

Dave

Sorry Chris, this thread seems to have drifted from your original topic..

I do have some brand loyalty but it's not unqualified or blind at all. Overall, I would say my two most trusted brands in the past 20-30 years would be Vixen and Baader..

Vixen, because they have consistently produced and invented excellent, innovative products..SP &GP mounts, LV/LVW/SLV eyepieces and wonderful refractors like SP, FL and ED/SD ranges: many of which brought excellent optical performance within reach of "the masses" for the first time..

Baader, because again they are so innovative, and their development of the T2 accessory system, Maxbright binoviewers, BGO & Morpheus high end eyepieces, for example, have always offered great performance and versatility👍.

I've never not owned something made by Vixen or Baader in all that time.

Dave

12 hours ago, JeremyS said:

I love Tak straight thru finders. None of the RACI stuff 😊

The phrase "Pain in the neck" comes to mind..

..in terms of straight thru finders of course..

Dave

11 hours ago, dweller25 said:

Guilty as charged…..

My FS128 sports a Feathertouch 3035 focuser - in my opinion it is better than the original Tak focuser.

AND I added a RACI focuser to my Mewlon and FC100DZ because the Tak straight throughs hurt my back.

AND I replaced all the refractor clamshells with tube rings - one securing bolt is not enough for me.

Why ? - because the optics are worth it 🙂

I still have have and like the original focuser, but I have added the MEF 3 microfocuser, which is excellent.

I did replace the (optically excellent) original finder with a RACI one for the same reason as David.

I would never swap the original clamshell ring for tube rings..the clamshell IMHO is better functionally, very strong and safe, and looks great 😃.

Dave

5 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Will be interesting to find out the history of this fine scope, Mike. The maker clearly knew what they were doing.

The only thing I can say is the diagonal is definitely a Tak 1.25-inch prism 😊

...and scopes didn't have handles "back in the day"...😁

Dave

I had an AE optics 4.5mm F14.4 achro some years ago, and its' lens was uncoated (quite common in the 70s)..but very good polish and figure.

Here's a link to my old thread re the AE frac..

Dave

Hi Mike,

That objective looks uncoated to me? If so, I'm wondering if it might have been made by AE scopes of Luton?

Someone who might be able to shed light on it is Es Reid, who I believe did work for/with AE and Jim Hysom..

HTH..and that's a cracking looking scope!

Dave

It was clear last night (Thursday) until c8.15pm...of course, I didn't go out til 8pm!!.

Such as shame as I saw E&F with direct vision with the Nagler T2 12mm (86x) in my FS128, despite the moon.

Next stop was the moon itself and I got this so so shot on my Android phone literally between the clouds, so not great, but had it stayed clear the views, despite a stiff breeze, were looking wonderful.

Cheers,

Dave

12 minutes ago, Paz said:

That is the offending advert that got me thinking! 

The ad's not supposed to get you thinking...at that price it's supposed to get you buying!!🤑😇😂

Dave

Oh, yes there is!😊

https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=184083

Dave

I've owned the 10.5mm and it's super sharp and very light.

I personally didn't get on with the short eye relief and flat top though.

Dave

February Clear night count..

January began with an amazing 6 clear nights in the first week, but tailing off towards the end of the month..

Conversely, February was pretty grim in the first half of the month, but ended more positively:

28 nights in the month

8 clear nights  (4 nights of observing)

1 partly clear night

6 nights away from home so no conditions noted

13 Cloudy/foggy/hazy nights - including an unprecedented 3 major storms in one week!

Of the 8 clear nights, I had 4 sessions under the stars, ( same as January), and all were under excellent conditions.

5 of the clear nights were in the last week of the month.

So far, March has had end to end cloud and dampness..we could have our first clear night of the month on either Saturday or Sunday night🤞👍.

Dave

Just picking up on this great thread..

I had a lovely session on the Double Cluster a few nights ago ( it was Saturday 26th Feb.

I've always been fascinated in particular by NGC 869, which contains the Teardrop/Cyclops Asterism, or The Circlet as I like to think of it.

Like many, I expect, I usually spend just a few minutes on this object, admire the sheer number of stars (and the colour contrast, with several orange tinted ones), and then move on..

On this occasion, though, I was checking out various eyepiece combinations with my fairly new to me Astro Physics 2" Barlow. The target I was looking at, the Circlet, seemed to invite (literally) closer inspection: at low power (45x), I see the Circlet readily, a curve of 5 stars clearly visible, with one other star barely "suspected" with averted vision.

I then upped the power, this getting a darker sky background, as well as a closer up view, and in the semi circle "Circlet" asterism another 3 stars were visible, mainly with averted vision.

Gradually (and it was a beautifully clear and dark night) I was able to keeping upping the magnification more and more..in the end I was using a BGO 6mm with AP barcon nosepiece in a longer extension tube, which I calculated gave 2.8 X 173x, ie c 484x. At this power, the Circlet took up most of the field of view in the barlowed BGO!

I want to revisit this on our next dark clear night (hopefully before the coming waxing Moon gets too bright)..I'll try to sketch what I see in terms of what stars are where at that time👍😊.

Thanks, Sunshine, for a great thread!

Dave

They're both good eyepieces, and keepers unless you need to wear glasses to observe, or don't like short eye relief.

The pair would I think be worth between c£100 and £150 on the used market👍.

Dave

Sorry, Chris, no help is available for that type of craving...😱😂.

But joking apart, it sounds like a great scope at a very good price. While it's not a traditional "grab and go" scope, it is a portable one without too much difficulty. 

My "one size fits all scope" is a Tak FS128..although a big scope, it's only 7.5kg in weight, very like the Teknosky, and a similar length (1040mm F8).

Mine is rock solid on a Tak EM2 mount ( like a Vixen GPDX), rated at c 10.5kg..your Skytee is rated at 10kg so should take the scope comfortably (especially with an upgraded dovetail/plate as John suggests)👍.

I also have a 4" frac, and there is a significant and worthwhile difference going up to 5".

I look forward to reading your first light report, and seeing your 4" F7 in the classifieds!😱😂

Dave

I can't disagree with the votes for the GP, it's a wonderful mount, as is the GPDX version.

But I'm going to choose my Takahashi EM2 and Vixen SP mounts, the two I have now.

The EM2 came with my FS128 which I've now had for nearly five years. The mount dates from 1998 and has a single RA drive, polar scope and twin slo-mo drives too. It's very similar in capacity to the GPDX and takes the FS128 (which is a big tube, but quite light at just 7.5kg) beautifully. On a sturdy wooden tripod it is rock solid.

With a quick visual polar scope alignment it will hold the target in the centre of the fov for c. an hour. Even the polar scope cover is metal, no plastic here!

My other mount which deserves a mention is my Vixen SP (Super Polaris). This was replaced by the GP, but the SP can operate in altaz mode as well as eq mode, something the GP can't do.

I use it with my old Vixen SP102 F10 achromat and they make a perfect combination, with simple, but very smooth slow motion controls. It's shown here also, with my son in laws' Evostar 120mm F8.3, which I've been cleaning for him.

Dave

Nice looking pair of binoculars 😊..I've never seen a pair like them before.

They could be German perhaps?🤔They don't look Russian to me as the latter tend to have quite distinctive coloured coatings..these look as though they could be uncoated.

Have you looked through them?

Dave

Beautiful Mount and Tripod!👍

Dave

Yes, no question.

I wouldn't buy any mount (unless it had electric drives) without slow motions. Period.

Dave

Wow! Dave, that report is worthy of a full scale book launch!😂

Seriously, a great read and quite astounding how much you got through in the session, and then to write it all up in such detail..

Hats off to you👍

Dave

Great report and an interesting read😊👍.

Sounds like an absolute corker of a session, thanks for sharing!

Dave

Agreed, David..over the past 3 sessions, I've seen far more satellites than ever before..🥴

Dave

Thanks, Apricot.

It's strange, he was very keen in theory to have his own scope, and seemed to like looking through mine..

..but, like many professional astronomers, he was in the end more interested in the theoretical side of things. During his post doc 2-3 years he was working on computer modelling of the workings of brown dwarfs, something that I would find as dry as dust (not to say unintelligible!).

He's a mathematician first and foremost really, so perhaps he's just not "wired up" for visual astronomy.

But he doesn't want to sell the scope..I told him we wouldn't mind in the least if he did, but maintains that he does intend to use the scope at some point!🤔

Dave

We bought our son in law an Evostar 120 F8.3 achromat for his 21st birthday while he was starting his Masters in Astro Physics (and later his PHD in Quantum Mechanics).

He's now 30 and has hardly ever used the scope..on a recent visit to Devon to him and our daughter I found it languishing out in the shed, covered in bits of dead spiders, bugs etc.

So I bought it home with me and have been cleaning it up and polishing it with Renaissance Micro Crystalline wax on the tube, and BWF on the objective.

It came up pretty well I think, and is shown here on my SP mount as I daytime tested it on our local church tower, catching a rook in flight carrying nesting material in the process!

I hope he will actually use it soon!! 😠🥴🙏😊

Dave

...or a Chinese Lantern?

Don't laugh, I saw one some years ago and for a good number of seconds it looked like a very bright star, and then petered out..

Dave