mikeDnight

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.

Hi John, When my scopes are on an equatorial mount, I situate the finder directly opposite the counterweight arm. That way the finder never finds itself under the tube where it can't be reached comfortably. As for the angle of the binoviewer, In my observatory I'll often observe from a seated position using a hydraulic swivel chair, so I angle the viewer for comfort, the angle of which changes as the position of the scope alters. Observing from a comfortable position helps me concentrate on whatever I'm looking at. I can also nod-off at the eyepiece without falling over.😴😴

These are excellent sketches Michael, and I could easily imagine observing them in this way could become quite addictive. I have at times gone out under a star lit sky and decided to check out the major stars in one or two constellations. It's surprising just how many colour contrasting doubles there are hidden in plain view. I've made drawings of many using graphite pencils and watercolour pencils, but its very time consuming to replicate an eyepiece view. Your's looks like a much more pleasant method. May be it's time I put more of an effort into observing doubles, instead of my current sporadic way of doing things. Thanks for posting your sketches!

Repulsive!!! That Tak diagonal with its blue badge looks rediculous with that green of your TSA. I think Tak should make a green version of that badge specifically for the TSA. And add a further hundred pounds to the price. TSA owners would pay it happily I'm sure! I'll buy your blue badged diagonal off you cheap Jeremy, if you like? I'm only thinking of your street cred'!

I never used a binoviewer on the scope in the pic. It was a FS152 and the pic was taken around 2007, a couple of years before my introduction to binoviewer's. I'd probably expect to remove the 2" extension on the FS152 if I had a binoviewer back then. I regularly use binoviewers on both my FS128 and FC100DZ. FS128 with Binoviewer. FC100DZ with 1.6X extender-Q and binoviewer.

NO!!! You definitely need the Tak 2" diagonal and forget all this Televue nonsense. 😁 The Tak diagonal isn't this mediocre dielectric rubbish that thins towards the edge of the mirror; the Tak 2" is a beautiful 10th wave aluminium coated beauty. And it's a chunk! That beautiful Tak badge is worth the price alone, and as long as you don't let anyone but yourself look through it, you'll perpetuate the Mystery. I had one with my FS152 and loved it!

Sounds good to me! Others may object though, especially when we start holding entire conversations using nothing but vowels.

My SvBony Zoom arrived today and there's not a star in the sky. Typical! After reading some very nice reports about this eyepiece I thought I should order one, which on Amazon was around £139 from what I remember. As it happens, I'm rubbish at remembering passwords and things like that, so I asked one of my lad's if he'd order it for me, which he did. However, he has something going with Amazon and received a welcome discount, and so I ended up paying £115. Even at the advertised £139 I think it's still a bargain price, especially when compared to Televue's 3-6 at over £400. I've observed with the TV 3-6 on several occasions and thought it very nice, though I don't believe it's worth the price, and so if the SvBony is as good as some suggest I should be very happy when the stars come out to play. 😆

DZ on APZ

Not far away James, around 30 to 40 mins drive - Burnley. The land of cloud! ☁️

Just got home and guess what!? Posty has left more annoying stuff and run off! Actually it looks great!!!😁

The heaviest eyepiece I have at present is my 30mm Altair Ultraflat, which is of stainless steel construction. Not sure what it actually weighs though, but it isn't light! The mount doesn't budge when removing the eyepiece no matter what the angle. I'm pretty confident it would easily handle my Maxbright etc without any problem. So far the mount has kept perfect balance!

It sounds like your FC100 has won your heart, which I fully understand. DC's are great scopes, and there would always be that niggling question of whether a replacement would be as good?

Here you go Paul. Inc video. Sorry about the traffic noise. Its not normally so noisy round here! The APZ can be motorised and can use star book according to instructions. I don't need either. Very little damping time needed, even on my Vixen AL tripod. ~2seconds! The counterweight can be removed and a counterweight arm can be attached to balance heavier scopes if needed. 20240212_122101.mp4

Is there anything at the centre of the rings, as a small particle sandwiched between the elements may create enough pressure to cause the issue? I can't see anything in the images!

Quick thought! May be try very slightly unloosening the retaining ring holding the objective in place. Turn it anticlockwise just to relieve any pressure. It should only lightly hold the lens.

I suppose that if your scope is still under it's 2yr warranty, and if it troubles you, you could contact the vendor and have it replaced, as it should not be there. Does it impact the images at the eyepiece?

Atmospheric it definitely was, although it was relatively calm at ground level. I'm glad you like them! It was my first time out with this mount and I loved it. The friction is adjustable using grub screws, but last night it didn't seem to matter what I put on it, or even if I removed things, the mount held perfect position. Yet it moved with a gentle push in both altitude and azimuth, and without stiction. The slow motion controls were smooth and precise even at high power, and strangely pleasing to use, which is probably due to me using an AZ4 for 9 years. I avoided this mount for years, because in pictures it looks too lightweight and a bit toyish, but its nothing of the kind. It's a hefty, well built piece of equipment. The price also put me off, but last week I received a notification from Bresser UK that the APZwas reduced by over £100. As luck would have it, before I could place an order, an APZ came up on AB&S cheaper still, so I grabbed it while I could. I was considering the Rowan 75 but that's expensive and has no slow motion controls, so it was a no-brainer really. I'm really glad I bought it. I have no doubt the APZ would handle the FC100DL, the mount has a load capacity of 8kg which I think is 18lb's or there abouts. You could check Bresser UK to see if their reduction is still on.

When letting the pooch out into the garden I noticed there were stars in the sky. Excitedly I carried my new mount outside, a Vixen APZ, and attached the FC100D. Then rushed back in for my eyepieces. I had a couple of new eyepieces to play with tonight, the first a 3.5mm XW and the second a 4mm Tak TOE, and so couldn't miss this opportunity. Once everything was ready the clouds moved over, but there were suckered holes to look through and I still managed to have a great time. I first used mt 30mm Ultraflat to take a peek at M42. I love this eyepiece as its a jewel, giving exactly what it claims, a flat field across the field. I then aimed at Sirius and swapped to the 3.5mm XW. Yuck! The star danced in a rainbow of colours. Obviously the scope hadn't cooled sufficiently. A few minutes passed and everything settled down, and a perfect Airy disc stared back at me. Unfortunately a telegraph wire cut through my field of view and created an annoying spike across the field. The seeing still wasn't great and no pup was visible to me. Then I suddenly remembered I had a 4mm TOE to play with. I grabbed the eyepiece, attached it to the scope and aimed at Jupiter, which at this point was not only tickled by cloud, but also nearing the tree tops and the edge of my roof line. Despite this terrible situation, I brought the scope to focus and was very impressed by the intricately detailed view of the belts. The 4mm should be excellent when the planet is better placed. Now a quick comment about the mount. The Vixen APZ was an absolute joy to use. It glides when pushed and its slow motion controls are precise and effortless. I really enjoyed this mount, in fact I think I love it! Just to give you an idea of how poor the sky actually was I've included a few pic's. Never the less, I had a great time star hopping.

I think it should be i'n'n'it, just to be safe! I took my DZ out tonight, and the E star was immediately obvious. The F star not so tonight but the seeing was truly terrible.

It really is something to be aware of. I know I've to regularly tweak the focus to keep the image sharp, because the object on view is moving across the sky and constantly changing focus due to different thicknesses of atmosphere. I also used an mef3 when I had my DC. Some even go the whole hog and fit a feather touch, but the scope really is worth it!

My neighbours are really nice, so I've no complaints, but they are frightfully British! 😊 In truth, that's probably more to do with up-bringing and generation than nationality. There are still many lovely people all over the world.

There is the binoviewer option, where you can use longer focal length eyepieces and a barlow or GPC on the nose of the viewer to amplify the image (very comfortable as you maintain the long eye relief. In 2016 I observed mars in this way, and the scope -a Tak FC100DC - was mounted on an AZ4.

Your scope will play happily at 220X and over on a night with good seeing, so I'd say grab yourself a 4mm.