mikeDnight

I'd give it a clean up with some steel wool then wash off any dust. You can use warm water and fairy liquid, then dry with paper towel and allow to dry on a radiator for a few minutes. Duraglit wool is also good to help clean up any bare metal but also needs cleaning off afterwards. Rust-Oleum sage green spray paying gives a nice finish. It's not an exact match but its close enough not to be obvious. It's also pretty hard wearing once completely dry. It's also cheap, so weights etc can be resprayed whenever necessary.

P.S. Had a great time on the moon tonight!

Having used a number of old ED's, even from long established top end manufacturers, knowing the glass type isn't a big thing to be honest. The old Vixen 102ED didn't disclose the glass type as far as I'm aware, yet when my friend Derek bought a 102ED F9 we were both blown away by its stunning definition on Saturn (c2004). The colour correction on that scope was equally impressive and almost indistinguishable from the legendary FL102. When Derek told me he was about to exchange his 102 ED F9 for a 102SS ED F6.5 I was convinced he was making the biggest mistake of his life. He made the change anyway and I was proved wrong yet again. The 102EDSS was stunning both as a rich field scope and for lunar and planetary. I'm not sure if the Vixen ED's used FPL51 or an equivalent but the point is it didn't make a jot of difference. The scope was a jewel. So I think we should trust the choices made by the optical designers and the skill of the optical engineers and just enjoy the great scopes they provide us with.

Yes, it would need to be a redesigned obsey for a Parks Newtonian. I'd probably build a rotating building. It wouldn't take me long if a Parks came my way. At present my Newtonian collection is quite minimal. I have a 4.5" Newt' which is a nice little scope, made by a long gone local telescope company, yet the telescope itself is still going strong more than 30 years down the line. And I have a 6" given to me by paulastro. I have also had a couple of lovely larger apertures, a 10" on loan from Peter Drew which was very nice optically, though I didn't enjoy the OO dob mount one bit, and a 8" F6 which I used on my observatory equatorial. It was very nice but my 4" apo was more pleasurable to use so the 8" was moved on. The best Newtonian I've ever owned was a 6" F10 made by my friend Phil. I told him I didn't want a spider, so he made it with an optically flat window to hold the secondary. Double stars in that scope were droolworthy! The problem with it was I'd mounted it on a steel pier with three welded feet. The pier itself was an sizeable old oxygen bottle that the chunky equatorial was bolted to. The whole thing was dragged out of my garage onto my drive, which was a bit of a task. Phil also painted the tube with black hammerite using a brush. It looked crubish and couldn't love it despite trying hard. My current 6".

If someone were to give me a Vintage Parks 10 or 12 inch Equatorial Newtonian I would be in astro heaven. No modern manufacturer I know of comes close to reproducing their beauty.

That was only one night of course, and afterwards the 8" went back to its owner, and I continued using the 120ED for many more years. Had I have continued observing with the 120ED and 8" Dob, there may very well have been times when the opposite occurred. Either scope could have been the scope of a lifetime, but I suppose my love of refractors has given me more hours using them and seeing great sights along the way.

Doesn't this go to show there's nothing written in stone when it comes to one aperture or scope design vs another! A number of years ago I'd been loaned a very nice SW 8" Dob which I'd set up in my garden at around 3pm on a clear afternoon. Alongside the Dob was my Equinox 120ED and both spent a good six hours standing in the cool air before being aimed at the Moon. My friend Derek witnessed this event as we looked at the Moon using the 8" and both genuinely felt the view was quite literally as good as it could ever possibly be. I knew in my heart that the 120ED would be hard pushed to get anywhere close to the 8", but when we looked at the Moon through the 120ED standing alongside, we were both in awe at the improved sharpness. The night had excellent seeing and both scopes were giving their best. It would have been very easy to assume the 8" would be unbeatable by a smaller scope had the smaller scope not been standing right alongside, and anyone with that 8" would have had a seriously great scope. It didn't stop there however, as we next aimed the 8" at Saturn which was high in the south east, and again the 8" gave what appeared to be another unbeatable view of the planet and its rings. Again I felt that the 120ED would struggle to get close to the view given by the 8" as it was perfection. Anyone seeing that 8" perform as it did on Saturn would be convinced it wouldn't be possible to get a better view through a smaller scope, as the A ring, Enke minima, Cassini's division, variations in the brilliance of the B ring, and the Crepe ring were all visible with ease, as well as globe detail. Nervously I aimed the 120ED at Saturn and Derek took the first look. His response to what he saw was littered with expletives which made me want to push him out of the way and look for myself. Instead I patiently waited for my turn to look, and when it came I was gobsmacked at the improved definition. The rings in the 120ED were as in the 8", but unlike the 8" were littered with the finest grooves similar in appearance to the grooves on a vynil record. Derek likened the view to a Voyager image!

Better planetary definition. Never seen an 8" Newtonian give sharper views than a good 5" refractor.

I hadn't noticed that Stu. Nicely spotted! 🙂

I managed to spend an hour or so admiring the terminator tonight, despite not feeling too well after some rat bag gave me covid. Anyhow, I decided to try using a 1.7X gpc in my binoviewer and a 2X Barlow in my diagonal. Not certain of the magnifications, but the views were gorgeous and far more detailed that the attached hand held phone pic's. Using my 35mm Ultima's and 25mm Parks Gold eyepieces, the eye relief was very comfortable and would be great foe eye glass wearers. Sitting back in my chair it was almost like watching TV, or looking through a spaceship window. The scope was a FS128. Some pics were taken in daylight so a bit pale.

Most fittingly I found London Chaney Jr's Wolf Man peering out from the crater Worzelbower this evening. It's the first time I've seen the Wolf Man, as normally Worzelbower has a smiley Stan Laurel face staring back at me. Everyone seems to do somersaults over things like The Lunar X, so I thought this would be at least a little more interesting, if not amusing. The image was taken by my mobile phone hand held at the eyepiece. Zoom in if you dare! 😬

The benefits of jumping from 80mm to 102mm is massive. You definitely won't regret it if you do. As for mounts, I really like a German equatorial, as it follows the object you're studying but simply turning one knob, or if motorised it will track for ages with very little tweaking. Of course an Altazimuth gives you the ability to sweep across large vistas of star fields, stopping to admire the sights as you go. Ideally having both types of mount has its advantages.

I've always found tripods and piers to be too short. For me there's nothing worse than being scrunched up while observing, as it hinders breathing and becomes uncomfortable and distracting. Years ago after buying a sizeable refractor I decided that the scope, heavy mount and my back would benefit from a tall pier. I also had the silly viewpoint at the time that looking directly through the scope was better. With all this in mind my pier, which was buried into my back lawn, had to be above head height including the mount head. It worked well for many years, and when not in use I'd take the scope inside the house and cover the mount and electronics with a canvas garden chair cover tied with a bungee cord. It never got wet! To give an idea of the pier height I was 6 ft 1" tall. Today I still use a pier for most of my observing. When I designed this latest pier I wanted the scope to be comfortable to observe with from a standing position, although nowadays I always use a diagonal prism. So I can stand and look down into the eyepiece without being uncomfortable. My pier is a 6" steel square section tube made by a local sheet metal worker, and has a 7" square, 1/2" thick top plate. These days I observe from the comfort of an observatory, and after burying a couple of feet of the pier int a hole filled with concrete, and the added height of the observatory floor 1 ft above ground, the pier top allows me to observe from both a standing position, and with the use of a hydraulic swivel chair and by tilting the diagonal, also from a comfortable seated position. Again my scopes are refractors, so the pier needs to be tall. If for a Newtonian I'd design it so that the scope eyepiece would be in a comfortable position view able from a standing position. In this second pic, the top of the mount head is just shy of 6ft above floor level. It is very comfortable to stand and look down into the eyepiece while observing the Moon and planets. Equally I can observe while seated by simply tilting the diagonal.

Very pretty! And even through single glazing it still a thrilling sight. Nice scope too!

Here's a nice bucket list target - Venus as thin as you can get it. It means the observer has to be extremely conscious of the Sun as the planet's phase becomes semi annular, but this can be achieved in daylight or when the Sun is getting low and shielded by buildings. Can you see the dark globe against a lighter background sky or is this a contrast effect? I have my own views on the matter. It would be nice to hear the views of those who have followed Venus in this way.

Great sketches of Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina. Not easy targets by any means, and as a first real life attempt I think the sketches are excellent. Anton Rukle's Atlas of the Moon is hard to beat.

The sky gradually cleared as the afternoon drew to a close, and the Moon was well placed and in a clear stable sky. The seeing was actually superb. I decided to get all my toys out and started off by observing the Moon using my 60mm Carton refractor. Although only 60mm, this is a remarkably good telescope, and as it has a 1.25" focuser I could use a binoviewer which was a great advantage for lunar observing in the 60mm. I next moved on to the FC100DZ which showed the intricacies along the spectacular terminator in much more detail. Meanwhile the 5" was lying dormant but soon to turn its attention to the Moon revealing breathtaking detail in the first class seeing. After uncapping the 5" and fitting it with a maxbight binoviewer I settled myself into my comfy chair and spent the next hour just studying the awesome terminator. Arago a medium sized crater was on view, and alongside it was Arago A & Arago B, both sizeable domes i believe. Arago A certainly had a craterlet on its summit. South of Arago was the Apollo 11 landing site, just on the border of visibility was the washing line where Buzz dried his socks. Just kidding about the washing line and socks, but the seeing was as steady and clear as can be. Then the wobble moved in and I knew my best seeing was over. A cloud front began to encroach on my view but I wasn't too upset as I'd had a great time, over two hours in all, and I was content to close the roof on my obsy, but not before taking yet another pic of my 5" refractor. What did we do before cameras on mobile phones?

I think I've achieved many of my desires as regards visual astro but the pup us one I'd like to tick off. It would however only be a tick as it isn't something that would wow me. The largest aperture I've used for this list is 6 inches, while the smallest 4 inches. Mostly with a SW 120ED! Things I've wanted to see and achieved are: Halley's comet, Colour in the Orion Nebula (pearl green), Transit of Venus, Veil nebula along with cirrus nebula, Alpine Valley central rill, Spokes in Saturn's B ring, Streaks in Saturn's A ring, Encke minima, Encke gap, Vortex within Jupiter's Great red spot, White oval's on Jupiter, Festoons, garlands, and barges on Jupiter, Clouds on Venus, Albedo detail on Mercury, Albedo features and polar cap fracture on Mars. Olympus Mons, Detail on Uranus. IC434, the notch of the horse head, and the Flame nebula, Nebulosity enmeshing the Pleiades, Spiral structure and bridging arm of M51, Dark divide in M82, Spiral structure in M81, Bright spiral arm in M33, Dark dust lanes in M31. Veins in M1, The success list is seemingly endless, but I would like to see Halley's return, as well as Hale Bopp. I doubt I'll make it to the first as I'm already a bit long in the tooth, and I know I won't make it to the latter unless someone invents an everlasting life pill. May be the central star in M57 would be an achievable goal before I pop off, but I reckon I'll need at least a 7" and top class seeing to catch that!

This was my SDF which is physically longer than its actual F ratio. It was definitely significantly longer than the NP101 IS that I had. The SDF is a great RFT!

The Altair 24mm Ultra flat is superb, as are any of the UF brands.

Thats not quite my experience from a visual only perspective. Actually the heat of the day during summer months can be a real problem as buildings around you lose the heat they've stored throughout the day causing unstable seeing locally. January through to May generally gives me my best seeing, though I also get stunningly good views throughout winter months quite regularly. So I'm not a fan of making statements that plant limitations in our minds, as having such a mind set means observers will miss many great opportunities.

It's looking good so far Michael. I like the Pergola and the use of the mirror to make a feature too. It crossed my mind to use a transparent roofing material for my observatory simply for lightness and ease of rolling by hand. In the end I used 1/2" ply and covered the roof with a sheet of rubber roofing material which is glued to the ply. By allowing the rubber to hang over the roof edge it created a skirt that prevents rain from blowing beneath the roof. Also, to help with ease of rolling by hand I used 5" wheels. The inside walls and floor were covered with black interlocking matting to help reduce any stray light when the roof is open. It's worked flawlessly for the last thirteen years. It still gets quite hot inside in summer because of the black roof. If I'd have used the white plastic to cover the roof I'm pretty sure it would be cooler. I'm looking forward to seeing your final decision on your roof and how homely you make the inside. ☺️

Is the chance of probability you obtaining the telescopes, or the chance of seeing the targets? My late observing buddy Phil once said "Mike, you have eyes like a sewer rat"! I think he was paying my visual acuity a complement, though in reality I'm not certain that sewer rat's have good eyesight at all. Anyhow, although I've looked for the pup many many times, I can't honestly say with hand on heart that I've ever actually seen it. There have been times where I've had a possible may be, but not a dead certainty. My problem may be due to my local seeing but whatever the reason, I'm still on the fence as someone who may have seen the pup. E & F stars are both observable with a 4" scope, but as with the pup, they need steady seeing rather than large aperture. I've definitely seen both the E & F stars many times when using my 4" refractor. Both the scopes you're considering could easily show both the pup and the E & F, but the seeing needs to be steady and transparent. The refractor will have the sharper cleaner star image out of the two, which may work to advantage with a relatively low object like the pup, but the 8" has the advantage of greater resolution. Whichever you eventually choose persistence is likely going to give you the prize rather than one scope besting the other.

Thanks Dave. I had chance to look through it for the first time earlier this evening. The Moon was crisp and highly detailed despite the low power. I think the finder stem should really be attached to a Tak accessory ring which goes around the lower end of the scope. I know Tak provide them currently for the TOA and even for the FC100D series, but I think I've missed the boat for the FS128 as I think its a different tube diameter. However I bought the 70mm and worried about how I was going to attach it when it arrived. I decided to use a threaded rod that extended the length of the top dovetail bar that has doubled as a handle. On the underside of the dovetail bar there's a channel through which I ran the threaded bar. At the top is a nut and at the bottom a fancy knob that I scrounge of an old Japanese mount. Together the nut and knob allow me to tighten the stem which is sandwiched between the the knob and the bottom flat face of the dovetail/handle and lower ring. There are washers on either side of the stem to allow movement. It will suffice until I acquire a FS128 accessory ring in another twenty years. Unfortunately for me, by that time someone else will be looking through my telescopes most likely.

Here's a blast from the past. When I first bought a Takahashi telescope back in 2003, their catalogue showed some lovely large aperture finders/guide scopes. Unfortunately for me, buying the scope itself wiped me out financially and by the time I'd recovered, these large finders were nolonger available. It seems to be my lot in life to miss the boat by minutes! I guess I'm not alone in this? Today Mr postman drew up outside in his time machine and handed me a package. Inside was a vintage 70mm Takahashi finder/guider with swivel bracket. Now attached to my FS128 I'm hoping it will give me a slight advantage when it comes to fuzzy finding and double stars.