mikeDnight

Go where your heart leads you, - providing your wallet agrees! 😁

Should be good but pricey. A tubular steel SW tripod would be solid too, or an older aluminium Vixen tripod. Many of the cheap Chinese aluminium tripods have plastic guides through which the lower leg section slides, and that flex, are weak, and at times break.

Yes! You'd have slow motion control of your scope when using high power. The AZ4 is solid if on the right tripod.

It would be rare for a refractor, especially a doublet, arriving out of collimation. It is one of the beautiful things about refractors, that they can take a knock many times and yet be as good in a hundred years as they were on the day of purchase. Don't panic over what will almost certainly not happen. Refractors stay sharp!

Beer & Madler once created a map of the Moon using a similar aperture refractor, though a long one, that was so detailed it brought selenography to a virtual stand still for decades. So a 90mm refractor is very capable for viewing the solar system as well as brighter deep sky.

I'm happy for you Michael. 😊 But don't worry, I've just been outside and my clouds are speeding your way.

An F7 4" ED will be much easier to handle, give a wider/richer star field when needed, and will power up for lunar, planetary, and double star observing like the best of them. I'd not hesitate to say grab yourself a 4" F7 ish ED apo doublet or triplet. The Askar 103 appears to be a stunning piece of kit that would last a lifetime. But you've also got the Starfield and many others to choose from, not forgetting second-hand scopes too.

It sounds to me Marv like you must have watched Mary Poppins once too many times as a kid! Curse that Dick Van Dyke! 😂

It's been a lovely day here and warm enough to play out without a coat, so I thought I'd do an early spring clean of my observatory. When I stepped outside the obs'y, there it was - the Moon set against a blue sky. Without thinking, and due to the sudden surprise at seeing it, I loudly exclaimed "Ooo!" I'm sorry, because someone must have reported my excitement and the next time I looked up the sky was covered by cloud. 😥

This first sketch was made on 09/01/24 on one of those nights that deteriorates as soon as you set your scope up, almost as if someone is watching and saying "Nope! Youre not going to enjoy yourself!" Anyhow, I wasn't going to post this sketch as the seeing deteriorated so rapidly I hadn't chance to finish it, and so I shut shop in disgust. This second sketch was made on 12/02/24 and again the night was not good, with thick eerie cloud, and I had to make the most of looking through suckered holes.

Looks lovely Steve! Has your better half noticed the base of her kitchen towel holder has gone missing?

It isn't an exact match Jock. I had a can of spray-on radiator enamel that I bought last year. It cost about £5. The difference is definitely noticeable but not by much, but certainly preferable to the scars and small chips on the original paintwork. I hope the Tak brigade will still speak to me now I've revealed this!

New to me, an old scared 50mm Tak finder for my DZ. After sanding and a respray - And now on its telescope -

Here are my Vixen GP, Vixen GPDX, and Vixen APZ. Apologies for the telescopes!

You should have bought a Mack, sorry, Mak !

More junk! 🙄 Double stars here I come!!

I'd be happy to give it a go if you have enough bottle John. I look at it this way, how much worse could it be after I've improved it? 🫣

It definitely needs a make-over! I'd be willing to spray paint your scope black if you like Neil? 😉

I've managed to have some very enjoyable times observing Mars through a 100mm F7.4 refractor, using a 2.5mm Vixen LV eyepiece, with the scope mounted on an AZ4. I really can't remember it being difficult despite the eyepiece having a apparent field of ~45° and giving a magnification of 296X.

I'd be happy to do a free finder respray John, if anyone's brave or daft enough to let me loose on their precious Tak finder.

I sold my 31mm Nagler the year before last because it wasnt sharp to the edge when in my Genesis SDF, and I replaced it with a superb 35mm Panoptic. It was woth losing half a degree of true field to gain a cleaner field of view. I then sold my 35mm Panoptic eyepiece last year as part of a package deal. Then when I was at the Practical Astronomy Show, I grabbed myself a Altair version of the 30mm Ultra Flat. It really is everything it claims to be, and I genuinely don't miss the 35 Panoptic at all. As far as I'm concerned, the 30mm Ultra Flat is every bit as sharp as the Panoptic. As Spock said above - "everyone should have one"! This year I may buy the 24mm Ultra Flat, which if the 30mm is anything to go by, should give the 24 Panoptic a serious run for its money, and the UFF has a larger eye lens making it a bit more comfortable to use. That first night, when I return home from the PAS, the sky was clear and I was able to have my first look through my new 30mm Ultra Flat. To my delight the stars were sharp across the field, and after aiming my FC100 to M1, there it was, the Crab nebula as large as life. As many will know, this object can be elusive despite its apparent ease, so the night must have been reasonably transparent, but also the eyepiece performed admirably as well.

A slightly battle scarred 50mm Takahashi Finderscope arrived at my Tak Hospital this morning, complete with Tak Green finder bracket. Now, after some delicate surgery, which required dismantling, a little fine sanding, protecting the Made In Japan sticker, then respraying the finder tube. After which the green finder stalk was given a Tak Blue makeover and placed in recovery. And finally after only a few hours, in pride of place on its new telescope companion. Daylight pic's to follow eventually, probably on a different thread.

That looks like a great field book as well as a fireside observation planner. I must have wasted countless hours looking through books and charts, planning my observing sessions. Then chickening out because its too cold, or I'm too tired, or its too dark outside. I can always find an excuse why I shouldnt observe! Im not lazy, Im just highly motivated to do nothing if I can get away with it.

You've been spying on my set-up Jeremy! And I must admit the similarity between Wallace and myself is uncanny, even down to the silly grin and dress sense!!

I use a 1.25" Baader Zeiss BBHS prism which actually has an oversized prism. This means that with a 2" nose and 2" click-lock, you can use 30mm 70° Ultraflat eyepiece (UFF) and still get a completely full field. Alternatively you could use a 2" dielectric such as the Altair 2" with click-lock. Or you could stay totally Tak as JeremyS has.