JeremyS

Great story, great scope

Lovely! I've got one of those too. What's the mount?

I visited that observatory many times as I lived quite near Commander Hatfield when I was at school. Lovely structure. Last I heard (many years ago) it was moved from Sevenoaks to Christ's Hospital School in Sussex..Glad to hear you are still making use of it Dave. is it in Nottingham?

Excellent news - enjoy!

I notice you operate with the central column of the tripod extended John. Can you lock it down when extended? Reason I ask is that other tripods I've used where the central column extends, it lacks stability when extended - the central column is definitely the weak link. However, the central column of your tripod is geared and looks more robust than most....

Get the Quark Piero. It will go well with the Televue and/or the Tak. i love mine!

Maybe reducing the weight of the accessories on your OTA might help a bit 25885?

Crikey, Paul: the real Moon causes enough light pollution, washing out faint objects. Do you really want to be reminded of it inside? ?

I get to 200x + with the Tak FS 102 on the William Optics EZTouch. With the C9.25 on the same mount its in the 200- 300 x range

I've had a Pulsar 2.1 m dome (see my avatar) since 2004. Best astro purchase ever. It's in use practically every clear night had has never caused problems. It does need buffing up from time to time to keep the shine

Hope you make it abroad, Chris. I'm off to Lefkada in the summer. Given his superb travelogue from 2015, maybe @Stu could arrange an SGL the Greek islands......

Here's a pic to show the Neewer tripod collapsed next to its carry bag (minus its ball head, which I am not using) and the TS alt-az head. All nice and compact and light weight. Not quite enough room for the TS head to fit inside the bag as well (unless the zip is left partially undone)

I tried the Neewer tripod and TS altaz head out last night, supporting the Tak FC76 DCU. This combo actually allows me to lift and carry the OTA with one hand, the tripod being so light it can just dangle as you are moving it about. I was expecting the tripod to be a bit shaky, but I actually got on rather well. It's certainly not up to the Vixen Porta + tripod combo, and there is vibration when focusing, but as a very lightweight travel tripod it will be fine. There is a hook at the bottom of the central pillar that allows you to add a weight to increase stability - I'm thinking a supermarket plastic bag filled with sand would be a good option - must try it out!. I operated the tripod with the first leg sections fully extended, the second sections 50% extended and the third sections not extended. This resulted in the eyepiece being at a suitable height to view Jupiter while sitting in a chair (nice views, but the way!). I wouldn't really want to extend the tripod much further as it becomes more prone to vibration. You can adjust the friction/tension on each axis of the TS altaz head to suit the payload and your preference. The altitude allows a range of tensions, from almost tight to very lose; the azimuth has a smaller degree of freedom, but is still fine (it's also a bit more fiddly to do, but you really only have to do it when first setting up). So far, so good.

Handle arrived for carrying Tak FS102 (thanks to a brilliant suggestion from @johninderby)

Hah! I suppose I could Chris. One is permanently mounted on my C11 in the dome and is used for widefield CCD imaging. The other is for portable visual, including solar.

Many thanks Chris - much appreciated. I hope you are enjoying the FS60CB. That's a lovely scope too (I know as I have two!)

You might get away with it Piero. The title indicates this is a Tak discussion, but you never know who's watching ?

Another delivery: Tak vixen style dovetail plate which has the correct hole spacing to attach to to the tube clamp for the Tak FC76 DCU.

Too true, John. £302 for that experiment! Moreover, the Panoptic 24 doesn't seem to be as widely available as other Pan's and not at huge discount either. Maybe I should look for a second hand one, although people tend to hold on to them

Do you mean distortion near the edge of field? There is some with the Pentax and the ES too, but it's not too bad. But they are both quite heavy (back to the theme of miminal weight/bulk). I think the Panoptic is lighter. But it's a lot to pay for another eyepiece when I already have two in a similar FL range.

I have a Pentax XL 21 and an ES Maxvision 68, 24 mm. I have heard good things about the Panoptic 24, though. .

Its a "Neewer Carbon Fiber 65 inches", John

I already have a metal Manfrotto, Piero. It's been around the world with me. But with tightening luggage restrictions on airlines (or perhaps that I have too much non-astro to carry!), I wanted to try the minimalist I am not too sure about the colour scheme of the overall I have ended up with. The Tak FC76 has the new Tak baby blue on the OTA, but I currently have the tube ring clamp and the finder in older Tak green (which I actually prefer). I am using the narrower ring clamp which came from my Tak FS60 as it lighter than the recommended clamp. I do have one of these too: it's wider and quite a bit heavier, which again is not ideal for travel. Then there is deep blue on the tripod and bright red on the TS head. In the dark nobody will notice and accuse me of Tak bling.

Neewer carbon fibre tripod and a TS-Optics Altazimuth Travel Mount to make up my Takahashi FC76 DCU travel kit seen here

This morning two further components of my travel kit arrived: a Neewer carbon fibre tripod and a TS-Optics Altazimuth Travel Mount. I went for the Neewer because it is so light and low cost. It will be interesting to see how in performs in reality. The TS head is a lovely piece of kit.