Highburymark

Magnificent Stu - glad to have made a small contribution to this project - 2024 should be memorable for solar Ha. Happy new year!

3 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Not sure what the angst over retaining screws is about. Tak uses them on quite a few accessories, like the extenders. When the accessory is well engineered to tight tolerances, they work well.

Whilst I use the Baaader clicklock system a lot, it’s pretty ugly and last night one of mine seized while holding an EP as I commented on another thread.

I also agree with this Jeremy - in fact the screws on my Tak extender 1.5x have soft ends - not sure if the same rubber-like substance is used on the new barlow or not, but it works well. Afraid I can’t get too worked up about the issue.

5 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

I use a Baader ClickLock when collimating with a laser. It doesn't move the laser at all when tightening. A normal compression ring does.

Agree. I use Clicklocks on two pairs of binoviewers with eyepieces as short as 4mm - and they are perfect. And an added benefit: none of the undercut melodrama.

On 06/11/2023 at 12:44, JeremyS said:

Any thoughts on this eyepiece yet Jeremy? Don’t think anyone’s reviewed them on SGL. Most comments on CN are pretty favourable, claiming the TPLs outperform most competitors. I’d only be interested if they beat TV Plossls - but haven’t seen any direct comparisons yet. I’m not too bothered about edge performance in fast scopes - more concerned with on axis.

2 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Your TSA120 should provide just about the same views as my 128, 8mm isn’t a huge improvement and your 120 being a fine triplet would pretty much level the playing field. One thing I would love to do is have my 128 and a TSA120 side by side, I don’t think there would be much difference, really.

That’s what I’d expect too. I’m sure that’s one of the reasons Tak hasn’t replaced the 128 with a 5” fluorite doublet. And if they were to produce a (for example) FC-125DZ, it would no doubt be in the same price bracket as the TSA-120. The business case doesn’t stack up.
Still, it would be an interesting comparison - I think both scopes are about as good as it gets within their market niches.

Good stuff! It’s always interesting how different objects respond well to different scopes and apertures. Having owned refractors from 60mm to 120mm, and Maks/SCTs from 4” to 8”, I think a 5” apo is very hard to beat on Jupiter. I know the very best Cats like Mewlons and some Maks can deliver exceptional planetary views, but Jupiter through my TSA-120 is in a different league to my old C8 Edge, for example. I like sharp, high resolution optics (including planetary eyepieces) to really draw out detail on Jupiter, and 5” apos often seem better matched to prevailing seeing conditions than less precise, larger scopes. I also love trying higher powers when seeing allows - even on Jupiter. A few occasions a year, I get up to 300x and above as you did - it’s not always ‘empty magnification’ when you can resolve small Jovian surface features. Hope that one day I’ll get to experience an FS128 myself.

I saw a yellow tinge on the Moon the first night with my TSA-120. Disappeared the next time I observed. If you’re not seeing any colour when the lunar limb is centred, then it’s almost certainly eyepiece-induced. Sometimes prism diagonals can cause it too. But it’s clear from the rest of your report you’ve got a great telescope.

Still haven’t seen it with any of my refractors up to 120mm - I suspect because it’s so low and I observe from the city, so I’m not expecting anything this winter either. But I’ll continue trying. Would definitely rank among the more memorable ‘firsts’ in astronomy if I do manage it one day.

Excellent report! Jupiter really benefits from that 4” to 5” jump, I agree. 

Lovely sketch as always Mike. 

16 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Collecting manhole covers 🤣🤣 This killed me.

Yet it’s a real thing. It’s Jeremy Corbyn’s chief interest outside politics. Just Google “Jeremy Corbyn collecting manhole covers” and enjoy. 

9 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

First drawing with the TSA120, this is the raw drawing done at the eyepiece.

Io is just about to disappear behind Jupiter.

Europa has just finished transiting, it’s shadow is on the far right of Jupiter.

 

Nice first sketch! I tend to start with a 5mm eyepiece for 180x on the planets, but the scope will soak up magnification with no image deterioration if you want more scale and conditions allow. 

What energy crisis? 

7 minutes ago, AlcorAlly said:

In the diagonal. As per instruction on the GPC. But I'm going to check again if the convex lens is facing the right way (I thought it was!)

That’s the orientation I’m using with the MBII and 1.7x for best views, but my GPC is quite old - maybe Baader flipped the lenses for newer GPCs?

There’s some confusion about the orientation of GPC lenses with the MBII - I was used to inserting the 1.7x GPC in the BV body with the Baader MkV, but had to turn that around with the MBII - ie GPC pointing away from the scope. That’s almost certainly the problem here. You should be ok using a prism diagonal with that scope, though they’re not advised for faster refractors - ie below F/7

31 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

@Highburymark Looks impressive, but a bit ouchy on the price (1.25" £179.50), but 2 nm bandwidth is always going to cost. If I ever get any Sun, I might consider buying one.

That’s the catch - but it does seem to be a game changer, whereas the narrower (7nm) Continuum filter from Baader is of borderline benefit, according to the imagers on other forums. 

Not sure it’s been discussed much here, but the Altair G-band 2nm filter is getting some great comments from white light observers and imagers elsewhere. Significantly improved faculae and granulation, from the images on Solarchat.

1 hour ago, Peter Drew said:

I  think most amateurs would be satisfied with most of the in focus star images shown on that graphic despite the aberrations that caused them.  Good luck with getting seeing conditions good enough to see them like that, specially in apertures above 6".     🙂

Agree. I’ve got a 60ED which is very mushy one side of focus in the star test - it’s a cracking little telescope. Nice and sharp with false colour well controlled. It’s why the best star test is in focus, using your own eyes under the night sky.
The Askars look excellent to me. You can see how much attention to detail they’ve put into the package. 

Then there’s the pattern which graphics like the above rarely seem to show - clear, consistent rings on one side of focus and a mushy, blur on the other, making any rings difficult to see, which shows spherochromatism, and which the majority of ED doublets display to some degree. 
 

3 hours ago, petevasey said:

I'm in the UK, North East.  But what dealers stock Solarscope products? - I haven't been able to find any.  Having said that, I'm in close contact with Helmut anyway, and I'm sure he would sell direct to me if I asked.   Nevertheless if he can finally sort my SV50 without a huge cost, I'd be happy with that.   I'm sure a double stacked 60 mm unit on my 65mm TSQuad would be a fantastic instrument.  But even if direct prices are as you suggest almost half of those through APM or Astroshop.eu, we're still probably looking at over £6000.  Similar to a double stacked Lunt 60 and way outside my present budget.  And of course Helmut might not have the filters available at the moment, I know he's been very busy and a bit short staffed this year.

I do need to get a solution soon - at my age (80) I might not be around, or at least particularly active when the next Solar maximum comes round - it's now or never!

Cheers,

Peter

Fair point. Solar cycles do tend to make us ponder the future!
I bought my Solarscope filters direct from Helmut - there are no U.K. dealers. It’s an unusual system I agree - I couldn’t believe prices were almost equivalent to Lunt when I enquired a few years ago. 
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your SV50.

Where are you based Peter? Solarscope prices within the UK are dramatically lower. All export market prices when I bought were almost double - just ask Helmut.

1 hour ago, Joe G said:

Great comparison photos!! The 120 doesn’t look to be much bigger /longer but probably a bit heavier than my Vixen FL102S. I definitely have something else to think about now 

It’s pretty svelte - 6.7kg OTA  - but still requires a fairly robust mount. I mostly use a Skytee II, on a Gitzo 5-series tripod. 

The Baader BBHS T2 is pretty remarkable. I can only just perceive a tiny ‘spike’ with a bright artificial star. For lunar observing at high powers it’s top notch. 

8 hours ago, petevasey said:

Been a while since I started this thread, and I'm still hovering on the brink.   My Solarview50 still isn't working as I would like.   Although I got a half reasonable image on November 24th, it's back to being very marginal, some days better than others.  With it being on the very limit of adjustment, perhaps it is affected by both temperature and atmospheric pressure.   I did get in touch with Solarchat, and the general consensus was that the Solarview50 is indeed head and shoulders above the competition.   Anyway it's going back to the IOM in January for a final attempt to get it up to scratch, at least a rebuild of the existing etalon or possibly even a complete replacement etalon although I have some trepidation about what that would cost!

So fingers firmly crossed.  But if it ends up in the recycling bin (shock horror!!)  I think the Lunt double stack will be the way to go, particularly after seeing Nigella's superb images earlier in this thread.

Merry Christmas to all

Cheers,  Peter

Sorry to hear the SV50 still isn’t fully performing. If you do go ahead and invest in a new set up, it might be worth asking Helmut for Solarscope new prices. In my experience they were very competitive with Lunt. I bought double stacked 70mm filters (full aperture, external) for the same price as a double stacked Lunt 80 - which features  smaller (50mm I think) internal etalons. As Nigella says, Lunt prices are silly. I wonder if a SV60 DS might be not much more than a Lunt 60DS?

It’s a full 1kg lighter than the Tak TSA-120 triplet, which is among the lightest in its class. If the optics are good this looks like a great package, though I’m presuming it doesn’t have FPL53 or equivalent glass for the ED element, as the Esprit does.