IB20

What a fantastic looking scope. Congratulations, enjoy it!

If it’s the same as the 10mm I got with Skywatcher then it’s a real dog. The 10mm BCO would be a real upgrade. How do you find Jupiter through the 8mm BST? That should get you a really nice magnification of 112x for Jupiter.

Not quite sure what it weighs these days, I’ve added so much to it. Probably around 6-7kg all in.

What eyepieces are you using where you don’t think you are seeing any colour? It might be a brightness issue or collimation? My reflector is a light bucket FL1200mm, so using a mag of 120x with a variable polarising filter reduces the brightness and lets me see colour on Jupiter

I really, really like and rate the 5mm BST, it’s a great EP. 180x might just a tad too high on Jupiter in “normal” UK seeing conditions though. My personal preference is sharpness over magnification when it comes to Jupiter. It would be a cracking lunar EP though. The 6mm BCO is good too, eye relief is a lot tighter than the BST though. The 10mm BCO is fantastic, that and a 2x barlow would get you a 10mm & a 5mm.

I haven’t really been able to get on with BVs so far. Incredible amount of faff to get focused with existing kit and once I have got focused I’m seeing double images or my brain isn’t wanting to merge the images. Just bear in mind BVs might not be a straight forward path.

I don’t actually think the cost in upgrade between the 1.25” 10nm and 7.5nm standalone filter is actually that bad; around £25-30. Although the 10nm was £56 when I bought it, it now retails about £75. Prices have gone berserk frankly! When it comes to wedges and 2” accessories it all gets a bit silly in terms of price.

If its red and blue glare either side of the planet’s edges then it will be atmospheric dispersion. Lower altitudes and bright planets will normally lead to such.

So pretty unscientific but two images attached were taken with the Tak FC-76Q and 10nm and 7.5nm continuum filters. These were different days though but seeing and conditions were relatively similar as it was the prolonged sunny cold spell we had recently. Processing has been kept the same with false colour added. The large sunspot towards the solar limb is the 7.5nm filter. As ever with most kit upgrades, we are talking marginal improvements.

I’m fairly sure the 7.5nm filter increased contrast particularly on the faculae, they seemed to “pop” more both visually but perhaps even more so when imaged and processing. Unfortunately since purchase I just haven’t had chance for any more solar time so I haven’t been able to give it a thorough testing.

I’m glad someone said it! I had both scopes out and everything looked rubbish. Thought I needed to collimate my dob after Mars looked blank and out of focus. Tried to find the comet but had zero luck either but nipping out with bins just now revealed why, it’s dropped a fair few magnitudes.

This is wonderful. Can I ask what your kit is?

Looks great, processing is definitely subjective but I like it and it doesn’t come across as “too processed”.

Definitely think this is a thing. My 8” dob makes it look like a dog’s dinner at low altitude through normal UK seeing.

I will chalk it in the possible/probable detection category - very much like my observations of Antares. I like a split to stay stable and split rather than a repeated microevent😅. I’ve never seen Sirius appear so perfectly white and disc like apart from through the 76Q though. Through an 8” dob it looks like an underwater mirrorball and is horrendous. Interestingly I couldn’t detect it when I cranked up the mag as much, and it was undetectable when it started to descend in altitude. I see a lot of Rigel comparisons where observers say if Rigel is easy to view on the night then Sirius should be splittable, but I have split Rigel with every scope I have ever pointed at it. To me it’s a very easy split even in bad seeing. With March approaching we’re approaching twilight Sirius in its transit so hopefully I get a lot more opportunity to have a crack at it. By all accounts twilight can remove some of the glare issues from such uneven magnitudes between the pair.

Should be fine at f11.3, certainly the right side of any chromatic aberration as per the attached chart. You’ll probably see some colour fringing the brightest objects but it shouldn’t be too intrusive.

Last night’s moon was punching through some amazing cloud formation.

Not a dumb question at all! My garden is probably a bit smaller than 15m2 but my southerly horizon is around the attached. If you have a smart phone you could try one of the apps (SkySafari is really good; can’t remember if stellarium has such?) that has the AR mode or compass feature and work out what altitude you can access by finding a bright object or an easy constellation first and working towards the horizon.

I don’t necessarily think that’s the case, there’s probably not a huge amount between the views afforded by any 4” F7 FPL53 APO or 4” Vixen and the Tak, any differences would probably be fairly marginal. Yes Taks seems to take high mags well but you can’t always make use of that in UK seeing. What the Taks manage to do really well in the FC series is keep weight down and make them portable which reduces mounting requirements/ helps with travel. Increasing OTA weight with my current equipment would require me to shell out loads on a tripod, mount, cradle/tube rings, plates etc. Also ime light scopes get used far more than a heavier scope or set-up.

No idea, it was the 4mm TOE in the 76Q so whatever FOV that gives. The magnification works out at around 238x. A FOV calculator has it at 0.22°.

I love planetary observing through my 3”APO. It’s so portable and easy to set up that I observe 95% of the time that conditions allow. They are extremely handy in winter too as is ready to use almost immediately out of the house and are great for gaps in clouds. I wholeheartedly reject that you cannot do serious planetary observing with a small refractor; I have seen so much with mine but it depends on the observer, patience and a critical eye. I’d definitely recommend a 3” or 4” APO. I have an 8” dob and I find that in regular seeing the ordinary magnification that planets accept leads to too bright an image, so you need filters. For me personally it’s all about contrast, contrast, contrast. I have compared my 3” to a 3” long achromat too and the APO wins hands down due to the amount of colour fringing seen on planetary limbs in the achro which hides a lot of detail, particularly for events like moon and shadow transits or occultations. As a bonus they work brilliantly on the moon, white light solar and double stars too; what’s not to like?

The sketch is how I saw it through the scope, so needs inverting. I’ve also just realised that East is to my left not my right as my garden view is due South, so East would be to the right in an inverted image. 🤦🏼‍♂️ Corrected for prism sketch attached.

Tonight I’ve exclusively observed Sirius with the FC-76Q around about 9:50pm at 20° altitude. Eyepieces used were the Tak TOEs 4mm and 2.5mm which gave mags of 240x-380x. Consistently I kept detecting some artefact around 2 o’clock that very, very occasionally appeared like a very small dim companion in between the 2nd and 3rd diffraction rings, sketch attached. Could this be the pup or is it just scintillation artefact? I have to say tonight is the best I’ve seen Sirius through the 76Q, the diffraction rings were beautifully controlled but it is still a very difficult target especially skirting the rooftops and drifting through heat plumes.

I have the Tak FC-76Q, it gives me incredible lunar, solar, planetary and double star views. If the Tak FC-100DC/DZs give brighter, larger and higher resolution images than the 3”, then the 4” will be astounding. I know they are really expensive but if you can afford it then I’d say go for it, we only live once. The Starfields also look brilliant and would be my choice had I not looked through a Tak already! 🤣

I have the 76DCU; for Mars I originally used the 4mm TOE which gives ~143x with 0.53mm exit pupil. Mars can take more magnification than that and found that the 2.5mm TOE also held up; a mag of 228x and 0.33mm exit pupil. I don’t find the floaters that much more off putting from 0.5 to 0.3mm. The TOEs are wonderful eyepieces in the little Tak, so maybe the 3.3mm should be in the equation for you? They are sensational on the moon and the 4mm is the best EP I have ever owned. I have since added the 1.7Q extender module to the 76DCU and I must say Mars was definitely a marginal improvement through it. Partly due to the increase in magnification that my EPs gave me. The 5mm and 4mm XW and TOEs are my go to EPs for Mars viewing at 190x and 228x respectively. I did like my Delite and found it fantastic to look through. I didn’t like the locking mechanism and it didn’t reach focus with the 76DCU and Tak prism though so it got sold.