jock1958

Brilliant these little Taks and even nicer with the CQ 1.7x extender 😉😀

I think your right, my WO BV’s came with the 1.6x nosepiece but haven’t seen it sold separately.

Muuurghduuuurrrr!! 😬

Welcome to SGL and enjoy!

Great sketches again @mikeDnight I now know why I’ve never seen M33....it’s just too faint for my ageing eyes! Im surprised your brilliant work hasn’t gone to print, I’d buy a copy 👍

Excellent and inspirational sketches @mikeDnight Just been out 5 mins ago but there’s an ominous cloud obscuring the view, last week it was too low to discern any detail. Frustrating hobby this sometimes 😩

My journey started in the late 1960’s when my Dad bought me a small push-pull telescope very similar to pictures below. I used the slots in a garden gate as a very crude rest and had my first wonderful views of the moon and the Orion Nebula, I was hooked after that but didn’t upgrade until the mid 90’s when I bought a Russian 4” reflector.

I use my Tak FS-60C/Q for exactly same reasons as you @MalcolmM I was out briefly on Sunday evening looking at Venus, Jupiter & Saturn before the freezing cold got to me, but like you say it makes things so much easier when you can nip outside for a quick look when the weather is iffy.

Your right Dave, am I bad? Which one shall I delete 🤔 maybe the 14mm Delos or the 24mm Pan? Tell you what I’ll get back to you 🤣

I have 2” visual backs on my Tak FC-100DL & FS-60 so use a 2” nosepiece on my T2 Baader diagonal, see photo

I had a similar problem with the eyepiece adapter ring on my Baader T2 diagonal (jammed solid) I used very cheap gloves from Homebase which have rubber spots on the palm, did the job instantly with no damage I would resist mechanical means if you can as it will inevitably end in tears 😭

Not counting the variety of eyepieces I use for binoviewing it’s my TV 3-6 zoom for planetary / double stars, TV 14mm Delos for nubulae / galaxies also TV 24mm Panoptic & TV 31mm Nagler for widefield star patterns / galaxies / nebulae.

Excellent report @paulastro I’m jealous!! was all clouded out down here ☹️

Nice one Don, always wondered what to call the different parts of the eyepiece!

I thought the arrangement of the moons seemed strange but didn’t cotton onto what I was looking at until later when I read your post. I should have realised it was a star (45 Cap) above Jupiter and not the fourth moon, also briefly noticed a pimple on the western limb which must have been Io transiting behind. Unfortunately it was all a bit of a rush last night to beat the clouds and watch the Formula 1! 1 out of 10 must try harder next time 😩

Fascinating looking telescope, must admit I’ve never seen anything like it and the condition looks excellent. I assume you turn the eyepiece holder to achieve focus?

I briefly tried WO BV’s on my Tak FS-60Q, and they do work.....however they make my setup tail heavy, puts a lot of strain on the small focuser and for me defeats the objective of ultra lightweight grab & go so I tend to use them on my 4” Tak FC-100DL which I feel is much more suited to the task, YMMV though.

Very interesting I didn’t think a dew heater controller was essential I just plug my Dew Strap into an EC Power Bank battery which is clipped to my eyepiece holder on my AZ4 tripod. To be honest it doesn’t get that warm just a bit warmer where the strap overlaps (11cm) and the cable runs down from. My original thinking was to save weight and adding a controller would add complexity, weight and something else to trip over in the dark. Maybe I need to rethink my strategy and get a super light weight controller 🤔

I’ve always wondered myself but I wrap mine around the dew shield adjacent to the lens 🤔Another thing why does my dew strap get warmer where it overlaps? Also do they cause warm air currents in front of the lens?

If it’s dew marks on the lens then that can be carefully cleaned using Baader wonder fluid and their cloths, there’s plenty of threads on here about that or leave it if u don’t feel confident. Cleaning sticky residue off the tube can easily be done, I did it this morning on one my finders using some tar remover and a bit of brake pad cleaner on a cloth. In my opinion I wouldn’t worry about about marring on the dovetail, it’s fair wear & tear...although I’ve seen people using aluminium strips to preserve them. Going rate for second hand gear is approx 65% of original price if it’s in very good nick.

I bought some skywatcher ones and they’re fitted to my small Tak FS 60 just now, I find them a bit short & stiff but there’s not a lot of choice out there just now. The Rowan ones look decent but end connections are 8mm and won’t fit your ST 2 (6mm) unless you make connectors to suit. I resorted to making my own for my 4” Tak FC-100 and they are much longer and a lot more flexible. The 16” skywatcher extension tube is good but weighs a ton and was a bit long for me so I resorted to DIY and made a 5” one out of aluminium tube and used the end fittings that I already had off the 16” tube. I’m pretty sure you can get shorter ones though not sure where 🤔 My original budget when I came back into this hobby (2016) was about £400, I can safely say I’ve blown that figure ten fold 😩😩

Excellent setup @wibblefish I’m sure you will have many happy hours under the stars. Did you get any Slo Mo cables for your Skytee?

Bought some cheapo rubber eyecups off eBay for my Halloween Plossls which do the job but can only be described as functional not pretty (they come in all sizes) Also bought an eye guard extender on a whim from a fellow SGL’r, wasn’t quite sure which TV eyepiece to use it on 🤔 but tried it on my TV 31mm with rubber eyecup folded down and it solved my eye placement instantly, no more kidney beaning and stray light vastly reduced.

Yeh I thought as much Dave same as my 5mm Vixen SLV, it’s a bit of clunky affair but does the job. Must admit I like eye cups as they help with my eye placement, I added them to those Halloween Plossls I bought off you and it does make a difference, cuts out the glare and kidney beaning.

Hey Dave they look more sleek and expensive now, one thing what’s the purpose of those bits if they only add weight & bulk? Maybe they could etch Celestron Axiom on the barrels like the Halloween Plossls 🤔