F15Rules

3 hours ago, Luke said:

#3 Red Light Torch

Preserves my night vision yet allows me to look up targets in my astro books out in the field. My friend Bob didn't have one and he fell down a well. All’s not well that ends well!

#2 Focusers

We’ve replaced the focuser on most of our scopes. I enjoy using a good quality focuser. Bob kept his stock ones and his Radian eyepiece fell in a cow pat and ever since had a strong tint.

#1 Tele Vue Paracorr Coma Corrector

Our 10 inch dob has okay optics, but when we stick the Paracorr in, it really tidies up the view. Bob used a home-made coma corrector and thought Betelgeuse had gone supernova.

Can you please ask "Bob " never to venture into Lincolnshire? 😱😊

Dave

1 hour ago, John said:

I think it might be a Swift refractor. I think it is more likely from the 1960's - 1970's or even earlier. This is a 1964 Swift 50mm refractor and you can see the similarities:

There is a larger one of these involved in this 3 scope review but here branded "Eikow" and again from the 1960's:

http://www.joebergeron.com/shootout.htm

 

 

As so often is the case, John is correct 👍😊

Here's a couple of photos below from earlier SGL threads: 

The second shot shows a scope I myself bought back around 2010, branded Greenkat.. you can see it's identical to yours, and that was an Eikow built scope.

If you search "Eikow" on SGL you will find some other threads of interest and links to threads on Cloudy Nights too.

I had a scope actually branded Eikow myself, bit can't find a photo as yet..however, the Greenkat shown below was identical  and carried the upside down "Y" shaped logo that Eikow used. I believe this brand was/is thought to have had links with Mr Takahashi back then. I

The scope is pretty much identical to the Swift 831 and as such would be a fine scope,.delivering virtually colour free, very sharp views.

Whether it's worth shipping to the States only you and yours can decide, but I doubt it would be cheap, and would need to be carefully and solidly packaged. But if it is effectively free of charge, and could be shipped over for £150 or so, it would be a lovely refractor, very well regarded in the USA, and therefore likely to be very saleable in the future , so your cousin could probably recoup his shipping outlay.

Dave

7 hours ago, John said:

I've found that they are within the grasp of a 4 inch but conditions are key with that aperture. 4.7 inches makes them more routine.

E is seen more readily than F.

 

 

 

7 hours ago, Saganite said:

I agree John. I certainly did it with FC100 and single eyepiece, but not with a binoviewer. Now that Orion is high, there is a lot of wispy cloud and moisture so I think I will call it a night.

 

Yes, agree with both the above. I think in the case of binoviewers, due to the split light beam and loss of light, this is what makes resolving and seeing E&F so difficult - they show such tiny point sources of light that the limitations of binoviewers in this area are exposed.

On the plus side though, the sheer comfort of viewing through well collimated binoviewers and the combined workings of both eyes together (which I can't explain other than to say that viewing with both eyes is our "natural state") mean that targets such as lunar, planets and clusters really can deliver an almost 3D effect, and fine details can jump out and become very obvious as compared to Cyclops viewing.

Steve, thanks for sharing and I'm glad you had a wonderful nights' observing.. here's hoping we might get more chances coming later this week!

Dave

Go for it Steve!👍.

Am off to bed now. Lovely night here too, very cold, but couldn't get out this time. Good to hear you're pleased with the scope, get that Double Cluster in if you can😁.

Dave

Not sure if this is the right place for this, if not Mods please move to appropriate location, thanks🙂..

There's a nice sounding scope on fleabay (nothing to do with me!):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Celestron-Vixen-SP-C102-Acromatic-Refractor-with-Glass-Solar-Filter-/174529026399?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

I've noticed it's been advertised a number of times over the past few weeks, and hasn't sold so far: it's just been relisted again.

I was interested as this looks to be an early Vixen SP102 F10 achromat, branded Celestron, and made in Japan.

Although this one is finished in black paint, not the white of the original SP102m Vixen, when you look closely it's just like the Vixen branded scope in every detail. This one also comes with a solar filter as well.

Back in the day (1980s), the Vixen SP102m was a really aspirational refractor for many of us, me included. In those days, Orion Optics in Crewe were the UK main dealer for Vixen: they used Vixen SP and GP mounts for their own Orion built reflectors, and they also carried quite a range of Vixen refractors and accessories. Their catalogue was a delight for me to spend wishful hours browsing through! Back then, an SP102m OTA on a GP mount was getting on for £800..a lot of money at the time.

Also back then, Celestron, who were USA owned at that time, and who built their SCTs in the USA, wanted to keep their global market leadership and so they commissioned Vixen to manufacture high quality achromats (Apo's  were truly exotic scopes back then!), branded Celestron, to meet that significant and growing market. In those days a 4" refractor was seen as a "proper, serious scope" - largely because Sir Patrick Moore, bless him, enjoyed huge influence, and often said that "useful observations" could be made with a 4" refractor or 6" reflector.

Anyway, this scope looks to be in good condition (although I've of course not seen it in the flesh), and not unreasonably priced if it's a good one. It should show lovely good quality views with very modest chromatic aberration at F10.

It appears that offers may be considered. It's in Leicester, but may have to wait for lockdown to be picked up? 

Good luck if any of you decide to go for it👍

Dave

So, the "Spam Scope" vaporware Nikon has "sold" for £1068...

An SGL acquaintance of mine PM'd me yesterday morning to ask about this scope as he was tempted, but concerned that it was "too good to be true" - which of course it was: I was literally just going out but I whizzed back a reply saying "DO NOT bid, it's a scam!!", and I sent him a link to this thread (thanks again, John👍👏).

He did reply to me later yesterday to say he'd been exchanging eBay messages with the seller, and he had found the messages to be odd, and  written by someone whose first language isn't English..for example, in answer to a question regarding the starting bid price of £888, the reply was "Hi again ****, I think 4600 it is a good price" 

So very definitely a scam. Thankfully my friend didn't bid, but it seems that there were 6 bids from 3 bidders. Let's hope that if the eventual "winner" ends up out of pocket, they will be fully reimbursed by eBay!

Caveat Emptor!!

Dave

Hi Steve,

Many congratulations on your Vixen, one which I know to be a top notch refractor. 

As you know I have owned two of these, and, while one of them was newer, with a dual speed focuser, I've always felt that the one you now have definitely had the better focuser, just silky smooth. The optics on both were wonderful, and identical in performance to my eyes..that was no surprise to me, as I've owned probably 6 or 7 Vixen fracs over the years, and virtually all of them had first class optics. As John says, Vixen do know how to design and build/commission a great performing objective.

Steve, your ED103s looks superb on the AZ100. If you can tonight, check out the Pleiades and Double Cluster in Perseus with one of your low power wide angle EPs - just stunning!

Enjoy your new toy!!😁👍

Dave

Hi Richard, and welcome to SGL😁

It's a Skywatcher Reflector, and looks to be in decent condition with an EQ5 class mount.

So it should be a good scope, quite powerful for a first scope.

It all comes down to price, and I"ll leave our reflector fans to estimate what is a fair price for this one.

Good luck,

Dave

On 18/11/2020 at 17:02, JeremyS said:

Updated note: https://britastro.org/node/25021

 

Thanks Jeremy, 

I just saw the latest image on your link, (here  https://britastro.org/node/25060 ) and was chuffed to bits to find that that image was very much the view I had last night, adjusted for refractor/diagonal view (19th November at c10.00pm) although not nearly so clear, hardly surprising since my scope is 128mm aperture and the imager's (Martin) scope was a 440mm!

I used a newly acquired Orion no.21 Orange Red filter and it really did help the contrast noticeably. Also, the seeing was better than it has been recently. My observations were made with my FS128, and Revelation Binoviewer with barlowed Morpheus eyepieces to give just over 200x.

I should add that I didn't see the storm but the land mass was definitely clearly visible👍

Dave

10 hours ago, johninderby said:

Yes it’s gone now thanks to John. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Anyone remember this thread. 🤔

 

Yep, remember that well John..shame the picture of the scope is no longer there but good on John for spotting the scam👍.

Mikes' photo above of that lovely trio of apos really shows well the difference in size of the Vixen vs the Taks..both 100mm class scopes (ok, the Vixen has 2mm more, actually 4% more light grasp!), and a bit longer at F9, but it's the oversized tube that gives the Vixen more "presence" IMHO.. I found my Vixen ED103s was the same, with a 114mm diameter tube (although at F795mm closer to the Tak FC's in length). 

Interestingly, the older Tak FS range had oversized tubes too - the legendary FS102 also had a 114mm tube, and my FS128's tube is c 140mm 🙂

Dave

I've used both the Hyperion and Q Turret barlows, and still have the Hyperion now. Both are optically excellent. I think the main difference is in the build quality..the Hyperion uses T threads and provides a very secure connection. The Q Turret uses a set screw to retain it and doesnt feel as solid - although it works fine. And if you're using just the nosepiece part it threads into your eyepiece anyway.

I don't think you'll go far wrong with either optically, but if your funds run to the VIP, then buy the best, buy once!😊

Dave

6 minutes ago, Adam J said:

Sounds good for my proposed application then.

Yes, I think they would be a good match for excellent low power views in that scope: I'm a fan of long focus scopes  (hence my F15rules handle)..I'm sure your wife will like the scope if you go ahead with the purchase👍😊

Dave

3 minutes ago, FLO said:

It is all good. People are only sharing thier thoughts 🙂

Steve 

That's right Steve.

None of my comments were criticisms of FLO and your products.. I have bought more products from yourselves over the years than from other retailers combined.

I did actually buy a Revelation Superview 42mm from Telescope House about 2.5 years ago for £49 (plus shipping), so I do know they had been selling those at that price for some time. And I did check those sites this evening before posting, and Harrison's were claiming "in stock" on those items.

I also know that FLO normally offer a price matching service so I don't doubt that if it turned out that the FLO price was not competitive in the longer term, then you would be aiming to review your prices🙂.

Dave

On 12/11/2020 at 19:20, John said:

I've owned the 50mm and 42mm GSO branded versions of these eyepieces and can confirm what vlaiv has said above regarding performance and specs. The Stellalyra ones do look extremely like the GSO Superviews.

I enjoyed them in an F/10 refractor and SCT.

I strongly suspect that the Revelation Superview's are the same eyepieces ?

John had already covered your question in the above post. If it was good at F10 then it would be even better at F12..

Dave

8 hours ago, chiltonstar said:

although it does seem illogical to strive for more aperture to see fainter objects, and to then halve image brightness by splitting the light beam into two (worse if there are losses at the optical surfaces).

Chris,

Although it's true there is some light loss when using binoviewers, I don't believe it's anything like 50%..

When I had my previous Baader Celestron angled binoviewers serviced by Denis Levatic (who specialises in servicing and "turbocharging" binoviewers), he sent me the pictures below of the prisms inside. I was surprised to see that one of the prisms is MUCH larger than the other..I had thought they'd be the same or similar.

Denis also said that using binoviewers loses between about 0.5 and 1.0 full magnitude of brightness.. so noticeable, but nothing like a 50% loss. On bright or extended objects it's not really noticeable.

A good example is M42 - the nebula can look great with two eyes, really almost 3D! However, I have never yet seen the E & F components of the Trapezium with a binoviewer, whereas I have done so many times in cyclops mode, with the same scope. So I think that faint point sources like stars react differently to two eyes and single eyed viewing. I also find that for me, averted vision works much better with one eye than with two. Discuss!!😱😂

HTH,

Dave

PS The first image shows the  prisms before cleaning, the last one after cleaning..quite a difference!

No, I think your logic is sound Robert! Totally agree on floaters, I forgot to mention that!

My right eye has deteriorated noticeably in the past 3 years, and if I could only use that eye to observe I would have given up, seriously.. instead, I trained my left eye (which is still good) to be my cyclops eye..however, the odd thing is that my combined good left eye and poorer right eye still combine together through binoviewers on Lunar and planets to give better images than cyclops with my good eye😵⁉️

Dave

9 hours ago, chiltonstar said:

Why was this, I wonder? The binoviewer splits a single beam, so why should it reduce image artefacts?

Chris

This is a perennial question Chris, and one I don't have a scientific answer to. All I can say is that, like Stu, I just find that binoviewing on planets and the moon is much more rewarding for me personally.

I find binoviewing (on Planets and lunar) more relaxing, more enjoyable, easier to tease out fine or vague details and less tiring. Last Tuesday night I found Mars quite difficult, with mediocre to poor seeing: with a single Morpheus 17.5 and 2.25x Baader Barlow, I could make nothing of the disk..a mushy mess, with only intermittent hints of the southern polar cap..I was using my FS128, so the scope wasn't the problem!! I then tried a pair of Morpheus 17.5mm with a W.O. 1.6x nosepiece in the bv, and immediately I could make out the southern polar cap all the time and the large dark land mass (looking a bit like the top half of Australia, with the prominent north pointing feature (Syrtis Major?) looking quite like the outline of India). It wasn't a pleasing view, nothing was that evening, but the bino view was vastly better than the Cyclops one.

Of course, Mars is still so bright at the moment that quite possibly the slight dimming brought about by the splitting of the light beam had a positive effect on contrast and visibility of surface details?

Finally, I would say also that I still prefer cyclops viewing for stellar images or star clusters, starfields etc. For double star viewing I am a bit ambivalent..some nights I prefer two eyed views, another I prefer solo views. Don't ask me to explain it in technical terms. But, for prolonged viewing of most objects, I definitely find binoviewers more comfortable. 👍😊.

Dave

Great stuff here!

Many thanks to all contributors 👍

Dave

That's a lovely mount Roy!..but we need more pictures please!!👍😊

Dave

During this Summer's lockdown I decided to mount the Moonraker F16 on my Tak EM2 mount for fun..solid as a rock.

There's more on the "Show us your frac thread" if anyone wants to see more photos of the setup 🙂.. just click the link and scroll down a little...

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/245216-show-us-your-frac/page/112/

Dave

56 minutes ago, Roy Challen said:

Hi Rod,

As far as I'm aware, it's a Kenko lens. The scope itself is based on a Prinz 660 which is also 76mm aperture.

 

Hi Roy (+Rod),

Yes, it's a Circle K Kenko objective in the Prinz 660, and very nice they are too. The scope can take high magnifications, the weak link was the tripod and to a lesser extent the mount..when solidly mounted they can really fly!

My own Meade 339 80mm F16 scope which was modified by Mark Turner of Moonraker is a  Circle T (Towa) lens, the rest of the scope apart from the original finder was rebuilt, it was effectively a prototype for Moonraker's long focus range. It was commissioned originally as a project by Neil English, in the days when he was a big fan of long FL achromats.

The original Circle T  scopes were most common in the UK under the Brand name "Topic" ( a naff name if ever I heard one!)..

In my humble experience the Kenko lens had a slight performance edge, but both, when well mounted, and used with decent eyepieces/diagonal could/can deliver superb views - especially on Lunar and double stars👍😊.

Dave

Lovely image, Eris. You can't beat aperture!

I've had some nice views of Mars this year but on the whole the seeing where I live has been poor for the past 2 weeks or so.

I was out for an hour last night and on Mars the whole time, but views were frustratingly mushy, despite  the misty, flat calm conditions.

I think there is just too much moisture in the air here at the moment.

I note you had 6/10 seeing..based on your image, mine must have been 2 or 3 at best last night!

Dave

Hi Omo,

Just came across this thread, lovely looking scope!

I noticed also that you also have a Vixen SD103s.. have you done a side by side comparison of the Vixen with your new Tak? I'd be fascinated to hear your findings..🙂

Dave

Hi John,

Was there some follow up on this mount review? 🤔🙂

Dave