IB20

It’s likely a compression issue from YouTube. I’ve also screen grabbed, enlarged and cropped but yeah, agree I see sharper images in the Tak 76 than those images. Interesting that you mention bright eye illumination. I have always found I prefer dimmer views, my eyes seem quite sensitive to brightness hence why I enjoy the 3” so much. In the 8” dob it is such that I really need to control it to be able to observe, especially when the seeing doesn’t allow the magnification to be pumped up to the max to take the edge off the brightness.

What a beautiful looking mount. What is the payload for that?

Just revisiting this thread whilst it’s snowing and I can’t get any scope out. I’ve been thinking, do I need a 4” APO? I have two 3” inch refractors, an achromat and a super apochromat and am now a refractor convert. Now I’ve converted my 3” 76DC to a f12.5 scope and I’m missing a wider field but also have no 2” set-up at all. What is the actual difference at the eyepiece between a 3” and 4” on say the moon, WL or planets? How does increased resolution and brightness actually translate? Is it subtle or incredibly obvious? I’ve found a great Japanese YouTube channel (BosqueRico Len’sKing TV) which compares resolution between Takahashi’s on Saturn. Are the images a fair representation of what one would expect in terms of improvement? What about lunar and solar? Has anyone any similar resources that could explain the at eyepiece differences? Being a white light junkie, having more resolution for granulation would be a great. The f7 FPL53 Starfields or doppelgängers look like superb scopes and a real bargain, stick one of those on an AZ4 and I think it would be a fairly nice combination; not unobtainable either. Plus I desperately need another tripod and mount so I can set up more than one refractor. Maybe I’ve answered my own question…

Not an app but NASA has a lunar SVS map, just enter the time and date you want, update then click on the moon image to get a high resolution map with terminator and main feature labels. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5048

h That’ll be the 4mm TOE then. My favourite and best eyepiece. Works effortlessly in both my 8” dob and 3” apo. Used it extensively for Jupiter, Mars, WL solar, lunar and doubles observations. Very recently used it to detect Sirius’ companion. Extremely high quality, lightweight and comfortable.

My main reason for swapping from solar film to a Herschel wedge was safety. No more checking for pin holes or micro tears and no worry of anything slipping off. I have to say, when I did make the swap over, in my opinion, the views were much sharper, brighter and with better contrast in the wedge compared to the film. Adding the Baader solar continuum filter improved the contrast even more. I am thinking a lot about adding a Ha scope to the collection, but it’s very expensive for a niche scope and from what I can gather there seems to be a fair big issue with QC in general with a lot of the kit at the cheaper end.

This is brilliant, love both the colour coding and the database documenting. Do you do similar fit the 12”? Forgive my laziness but what’s the theoretical separation for the light cannon?

Bit of a facepalm moment this one, had no idea an extension was hidden in the box. I’ve screwed it on and it looks about the right plane I was hovering, so will give it a try next opportunity. I was started to have thoughts about selling it for non-phone compatibility too. 🤦🏼‍♂️😅😅

Yep, the 76Q, it seems to have kept in that configuration since the extension arrived 😃. Was clouded out for the great Saturn & Jupiter conjunction so it was nice to bag this one, albeit briefly! It has been fascinating watching the two planets move ever closer these last few weeks too. Great snap as ever, I have real trouble using the phone and Morpheus together and have to hover above the eye up. Whereas I find the XWs are perfect with the eye guard extended all the way out for resting the phone on.

Miraculously the rain stopped and clouds parted to reveal Jupiter and Venus adjacent one another. Grabbed the 15 x 70 bins and the 76mm for a super quick view. Used my 17.5mm Morpheus which fit both planets into a single frame, at the edges though! The banding on Jupiter looked fantastic even at a paltry 55x, super sharp, 3 moons visible to one side of the planet . Venus despite some thermal currents looked like a pearlescent white disc. Tried taking a quick phone snap but the Morpheus doesn’t really do afocal images, then clouds quickly rolled in and the rain has returned. Might have only been for 5 minutes but it was spectacular.

I have both an 8” dob and 76mm APO, quite frankly I love and need both. I’d say eventually get both, but if it’s for quick, wider viewing, you probably want the APO. Had the dob out a few evenings ago and it was great, but this time of year in the UK, I’m looking at a good 60-90 minute cooling time for it to be at its best; the views are stunning though. I’ve probably used the 76mm 10 times the amount I’ve used the dob in the last observing year. In fact it’s more likely double that when I think of my white light solar viewing too.

Probably when I first tried my Tak 76DCU, excited as anything but also hoping it delivered the views I’d paid a premium for. Only to not be able to get any eyepiece to focus and nearly laid a brick. Eventually worked out that there was an imaging adapter included which when removed turned it into a visual telescope. 🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️

https://binocularsky.com/binoc_reviews.php @BinocularSky has an excellent website here that reviews a few of the usual 15x70 bins for astronomy.

60mm Lunt available on ENS for a tempting price https://ensoptical.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=14591

All I can say is I find the XWs 3.5-10, warmer in tone in comparison to the TOEs. I find the colour transmission of them really pleasing, particularly on Jupiter. I see the GRS as light coral in colour through the XWs in my 3” Tak and 8” dob.

It’s a little cropped from the original EP image so maybe it could be closer to around 600x. It’s really cool that I’ve unwittingly taken a picture of the Apollo 11 landing site, and I can now know this because of this exceptional atlas.

Lovely clear night so dragged the 8” light bucket out. Haven’t used it for a while but my word, this scope gives astonishingly good views, just wow. Been looking for a moon atlas for a while and this ticks all the boxes. Once I’d sorted the orientation out, being able to identify the craters was just a doddle. Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina craters are looking splendid tonight; Rima Ariadaeus is incredibly eye-catching too. Just a superb resource. Quick phone snap attached with the 4mm TOE @ 300x.

Copy arrived today. Love how it is laid out, this lunar atlas is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thanks all for bringing it to my attention and the recommendations.

Why would you say that!!! 😭 You’re gonna end up costing me a lot of money. Maybe a Starfield will suffice?

So following on from @MalcolmM’s kit bias thread, most of us probably think our kit is the bees knees or it’s serving a purpose right now. It got me thinking though, if we were in a position where we lost or had kit damaged and were given a pile of cash to replace, what would most of us do? Would you try to like for like replace kit, upgrade/modernise or would you walk away from the hobby entirely? I would almost certainly look at getting a 10” dob with some kind of push-to, maybe a Starsense or one of the StellaLyras to replace an 8” manual 200P. The refractor is a more difficult one, I love the Tak 76Q, it really is a joy to use and for GnG it’s pretty much perfection, however I do often wonder what a 4” APO would be like. Eyepiece wise, I’d definitely re-purchase the XWs from 10mm-3.5mm, they really suit me and I cannot find any fault with them. I would especially re-buy the 4mm TOE as it’s my favourite eyepiece I have looked through. The 17.5mm Morpheus whilst a good EP, would probably get forgotten, as I don’t really use low power for scope viewing. I would always be on the look out for Ultimas/similar and the 10mm BCO would more than likely get re-purchased. I’d probably look to swap the 8x & 15x binos I currently have for a pair of 12x. I’ve started using binos a lot more this Winter and think I could have a more optimal pair. I only own one tripod and mount so wouldn’t know what to do. 😄

I don’t use any kind of push or goto currently. The new Celestron Starsense packages look really interesting though. I have been thinking about either upgrading to a 10” dob or scavenging the cradles from one of the cheaper refractor packages to fit to my setup.

A Mewlon 300 and a 152mm Lunt Ha scope with largest blocking filter. Nice and cheap!

Missed the conjunction yesterday due to clouds and rain but still looking beautiful despite a configuration change.

I think my inexperience in astronomy is kit rather than observing. I haven’t found observing or navigating the sky a particularly difficult “skill” to pick up but that’s thanks to help from marvellous resources such as SGL, AN/S@N, online lunar maps and software like SkySafari and Stellarium. Perhaps having a background in science has helped too. I’d like to think I have ok eyesight still too, although have recently noticed a bit of astigmatism creeping for brighter objects with naked eye. Whereas kit is such a vast and variable minefield. I have looked through about 5 different telescopes and 3 pairs on binoculars in total. I have enjoyed observing with them all, even what I’d probably now consider a bit of a lemon in the Celestron 76mm firstscope. I guess that’s where the “my kit” bias stems from though, we can only comment on what we have experience of and when you haven’t tried a great deal you will be limited in your experience and recommendations. I remember when I started (have always had an interest but just not the gear!), I looked at SGL and CN for recommendations for my first serious scope and settled on the 8” dob. It’s a great scope but I’m still into the hobby and if I was starting afresh I’d probably go for a 10” dob instead. But I also have a wish list of a 4” APO, 5” APO, 6-8” CC, Mak, 180 Mewlon, NV, EEVA and Ha scopes. So much kit wanted with such little cash 🤣

Jupiter and Venus looking magnificent. The conjunction should be a belter. 🤞🏼