Olli

I recently purchased the Ioptron tripod from flo it’s a a bit overkill for what I use at the moment but with a 40kg load I thought it would be future proof and seems to be a really sturdy/ solid tripod considering the weight of it.

7 hours ago, IB20 said:

 

Have you thought about owning a 3” & 4” Tak? 🤣🤣🤣

Maybe if I sold my soul 😅

just a quick update in this , it appears it could be a eyepiece or diagonal problem ( which is good news) tried again tonight with a new eyepiece on a different diagonal and seemed to be fine and could see a lot more detail. Appreciate everyone’s help.

Thanks all for the help, went with the hyperflex  in the end which arrived a couple of days ago and just got to have a quick session on moon and saturn which were both amazing. Very happy to have a zoom eyepiece !

19 hours ago, Stu said:

Agreed, save for the FC100DC. It’s the best visual 4” scope out there I reckon. Lightweight, cools quickly, fab contrast and sharpness, airline portable, excellent for lunar, solar with a wedge, planetary, doubles and widefield deep sky. Obviously the limited aperture dictates performance on nebulae etc but it’s as good as it gets at 4”. 
 

I have the 60, 76 and 100mm, and there are noticeable improvements in resolution as you step up the aperture as per theory. The 100 shows significant improvements vs the 76 in planetary, lunar and solar detail, plus splits tighter doubles. If I could only have one, it would be the 100.

I know some of the other scopes run it close optically, but they tend to be heavier and bulkier so perhaps need larger mounts. I use a ScopeTech Zero on a Gitzo tripod which works really well. The ScopeTech is no longer made, but the new Sightron looks as good, if not better so will handle it no problem.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/alt-azimuth-astronomy-mounts/sightron-japan-alt-azimuth-mount.html

Thanks stu  for the link and  the advice,  one of the reasons for choosing Takahashi was due to how light they were.

On 21/10/2023 at 08:22, dweller25 said:

@Olli

Of the scopes you talk about I would agree with others, a 4” refractor would give a meaningful improvement over your current scope.

Takahashi’s are nice and have great optics but I would suggest you read this, which is very accurate……

 

Thanks for this, great read, definitely throws a spanner in the works.. but it seems like a 4inch refractor is the way to go from all the replies. Thanks everyone for the help

Hi everyone.  
 

As many people here the Takahashis have always been a dream scope and for me personally it has been one of my end game scopes so to speak and have always wanted to purchase a Takahashi refractor for visual use.Currently the scope I  am thinking of upgrading from  is a William optics z73. I have been looking at the fc 76 as well as FC 100 though that it is probably way out of my price range ant the moment  unless I save for a lot longer. If I were to purchase the 76 would there be a much improved upgrade in the z73 or would it be worth to try and save a bit more for the 100?

I also wanted to know what mounts would be best for these scopes and how do you mount them? As looking at flo I cannot see a dovetail on the photos .  I currently own a Az gti as well as a az5 would I need to purchase a different mount? This is all a bit of a pipe dream at the moment but looking for some advice for later on down the road.

TYIA

Thanks everyone for the help, i will look into more reviews about the mentioned eyepieces. Both seem like great options. Slightly off topic but if i were to upgrade the focuser for the Mak would I be able to buy this adapter https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-mak-to-sct-adapter.html and a focuser like this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astro-essentials-focusers/astro-essentials-v2-2-dual-speed-crayford-focuser-for-sct-telescopes.html ? As unfortunately the focuser is the only thing I dislike about the scope and just can’t get to grips with it 

In the same boat doesn’t help I still continue to buy gear. I guess I just have the itch. all  weather forecasts were showing clear skies the last couple of days but still ended up with clouds ..🙄

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

For planets in a Mak you won't so better than the Svbony 7-21 https://astro-talks.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=4585&p=94345#p94345 It has a narrow field of view but is very sharp.

Thanks Michael , I’m not too fussed about the field of view as it’s only going to be used for planetary stuff. It seems to be a firm favourite for the price!

Thanks all for the help, it seems like the svbony is a clear favourite and have seen it’s only £50 . I was also looking at the hyperflex but hadn’t looked much into it. Of course the dream would be to own the Hyperion but that is a bit too expensive 

Hi all, 

I have been interested in purchasing a zoom eyepiece for the mak 127. With around the £100 mark or so. I was wondering if you have any recommendations in what I should use ? Thought it may be quite useful when observing planets. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks all for the help, seems to be a lot of options out there.might be a bit of a long shot but  are there any places I can get data from so I could play around and practice while it’s cloudy?

17 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Siril is really good for a beginner, or for more experienced imagers.

You can do the core parts of processing in Siril quite easily, which would be (simplified) something like:

1. Crop out incomplete edges from stacking
2. Remove light pollution/sky gradients with the background extraction tool
3. Colour calibrate using the Photometric color calibration tool
4. Stretch using Asinh transformation and/or Histogram transformation, or the hyperbolic stretch tool but that one is a bit more complicated and probably not something one should look at for the first few attempts.

At this point you could export the image in 16-bit TIFF format to further adjust in Photoshop however you like. This is more or less how i process my images, although i do a couple of things in PixInsight too.

You could stack in Siril too as it is a bit better and versatile than DeepSkyStacker, but its not nearly as straight forward as the drag and drop simplicity of DSS. So for a beginner my advice would be stacking in DSS, core processing in Siril and then final adjustments in Photoshop. Could use Gimp instead of Photoshop, but i think Photoshop is well worth the money with how many different things you can do in it.

Thanks for the advice very helpful. Will have a deeper look into Siril.

Hi everyone ,

I have finally got my imaging rig sorted (now just need the clear skies!) and have started to read into the processing side of things which I’m excited to try though I am slightly overwhelmed with the amount of software available. I just wanted to see what a beginner should use. I have seen deep sky stacker mentioned a fair few times and photo shop and also seen some videos on Sirill are there any others you would recommend as well as any books or online tutorials that would help?

Many thanks in advanced!

19 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

What kind of diagonal are you using? If its a 90° mirror or prism you should get perfect views, but if it's a 45° or 90° erecting prism you will get a fine difraction spike on brighter objects due to the joint between prisms.

I was using the supplied diagonal I do have another  one somewhere so I’ll give that a go.

14 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

You may have a telegraph wire crossing your light path somewhere in the distance, or perhaps the eye lens has oil on its surface from your eyelashes?  Or it could be there's something within the eyepiece, possibly on the field lens that needs cleaning off.

Unfortunately there aren’t any telegraph wires near where Saturn is as it was high above the trees, but that would make sense. I will have a check with the eyepiece , thanks for the help.

20 minutes ago, DirkSteele said:

A Mak wouldn't have diffraction spikes as it does not have spider vanes.  A little more information to help us diagnose the problem would be helpful.  Are the four "spikes" all orientated in the same direction?  Or are they perpendiuclar / random orientations?  Do the spikes run out into space off the planets surface / rings, and do they extend equally in both directions?

Couple of experiments for you to try to potentially eliminate culprits.  Do the spikes appear if using another eyepiece?  If they do, it may well indicate the issue is with the telescope.  If they do not, it may be the eyepiece.  Second, trying spinning the eyepiece in the eyepiece holder of the scope.  Do the spikes change orientation?  If yes, then the eyepiece may be at fault.  If not, the problem may be with the scope.  I note from your signature, you have a second scope.  The 14mm will be lower power in the ZS73 but do you see anything similar when looking at Saturn?

 

Saturn is quite a bright object which may well make the spikes easier to see.  Also try Jupiter.  Please also try to observe Vega. Do you see the spikes?  Assuming you keep Saturn roughly in the centre of the field, slowiy move Vega up and down the field in the centre to see if the spikes appear.  As Saturn has an apparent diameter, it may be that surface scraches in one of the optical elments are showing up. Vega won't have that diameter so you will need to move it to see if you pass over a scratch. 

 

While I won't advocate a full star test at this stage, if the seeing is good, use a high power eyepiece and defocus a star like Vega and expand the fresnel diffraction pattern so you expand 5-6 rings.  Does the outer ring look "hairy" especially outside of focus?  By hairy, I mean it looks like lots of little strands stand up off the outer ring.  I have seen this in a Mak before and is indication of surface roughness.

Hi Matthew 

thanks for the help. From my memory the spikes are pointing in different directions across the full view of the scope. I cant remember using a 24mm with the Mak so will have to test that. When using the 14mm previously with the 73 it was all okay as well as the 24mm. When I next have a clear night I’ll make sure to try vega. 

Hi all ,

so far I have only had a couple of outings with the Mak and all sessions have been on Saturn. Apart from the focusing which I still can’t get use to I seem to have issues when viewing Saturn. I’m not sure if this is normal or not basically when viewing the planet I seem to get I guess diffraction spikes going through the planet with a 14mm eyepiece. When looking at standard stars I don’t seem to get this affect but when viewing Saturn I can only describe it as  4 light streaks going through the planet which makes it sometimes to focus as well as trying to see the detail. When I do change the focus the spikes do get smaller but are still off putting.

any advice would be appreciated!

The last parts to my imaging rig with the Asiair mini arriving yesterday!

Hi all, 

I am finally getting the final parts for my imaging rig and the last part I’m concerned with is the power. At the moment I am just running an asi mini with an azgti and dslr. I currently have a  Celestron Powertank LT which I believe is 12v dc and 5v usb. I’ve seen that the mini also needs 12v ( I think). I will be adding a guide camera and later down the line a dedicated camera. If I do need to upgrade are there any with similar size /  portability? 
 

13 minutes ago, Elp said:

The plus processes faster and has two of the usb ports as usb3 ports for faster planetary capture bandwidth, it also has a DSLR shutter release port, think an micro SD card port for memory expansion (or you could just use the usb ports and flash drive) and you can switch on and off and get realtime power usage feedback of the four 12v outs (on all the time in the mini).

Haven't tried the mini yet for planetary but I'd doubt they'd leave the video option in there for it if it wasn't capable. The mini you can also power with a usb power bank if you want and don't have too much power hungry devices connected (ie if you want to do solar but don't want to use a cooled camera or goto mount), it also switches on when connected to pc via this port, the plus still needs a 12v power connection to achieve the same thing for when you want to transfer files.

The mini has the best WiFi propogation out of all the airs made, the plus is okay but no where near as good. I had to screw off the aerial, add in a 1M sma extension cable to move the antenna further away from the unit and my scope setup and reconnect the aerial to the end of the cable. It just about makes a bitty and slowish WiFi connection to my phone to an upstairs room through brick. The mini no such issue, though I do have to move to a place of good signal, the signal remains strong, I can walk to the front of the house outside and still get a signal.

I've got both, prefer the mini.

Thanks Elp, that’s very helpful. That’s good to know that the mini can be powered by a usb power-bank which I am currently using and don’t fancy spending more money on another one. This might be a stupid question but how do you attach it to your set up? Does it come with straps or anything like that at all?

Hi all , 

I am currently looking to upgrade my current set up by purchasing one of the above . I understand that the only difference is obviously the size and also does not include an Ethernet port for connection but are there any other major differences ? What would you recommend , Would I regret getting the mini instead of the plus?

I was in the same position a couple of years ago after having a 200p dob which put me off for a long time due to the size/awkwardness of the scope. Was suggested on here like the others on the post to get a z73. Nearly out every night now when it’s clear , so great to be able to just carry the scope in a bag and the tripod in the other hand! And the scope itself punches well above its weight.

Unfortunately the 200p dob. Underestimated the weight and awkwardness carrying the scope.. miss the aperture though!