F15Rules

43 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Very smart outfit, Dave. I often wear moccasins for observing.

Oklop bag looks great, too. Nice appendages for lifting, too.

Yes, Jeremy..and you've even got Es at it too.. he said the OTA handled beautifully...

New dust proofing storage for my TAK FS128🙂..

Oklop holdall for 150mm/1200mm refractors. The Tak is a big tube for it's 5" aperture (the dewshield is 185mm diameter) and this holdall fits perfectly - including with my 2" diagonal in place!

I've just had the lens expertly cleaned and checked by Es Reid (what a lovely guy and optics expert to boot!👍) so I wanted a secure storage carryall to keep it in.. (he described the objective as "delightful").

Am well chuffed, thanks FLO for stocking this nice piece of kit at a good price 😊.

Dave

10 hours ago, JeremyS said:

I saw Mike Marotta post about this book on the Postman thread yesterday. Not seen before. Picked up a used but looks brand new copy (I like recycling) for a fiver including tracked 24 h post and it just arrived 

Looks good, Jeremy..how is the classification of handles, er, handled??

Dave

If you can find one used, the Vixen ED 103s and ED115s are cracking "proper" Apo refractors..for an ED103s which cost new up to £1600-£1700, expect to pay c £600-£800. 

In a different league altogether from Altairs' offerings, much closer to Takahashi optical quality...😊

Dave

4 hours ago, FLO said:

With stock still difficult to source it feels good to be able to share these photos taken only yesterday at our warehouse 🙂 

The stock (mostly Sky-Watcher, Celestron and iOptron) shown in these photos is only a part of what was delivered over the last 5-10x days! 

This sudden influx is due to several delayed container ships all arriving together but unfortunately, ongoing, astronomy telescopes, mounts and accessories will continue to be in short supply.

Container ships will still dock every month but several popular models are unavailable (component/materials shortages) and those remaining are available only in reduced quantities. Entire shipments routinely sell out before they dock! We predict this remarkable situation will continue throughout 2021 into 2022. 

Please be assured we are doing everything we can to source and supply stock. 

 

   

I wouldn't have believed that so many Clouds could be stored in such a small space!😂..

Great to see how popular our hobby is becoming👍

Dave

I don't like 2" barlows due to the size of the "stack" you end up with.. I've only used a cheaper 2" Barlow (the GSO version) and I found its' very thin tube walls could " flex" when used with a heavy 2" eyepiece such as a Meade 14mm UWA. I couldn't imagine trying to barlow my 1.4kg Axiom LX 31mm megabeast!😱😂..but as I have a superb Morpheus 17.5mm, why bother anyway?

I do however use a good quality 1.25" Barlow regularly nowadays (Baader Hyperion Zoom Barlow 2.25x). I use it successfully with high quality eyepieces such as Morpheus and Nagler T2 and like the way you can get higher powers without losing eye relief..and to my eyes the Baader Barlow doesn't add any aberration, and saves me having to buy very short eye relief eyepieces separately.

I don't see much point in using a Barlow with cheap eyepieces..you just end up magnifying aberrations! - an odd exception to this seems to be when using a binoviewer..I have had wonderful views when binoviewing with relatively cheap eyepieces with a barlow at the front of the binoviewer...better than I sometimes had with a single high end eyepiece..I've never quite understood why that is, other than the "two eyes are better than one" theory.🤔

Dave

A wooden tripod would suit the SP very well - and would be more stable too, with less vibrations.

If money was no object, I'd recommend practically any Berlebach tripod..a great used option if you could find one (maybe advertise here or on UKABS?) would be an actual Vixen wooden tripod or a Russian TAL tripod from a Tal 100 R scope..great tripods both of them.

The SP is a lovely mount, like it's later sibling the Great Polaris, (I've owned both, I have my SP to my son in law and have a GP at the moment), and the engineering is streets ahead of the Skywatcher clones..very much worth a bit of effort to restore, and will last you another 25 years if you want it to. 

Great find!👍

Dave

That's a BIG drop in aperture on a refractor...are you unhappy with the APM 140mm?

I've not used one, but I do have a Tak FS128 and I wouldn't want to swap down personally. No disrespect to the FC100DZ ( I know MikeDnight loves his). Mike has also owned an FS128, so he's better qualified than me to comment, but having owned two excellent Vixen ED103s scopes, they couldn't match the FS128 on light grasp and resolution.

I could understand a switch purely on portability grounds, but not optically🤔?

Dave

16 hours ago, Chefgage said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Telescope-10B013-Adjustable-Chair-astronomical-Observations-Red-/303846211625?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=CjwKCAjwqcKFBhAhEiwAfEr7zR12HoeSvPuSvmw2t-kSe_Y0cEPFbPR5ik_Z7oSTrnIgS81GpkRfQBoCKnkQAvD_BwE

I use one of these with a cushion on it.

 

That's the chair I use, but that price is a total rip off!!

I bought mine from RVO, see below, as our sponsors don't appear to stock this item..

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/geoptik-nadira-astronomy-observing-chair.html

Dave

14 minutes ago, AdeKing said:

And before you ask @JeremyS the scope didn't have a handle, there was no talk of handles, no Nadira observing chairs were harmed during the scope exchange and there was certainly no mention of Christine Keeler. 😂

I can confirm Ade's account of our meeting: so, Jeremy, please...no lurid word portraits involving Christine Keeler tied to a Nadira chair (with enlarged seat) being handled inappropriately...😲😱

Thank you very much..

Dave

32 minutes ago, AdeKing said:

A new to me TAL 100RS in lovely condition with a spotless objective collected from @F15Rules.

For once the sky is clear after receiving a new toy and so it's outside on the Vixen GPD2 cooling down for first light.

 

That looks superb on that Vixen mount Ade!👍

It was great to meet you in person today and have a good natter about all things astro-fracs..

I hope you get your first light tonight and that you are pleased with it😊.

Dave

12 minutes ago, johninderby said:

I love how these threads go so off topic. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

It's probably my fault, as "chair-man" of this particular thread??

Dave

10 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Funny, I was just thinking of that image 😊

...hmm. So perhaps the actual vision should be of you and Stu, Possums??🤣

Dave

6 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Looks very smart.

Enjoy the smell, too, until it dissipates

...but don't lick it!! 😂

Dave

8 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Can choose depending if I’m in a Tak blue day or a Tak green day

Why would you want Blue Tak on a Tak Jeremy??😜😄

Dave

9 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Let us know what’s inside when you get a chance 👍🏻
My yellow box from FLO was delivered an hour ago, but not opened yet 😊

Let me guess Jeremy..a box of handles?? 

Dave

I've used this very good Nadira observing chair for almost 3 years now, and am very pleased with it.

The only gripe I've ever had with it is the size of the actual seat platform on which I sit..I find it rather small for comfort during longer observing sessions..(I'm not particularly huge, 6' tall and just over 14 stone).

During a recent over-the-gate chat with a friend of my wife's husband the subject of the chair came up, and he offered to look at the chair with a view to adapting the seat to have a larger "bum" area😁.

So I took the seat down to his house for him to look at and left it with him. This morning I called down to pick the chair up and I have to say I'm chuffed with the results.. here's the seat before the modification..

...and afterwards..

Below you can see how the new "overseat" fits in place. The 4 drilled holes will allow me to permanently screw the new top seat to the smaller original seat underneath if I want to. Otherwise, it just slides into place on top of the original.

I can now use a cushion for additional comfort, and I can also still sit "astride" the seat (as when mounted on a horse) with the seat turned through 180degrees..a position that can be very comfortable, believe it or not!😁.

My neighbour wouldn't take anything for doing this mod for me, so he is instead now in possession of a very quaffable bottle of French Red🍷😊.

Dave

Lovely looking setup, @IB20, congratulations!👍

Good to see another attractive, well made looking traditional achromat being available. It all looks well put together, a serious instrument.

Thanks for sharing your first impressions, and do please share more as you get used to the scope. Can I ask how you sourced the scope...is there a UK distributor?

Dave

Great news Chris👍. I'm really pleased for you, a dream job for you, I'm sure.

I wish you and FLO the best possible success with your future working relationship😊.

Dave

Best wishes for a long and happy retirement to both Martin and Ann 👍😉

Dave

On 13/05/2021 at 00:44, Louis D said:

A long focal length, 6" refractor is just about enough to start resolving large, close globular clusters like M13 at 200x and above

I don't dispute the rest of the post, but my Tak FS 128 resolves a lot of faint stars in M13 at less than 200x, and is superb on good nights at over 250x due to the excellent contrast.

Both my previously owned 4" Vixen ED103s refractors also served up very pleasing images of M13.

The combination of tight, sharp stellar images and high contrast shouldn't be underestimated.

I'd also add that a proper, extended viewing of these objects will deliver better views of these targets, whatever scope is used..you can't expect a 2 or 3 minute "glance" to show the level of detail you can see after a proper 15minute plus viewing - on almost any object😉.

Dave

3 minutes ago, johninderby said:

The XF zoom is optimised for spotter scopes and corrects for distortions in daylight but just the wrong type of corrections for regular astro night time use.  Astro eyepieces correct for different things. Just a horrible night time eyepiece that shows loads of distortion. However it is brilliant for solar Ha where you don’t see distortions. 

Thanks John, makes total sense!

Dave

Mr Postie brought me a "vintage" Vixen LV 5mm high power eyepiece in really nice condition.

This has a fairly narrow 45degree fov, but has 20mm of eye relief and is very comfortable in use. It will be used mainly for splitting doubles and planetary/ lunar observing, and will give the following magnifications in my FS128:

Native (FL 1040mm) - 204x

With WO 1.6x Barlow - 333x

With Baader 2.25x Barlow - 468x

The last combination will only get rare use here in the UK, I fear!😄

The photos are stock photos, but the actual unit I have looks identical..

Dave

On 18/05/2021 at 20:42, johninderby said:

Hope you will be as impressed with the zoom as I was for solar Ha. 👍🏻

I wonder if anyone can clear up a bit of a mystery for me?

I know many users of the XF zoom rave about its' performance for solar viewing..I don't do solar myself, but I did buy one of these some years ago for night time viewing and absolutely hated it...great globs of purple chromatic aberration, and not nice at all!

I was frankly amazed, as I had owned the Pentax XW 8-24mm "big brother" to the XF and it was truly superb - very close indeed (apart from field of view) to the fixed length Pentax XW range.

I was using longish focal length scopes at the time (F9 to F12) which only made it all the more surprising how bad the XFs' performance was! 

Anyone have any ideas why this should be the case (the scopes were good quality and the XWs worked excellently in the same scopes). Or did I just get a lemon?

Thanks for any insight👍

Dave

Hi Rob,

I wouldn't have thought so, although I'm not a reflector user.

Brightness is a function of aperture (light gathering power), and an 8" DOB should gather almost twice the light of a 6". 

Perhaps the mirror on your 150 is better coated, or cleaner than the one on the DOB?

All things being equal I'd certainly expect an image in an 8" to be very noticeably brighter than a 6" at the same magnification.

However, the focal length of your 150 is F5 so multiply that by the aperture of 150mm gives you 750mmfocal length. Divide that by 12.5mm focal length of the Morpheus 12.5, and that gives you a magnification of 60x.

Doing the the same calculation for the DOB gives a magnification of 96x (200mm xF6 = 1200/12.5mm ep focal length = 96x).

So the image will be significantly larger with the DOB, and should really be at least comparably bright to the 150, unless there is a difference in the efficiency of the mirrors and or their coatings?

Perhaps others will chip in if I'm missing something 😉..

Dave