Highburymark

Thanks for posting this. Saw the pup from North Yorkshire once with Tak 4” but still waiting to see it from London after five years of trying. Couple of times thought I might have seen it fleetingly - but without almost perfect seeing it’s almost impossible to be sure

This scope is reviewed positively in this month’s Astronomy Now. Bit cheaper and bigger than a Takahashi Epsilon 130d, but still premium price

Excellent......

At under £200 the XF zoom is a total steal. I paid £100 more than that five years ago and it remains my favourite solar eyepiece. Nicos - I’d like to try an LE after your comments. I really like Delites for solar so for the LEs to eclipse them is impressive. But if you’re looking for a solar zoom you won’t do better than an XF. Even measures up to the Leica asph zoom for solar ha - just a third of the price and half the weight.

Very grateful to have been alerted to this thread today Gavin - amazing shots.

Excellent stuff Neil! Memorable image. If Sky at Night doesn’t publish it in its print edition then Astronomy Now might. Quite often see (several) months-old shots in there so still a chance after January.

You’ve got a little cracker there John. I love the 11mm T6. Have only had four but the 11 has always been my favourite. Always hear the 13 is good too - maybe it’s at these middling focal lengths where the 82 degree field is most useful, though I’ve also found the 11 very sharp and comfortable, despite not having a vast amount of eye relief

Hope you see some change Ade. I actually bought the external Lunt pressure tuner when one came up for a very good price - it’s a great device but far too expensive new. Will be interested to hear how you get on.

Looks excellent Nigella - very pleased for you. Goodness knows what the previous owner was thinking. Ade - you need 100% silicone grease. Attached is a pic of the one I use which seems to work well - bought from local hardware store. Doesn’t mean anything’s wrong with the tuner if it’s coming on band at the end of travel - but you should be able to go through from no detail to full detail and then back to a loss of detail again before hitting the end. I tend to clean out the piston and regrease once a year.

Very odd. There were red o-rings fitted to the Lunt 50 pressure tuner but haven’t seen them on the 60 before. Clearly a previous owner had been trying some modifying! I’ve seen some of your images so obviously it was still producing the required amount of pressure. Important to clear the build up of grease at the end to stop it going through to the etalon. It may be that it only comes on band right at the end of the piston’s travel. That’s not unusual. Hope it still delivers the goods once you’ve cleaned it out.

Sorry to say this but Singapore is now almost completely bathed in light pollution, and combined with high humidity it’s not a prime location for stargazing. The area around the zoo is darker, but you’re still surrounded by the glow. However, if you are able to move up 20-30km into SW Malaysia, it very quickly darkens. I took the train from Singapore to KL and southern Malaysia is still little developed. Unfortunately didn’t have a telescope with me but if the humidity doesn’t get in the way, I can imagine it would be a fascinating place for astronomy.

Agree - I find proms are best viewed with a single eyepiece too Rob. Obviously binoviewers provide a slightly dimmer image overall, but this doesn’t seem to hamper surface details/filaments, which really stand out with two eyes. But I almost always observe proms with a single plossl or zoom EP these days. Glad you had some clear skies today - the UK is fighting flooding at the moment....

Great report. True dedication and so glad it was rewarded.

Think it was best part of £1k when it came out a few years ago, if I remember correctly. Still less than the new TV Apollo 11 eyepiece...

Sun gods smiled just long enough to get a great view here. Fantastic. Hope everyone gets at least a few minutes of clear sky

In with a shout here. Cloud dispersing. Sort of.

Glad things are working out for you now Vin. I found a way to attach a second o-ring to the LS50 and wrote a brief report on SGL about it 2/3 years ago. It involved loosening the end screw on the piston which made it slightly easier to screw it onto the brass housing. But sounds like you don’t need any further tinkering. Enjoy - it’s a great little ‘scope.

Same here in London - final rays of sunlight disappearing behind a grey blanket

That’s just not fair Peter. I’m going to take my Lunt 60 to work with me in Central London but not getting my hopes up.

I have a pair of the OVL binoviewers (£150-ish new in the UK) as well as Baader MkV. Use them for solar ha with a Lunt LS60 and lunar with my refractors. Would happily recommend the OVL - great value

Baader Hyperions take dioptrx well - there’s a 21mm in the range I think, though they’re not normally recommended for fast scopes. I had one and liked it - but only used it with an F/10 C8. Probably not the best choice for your dob.

There is only one o-ring on the LS50 so it’s normal. It is very difficult to reattach the piston to the brass section with two o-rings, so you should be fine with one - just make sure it’s properly greased and not leaking

All true Gavin - would like to think that I’d have been brave enough to buy an Epsilon myself without any lead or influence from outside - but I’d be completely wrong.

Thanks - and yes, it was in immaculate condition thanks to Richard

Thought it was worth posting a few impressions of my Takahashi Epsilon 130d nine months after buying it from a fellow SGL member, as these scopes are still relatively rare, and there’s not much information out there on how user-friendly they are. This was my first experience of a (semi) Newtonian after owning predominantly refractors and catadioptrics in the past - though with its ED corrector lens, the Epsilon actually qualifies as a catadioptric rather than a classical Newt - just a very fast, very yellow one. I bought it not for imaging, but for night vision. With a 55mm plossl and 3nm ha filter, the F/3.3 focal ratio is transformed into a wickedly-fast F/1.65, perfect for hoovering up faint nebulae. Stars are pretty much tight to the edge with well corrected eyepieces like Panoptics. I was a little concerned about collimation before the scope arrived. It had come from Ireland, and although it was very nicely packaged, I’d read enough about the challenges of aligning such a fast reflector to be a tad nervous. Amazingly, it arrived perfectly collimated - and has remained so ever since. Another major benefit is the focuser - more than capable of holding a long monocular and eyepiece stack. I have added an MEF-3 fine focuser to increase precision. With relatively short focuser travel, finding the right combination of adapters to bring each eyepiece to focus can be an issue. I’ve found T2/Baader clicklocks work well, though fellow stargazer Gavin has kindly given me a set of bespoke adapters to make the job even simpler. At just under 5kg it’s a relatively easy scope to mount. I mostly use a Giro Ercole Mini on a Gitzo tripod, though the go-to SW AZGTi also carries the Epsilon reasonably comfortably. With such a light system, I find a counterweight is absolutely essential. I’ve also added a safety screw to prevent any slipping of the OTA while observing. Buying an Epsilon was something of a risk, particularly for someone with no real Newtonian experience. I took the risk as no other scope offered the same blend of fast optics, bombproof construction, modest size and weight, and decent focuser. The closest rival was the 6” F/2.8 Boren Simon from TS but it was too big for my requirements.But the Epsilon’s been a joy to own - and even more important, to look through. Whether it’s being used for imaging or night vision, the little yellow Tak’s a class act.