jock1958

A 1.3 metre steel tube will be heavy but if you are using it in an observatory setting then I would go for steel, much more solid and a lower C of G. Aluminium is a much lighter and a softer material which will transmit vibration - not good at high magnification which is why I cut my tube down from 12” to 5”.

I wanted a light weight extension tube for my Tak FC100 and AZ4 tripod setup mainly so I can carry it around easily. I already had the 16” skywatcher extension tube but it weighs a ton so I bought some aluminium tube off metals4u and it works very nicely. If you cut it to long it will transmit vibration as aluminium obviously doesn’t have the weight of steel so I ended up at 5” as the optimum length for my setup.

The AZ8 looks rather nice with slo mo controls and setting circles. Would make a very nice retirement pressie for myself 😉

I think TS have answered your question. Don’t get me wrong the Ercole is beautifully engineered but for me the ST2 offers that extra bit of stability and flexibility especially when viewing at high power. Not sure if your on a budget or not but they crop up regularly second hand on UK ABS.

I concur what’s been said about the ST2 it’s a bit rough around the edges but does the job very well with my Tak 100DL & Tal 100RS. I bought an Ercole and really wanted to love it, however there is a few short comings IMO. You need to have it perfectly balanced and always remember to have the top friction brake screwed in when swapping eyepieces....which I didn’t on a couple of occasions! Ive gone back to my ST2 because it’s so much more forgiving, and with the addition of slo mo controls.

Thanks for that and an excellent idea for locating difficult to locate targets like Neptune. Like you I’ve wasted untold hours trying to find objects in the mixed weather we endure in the UK!

@A McEwan RVO showing the finder bracket your after in the classic Tak duck egg green!

Interesting looking finder and much neater looking than my Telrad, how did you attach it to your Tak?

Strange and very frustrating they changed the colour from green to blue. Looked on the Tak America website and it shows a 100DF with a green clamp, green finder bracket and and blue focuser fitting? If you've ordered it off FLO / Ian King they might have a spare green one knocking around? Failing that maybe you could experiment with some colour match spray paint from Halfords?

I had same issue as you with my 100DL, the Tak 6 x 30 finder that came with the package is excellent but I struggled to get on with it. Also ty wrapping the Telrad to the Tak looked unsightly. After advice from @John I opted for the Skywatcher 6 x 30 RACI finder and re- located my Telrad on my Skytee 2, location of the Telrad might not be to everyone’s taste but works for me just now.

I’m intrigued by your DIY azimuth circle for the Skytee 2 & Wixey. Any chance of a pic please @chiltonstar ?

Excellent! due to the speed it travels at it’s a very difficult target to follow in a scope let alone image 👍

Great image Geof. I was 11 during the landing and vividly remember the grainy images on the TV - loved every minute of it!

Thanks for the heads up Stu! Clear skies here just now so bodes well for later 👍

Very interesting Jules. What’s the difference between the 100R and 100RS Mk 1 apart from purple coatings on their lenses and rack and pinion focusers?

Ha ha you just beat me to it!

I visited Tenerife a couple of months ago and it has excellent dark skies with virtually nil LP. I was gobsmacked what I could see even though I only had my binoculars. There are regular Astro trips up Mount El Teide a renowned dark site, which I sadly missed out on 🙁

Hi Dave My 100RS has no data plate either only identifier was a label on the finder bracket with serial number and year of manufacture 2011 and the obligatory TAL sticker on the tube. Only differences I can see between yours and mine is my finder bracket bolts directly onto the OTA tube, yours attaches to focuser attachment assembly and your focuser tube is silver and mines black. As you’ve already confirmed you can safely say it’s a 100RS, maybe an early version? Clear skies!

Very nice report John. Sadly it clouded over here last night and night before the seeing was average at best!

It’s only clouded over Stu 😩

Bit hazy down here and not quite dark enough for Jupiter! Ah well back to the footy.

Or this Tal on the Bay, must admit I have seen them cheaper second hand.

Bit like this one on Gumtree?

Not familiar with your type of telescope but I assume the moonlite is the focuser and anything that’s not properly assembled could be causing your problem. Hope you get it sorted 👍

Star test is the quickest and easiest way to check collimation on a frac. My Tal 100rs was out of collimation (very obvious in a star test) I managed to improve things over a long period of time using a Cheshire eyepiece, Laser collimator and lots of faffing around but it’s never been 💯