jock1958

2 hours ago, johnturley said:

Braved the weather last night, according to the thermometer in my observatory shed it was minus 8, and had a look at Mars.

Conditions were not ideal with quite a bit of unsteadiness, attach my best image of Mars taken through my 14 in Newtonian, ZWO ASI 462 Camera, and 2.5 x Powermate, 2 minute exposure, approx 10,000 frames at 90 fps, processed in AutoStakkert (sacked best 25%), and Registax, plus a bit of polishing in Lightroom. 

 

 

Very nice and similar to what I was seeing last night through my Tak FC-100DL, WO Binoviewers, TV 2.5x PM & Pentax XF 8.5 eyepieces.

16 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Hi John,

Yes, Trinity is fine, thanks, am just keen to get her out more..the past two nights were pretty good, quite clear, but at minus 5 or worse it was just too cold to be comfortable. Tonight is shaping up the same, I'll have to see if I can bear it!❄️🤔😊..

Here's a couple of nice pics of her on the original Tak tripod from the  warm and sunny weather of summer a couple of years back.

 

I normally use my home built fixed height wooden tripod with Trinity (shown above carrying my then Moonraker 80mm F15 achromat)..it's shown below, this time carrying Trinity..

The original tripod shown below is an extending hardwood Tak one, identical to the one which originally came with Trinity as a new scope in c 2000..it's very lovely to look at, but in truth, the big FS128 is happier on the more solid, less glamorous, fixed tripod.. it's quite a big tube (almost 6" diameter), but only 7.5kg in weight.

Here's another Tak library pic of the same Tak Tripod carrying an FS128 on an EM1 mount back in 1994..

This Tak tripod would be just perfect for any 4" Tak, including the TSA102, and I may move mine on soon as I'm just not using it much.

Good to hear you're getting good observing with yours, John👍

Dave

Hi Dave, agree your wooden Tak tripod looks really nice compared to my rather mundane AZ4 steel leg tripod.
You mentioned about the stability of it compared to your fixed leg tripod, what about adding a lightweight extension tube and leave the legs up or not fully extended?
That’s what I’ve done with my setup and it’s rock solid with virtually no vibrations.

Cheers Iain 

19 hours ago, Mart29 said:

Not stacked or edited. I take a few second video on the phone and just pause through it until I find a decent image. Zero editing , nice and easy as I like it! This is the video I took. I literally just zoom in a little until I can see it and sit for a few minutes play and pausing then screen shot anything that looks decent. 

 

Excellent photo’s and church bells at the start of the video make it very apt for this time of year 🎄👍

19 hours ago, PatG said:

also had no finder fitted and struggled locating objects manually, so need to think-about how I approach this going forward - maybe get a RDF to assist. I need to practice star hopping.

Agree the FS60Q is a great little scope which I tend to use for the brighter objects and grab & go.
I’ve had a variety of finder’s including Taks 6x30, RACI, Baader Skysurfer’s III & V and combinations of both.
Picture below with SS III & Tak which I found a bit cluttered & OTT so I’ve removed the Tak finder as I find the small SS fits the bill as it’s small, lightweight and  relatively unobtrusive. 

Excellent sketch as always @mikeDnight Was on it last night with my Tak FS60Q & 3-6 NZ, only hints of albedo features probably due seeing and limited aperture. 

Warm welcome to SGL Douglas, agree the Cairngorms is a lovely part of the country where I learned to ski many, many moons ago. Iain 

Looks fabulous @Telescope40and well worth the 25 mile journey!  
I’m sure it will bring you many, many years of enjoyment 👍

Ohh and by the way welcome to the Tak Owners Club!! 

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

Hi Iain,

I think it's a nice example, not mint or excellent but the seller (whom I think, but don't know for sure, used to own Peak2Valley instruments), has only claimed it as being in "fair" condition..

I don't think the "dew spot" is a deal breaker, but hard to be sure without a physical inspection..

I personally think it's a bit on the high side price wise, but he invites offers so probably room for some negotiation..

Dave

I’d love to try one out but I’m more than happy with my FC-100DL for the time being. 
As far as the dew spot goes If it’s on the outside of the lens that should clean off fairly easily, anywhere else I’m not so sure?
Like you say Dave you need a proper look to be sure 🤔

Looks in fairly good nik Dave, wonder about that dew spot that’s mentioned 🤔

23 minutes ago, Stu said:

It believe it might be, but it’s not my picture. This was @johninderby’s mount, but sadly he hasn’t posted up for a number of months, I do hope he is ok.

I hope he’s ok as well, haven’t heard much from @john lately  either 🤔

On 28/09/2022 at 18:41, Stu said:

Mine came with a cable that fits a 12V socket and plugs into the control unit. I assume this is supplied as standard with the kit but best to check. The motors take their power from the control unit as in these images.

Off topic Stu but is that a Tiger Tank I spy behind the AZ100? 

My setup consists of a dew strap connected up to a power bank similar to @wookie1965 charged up battery lasts at least three good sessions. 

Excellent report.
On Monday night I was in my back garden and had some lovely views of the Swan using my 4” Tak, 14mm Delos & Nebustar filter, what surprised me was how big it was and the detail I managed to pull out. 
The Lagoon looked excellent as well showing loads of detail considering how low it is just now. 

3 hours ago, Stu said:

I have a 31mm T5 which is not going anywhere unless the financial wheels totally fall off! Wonderful eyepiece, nothing to match it. I did have 17 and 22mm T4s too, aswell as 2.5, 3.5 and 7mm T7s and thought they were excellent. Particularly the T7s, hard to believe there is an 82 degree afov in such compact eyepieces.

Bought my 31 T5 a few years ago off a fellow SGL’r who was offloading all his gear and mighty glad I did, it’s a fantastic eyepiece and like you Stu would have to be really skint to sell it. 
Initially I did have a few issues with kidney beaning / eye placement but solved that with the addition of a TV eye guard extender. 

Hi Peter and a warm welcome to SGL. Visited Turks & Caicos just before the pandemic and thoroughly enjoyed it, loved Grace Bay and those dark unpolluted skies!!

I know this post is two and half weeks late and I apologise, but its the first time I've seen the Lunar X & V so felt the picture was worth posting as they both stood out so well.

Rough iPhone pic taken through a combination of my Tak FC-100DL, Pentax XF 8.5, TV 2.5X power mate and WO BV's so magnification was pretty high.

For those that own the Atlas of the Moon I decided to compare maps to my pic, I found the Lunar X fairly easily (circled yellow) but the V was more tricky so not 100% sure (circled red), maybe top right corner of page 17?

14 hours ago, Stu said:

The only reservation I would have the image orientation with a mirror diagonal ie upside down, although I deal with it in a newt so shouldn’t be a big deal.

This concern's me as well.  I'm used to the left & right on my refractors but upside down whilst trying to decipher my lunar maps is to much for an old codger like me 😩 🤣 

Thanks Steve @FLO the Orion Premium version looks the same, and according to a video on YouTube a refractor or a MAC will require an Orion Penta Prism diagonal or the image will be upside down 😩  
Take it its the same for the Stella Lyra version and what's the difference between a Penta Prism and let’s say a Baader Prism Diagonal 🤔

Im liking the features of these very much ie no barlows required, slide adjustment for your eye placement and click lock type eyepiece holders, I wonder if they are self centring?
Still a chunk of wedge compared to my WO BV’s…think I’ll wait until some second hand ones crop up 🤔

1 hour ago, powerlord said:

hi chaps, can someone PM me ES Reid's email please ?

Stu

Dave @F15Rules will have his contact details as he recently had his Tak serviced by him.

9 hours ago, IB20 said:

It works!!! Thats with the end of the Celestron barlow on the nose of the BV. I could do with a brighter target I.e. the moon though. I seem to have trouble merging one star image. 

Hmmm, not sure how I solve the wedge issue then, perhaps a solar filter would get around that.

 

Great news, your perseverance is paying off.
As far as merging goes it might be a case of ensuring the eyepieces are equally and correctly seated and not over tightened in the holders, on mine eyepiece undercuts can be an issue and knock them off square. 
Also I have a routine of getting the left eyepiece in focus with right eye closed then vice versa with right eyepiece.

From my limited experience I find BV’s work best on objects like the moon, planets and brighter nebulae. 

42 minutes ago, IB20 said:

On the Celestron Omni barlow the end piece does screw onto the BV nosepiece, I tried this but it was still out of focus. Don’t really know if the visual back is how it’s supposed to be but it’s how I interpreted the Japanese schematics though and it does focus.

I’ll try it with the Tak prism now.

Hope it works with your prism diagonal, if not and it’s more in-focus you need then it might be a case of getting a Tak 2” visual back and a prism diagonal with a 2” nose piece. Before going down that route I would contact Ian at FLO as suggested earlier. Good luck 🤞

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/takahashi-adapters/takahashi-2-inch-eyepiece-holder-for-fs-60-and-fs-78fc100dc.html

24 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Ian at FLO has always been able to advise me on which precise Tak part is needed.

Good call Jeremy,  Ian King is the man! 

1 hour ago, IB20 said:

Please ignore the golf clubs, also something I’m terrible at. For night use I’d also expect to just swap in the Tak 1.25” prism, which I need to check if I can focus with.

Looks like the same visual back that’s on my Tak FS-60C/Q but not 💯 sure? just wondering if you can unscrew the lens on your barlow and screw it into the nose piece of your BV’s, I did this with my Baader barlow and achieved focus but magnification was a bit too much. Some pics below and ignore my last photo as you wouldn’t require the barlow tube. 

Hi @IB20 have a read of this thread from a few years ago it might be of some help.