Sunshine

Great sketches! I feel like kicking myself as a TOA 130 was offered to me just a month ago, I reluctantly passed on it as it was well above my budget. Now that I think of it, theres always more money to be made but I cannot extend my life so I should have just bit the bullet, and my wife's fist. 👊 🤣

2 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Do you really need goto? I use a red dot to get close, then a wide field eyepiece as a finder. My 42mm gives 3.8°, and the inexpensive but excellent 30mm UF 3°.

The scope works great on an EQ5

Wonderful looking telescope!

As Mr Spock mentioned, maybe a manual equatorial is what you'll feel more comfortable with, I too don't care about goto mounts and have had a great time with a Vixen GP manual mount and my 102. If you are using a decent red dot or optical finder along with a wide field eyepiece you should be able to spot all save for the most faint objects. Another option is an alt-az mount with a higher capacity along with the red dot or optical finder and wide field eyepiece. 

On 23/12/2022 at 08:46, josefk said:

Thank you @Space Hopper and happy to oblige with pics. I plan to use these together on the AZ100 more than half the time in theory. Binoviewer in one side and mono in the other - playing to their strengths for whatever i'm targeting. I'm really looking for improved contrast in the refractor as i know i will give up some scale. That and the ability to get wider than a degree TFOV and the ability to observe the brighter planets without damned great big diffraction spikes. I don't mind them too much on stars but hate them on planets. 

Cheers

Joe

Oh I do love the artistic black and white!

1 minute ago, mikeDnight said:

At least you got a few pulses racing.

Yes, I imagined Jeremy throwing Takahashi telescopes around his house in a fit of rage. 🤣

Looking at my original post, the first word is "apparently" this leaves me relieved a bit about having misled everyone, sorry. 🤣

2 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

So,  

Now you can order the M180……….. 😈

It seems so, you are squeezing my arm 😆

23 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Of course they are. I’ve only recently got one. This often happens when I get new kit🤣

UPDATE: I was somewhat misled regarding this upgrade, i spoke to the horses mouth (Tak america) they did confirm a focuser workaround for the 250 and up models as they are having trouble sourcing the usual parts. They inform me that they spoke to the factory regarding my inquiry about details surrounding said upgrades to the 180 and they confirmed the 180 is not a part of the current issues with the 250 and up. Unfortunately, the merchant who advised me to wait on the 180 didn't get the full details before he spoke to me. What I should have done was carry out my little investigation before posting here, now I have passed on incorrect information, don't I look like a fool, now.

No need to worry, Jeremy. Even if a major upgrade was made to the 180, no force in the universe can stop the man of many Tak's from purchasing another 🤣

22 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

This image's contribution to the field of view is entirely new to me and entirely admirable. I never suspected it. I think that what I posted some time ago was a reference the distinctively-shaped and very extended outer glow of the main galaxy. I wasn't thinking of anything like this and hats off to the team who found it. Great stuff.

Olly

It is fascinating! just when you thought everything has been seen regarding M31.

45 minutes ago, robin_astro said:

Discovery of a feature near M31 would be more accurate. Despite the title, as the video explains (6.05)  it is not clear if it is actually associated with M31 or within our galaxy or even something in between.  Is there a peer reviewed paper to go along with this discovery explaining the various alternative explanations touched on in the video?

Cheers

Robin

Yes, the video does mention that it's exact proximity to M31 is uncertain, I guess since it is an apparent feature of M31 it is associated with M31. It's true position relative to M31 remains to be seen, I wonder how it's exact location relative to the milky way and Andromeda can be determined.

A fascinating new feature of M31, I found this link on CN to a youtube video which details this new feature. It seems it has never been seen before and was made possible by a collaboration between pro and amateur astronomers. It would be interesting to hear theories as to exactly what it is and how it formed, does the milky was also have such a feature? who knows.

Wonderful capture!

18 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Courtesy of the gentleman @bosun21 an absolutely pristine Starfield 102ed

Great build quality and stunningly sharp views looking at the branches across the way against the blue sky. I swear I saw an ant wink at me 😉. Love that the baffles continue down the focuser drawtube. I’m finding the twist-lock ring on the end of the drawtube very stiff though, I keep unscrewing the adapter when trying to undo the twist lock. 

Wonderful scope! I was just in the showroom at the shop where the gentleman who owns Starfield sells from, he had a 102 on display, it’s an impressive refractor. Congratulations!

Maybe tonight I will try for the same shot, Orion is always wonderful, nice shot!

34 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

I'd like to see them resurrect the TSA-102.

This will never happen as the FC series are so great at a lower price and easier to manufacture, I would love for them to introduce a 120mm doublet like the FS series. If you can manufacture and perfect a doublet to such a high standard, is a triplet really necessary? maybe for imaging only, if so.

I’m a bit irked, I was dying to see one next to my 102 on the empty saddle of my alt az mount, now who knows how long I’ll be waiting. if I jump on a used one I may be kicking myself when the new one is released, arrgh. Maybe I should drop astronomy and take up knitting, much less drama.

After all this speculation it’d be funny if it just had a regular Tak focuser added on. 😂

2 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Well, currently focusing is achieved by moving the main mirror. In some cases this can result in image shift. Not in mine though. Some people consequently add a focuser unit. But this can result in other issues.

I think it would be a retrograde step to omit the finder, which,in the case of the M180 and M210 at least, doubles as a carry HANDLE 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

I wonder if they’ll add correction lenses that the larger Mewlons have.

Well I don’t want to speculate too much, the merchant only mentioned a focuser upgrade but then again you never know what they’ll do.  Hopefully it won’t Jack the price up too much, who am I kidding it’s Tak we’re talking about, I’m afraid.

4 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Of course they are. I’ve only recently got one. This often happens when. Get new kit🤣

I was just wondering, what’s wrong with the current focusser? does it beg for improvement? maybe they’ll also omit the finder scope in keeping with Tak tradition. Just when I was gonna pull the trigger on one, I was let down, now the new ones for SURE will be more expensive.

Apparently Tak is releasing new mewlon versions with upgraded focusers and who knows what else. A scope shop informed me the current versions are not available as Tak is introducing these new versions sometime soon. 

Great image! so full of pinpoint stars.

Mars is underwhelming at the moment, I was observing it with my 8" dob last night, though it was clear and seeing was good, Mars did look like a small pea with some subtle surface features.

Great images as always, Nigella you are SGL's solar queen!.

Whoa! thats amazing! I have the 11 Pro too, this gives me an idea of what I could do with a wedge and my 102. 🤔

Beautiful image, love wide fields.