Deadlake

Great line up Stu. You have some great scopes for deep sky observation. I wonder if you have any other incoming kit for DSO viewing?

Yep, nothin like new Takahashi kit.

Q extender can go telescope side of diagonal, but cannot see any other difference.

Extenders are Telecentric: No change in eye relief Can be placed any where in the optical chain Barlows are usually two negative lens, whereas extenders have 2 negative and 2 positive lens. Barlows will modify the focal plane, extenders will not. Another example would be something like this: https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_astrograph_net/Products/AGAPMCTEL2 It's a good question as there are other alternatives to a Q extender...

There is a CN thread on this: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/691274-takahashi-extender-ed-15x-on-non-takahashi-refractors/ I'll wait for next planet season and then try one out... Jupiter starts getting obscured by roof tops at around 11:30 pm and seeing is best around mid night... This quote got me having high hopes for my 130/F6 I use the 1.5x extender regularly on my FSQ-85EDX and TSA-120 and it works perfectly. More recently I tried it out on my A-P 130GTX and to my astonishment the views of Jupiter and Saturn were nothing short of spectacular.

I have 5 mm spacers around will give those a go. Also will try out in my SD103S, now I can side-by-side mount...

For some reason TS seems to have better availability on Baader products than UK dealers. Another option to check out.

Managed to get some clear skies tonight so went out with BBHS T2 diagonal and TOE 4 mm to compare with Baader 2" max star bright diagonal. My LZOS 130/F6 does not have enough back focus. I'll need to get a StarLight extension for the focuser so I can use the T2 BBHS mirror diagonal or something is wrong with the T2 BBHS mirror diagonal, it’s optical path length is between the T2 prism and 2” prism? T2 prism 38 mm T2 mirror 48 mm 2 " Baader mirror 112 mm. Very surprised about that as it's usually running out of in-focus which is the problem. Not a total loss, Jupiter did look great thru the TOE 4 mm, saw a lot more belts that previous nights, rich details and colour. Hopefully I'll be able to compare some other night.

First night I managed to get out with AZ100. Very robust mount, no shakes at all. Once the scope was balanced no drift at all, but you need a long Losmandy bar to balance a stubby nose heavy triplet. Tracking on Jupiter was a step up from a ScopeTech Zero and the quality of the views due to the solid way the mount performed was really down to seeing. And yes really fun to swing around the star field, you can just go where you want to compared with a GEM and no need to have to re-align the diagonal after every move. The only item is balance, going from a TOE 4mm to a APM UFF 30 mm needed a rebalance, however thats quite minor considering the flexibility provided and no need to move the diagonal like in a GEM. AZ100, T-Pod and LZOS is luggable around the garden without taking apart. And the T-Pod seems super stable. Need to test some more.

Would be interesting to get the ADM price for comparison....

Baader make an EQ6 pillar as well However why possible to mount on a T-Pod I've not seen any other adapters for other brands on tripods....

How often to seeing conditions (or you viewing style, such as waiting for cool down) mean this is possible?

Looking on CN, owners of both Mewlon and C9.25/11 prefere the Mewlon due to better contrast, i.e. smoother mirror for visual. However for imaging the faster speed you can run the SCT at and extra aperture would make the choice more difficult. However that can lead to blue star bloat with a fast star….

Very interesting, what about on the Moon?

What is the shortest EP you are now using with Q extender? The other use of a Q extender is that for some EP's it will flatten the field at the edge, useful in a AP130GTX and hopefully a LZOS 130/F6.

All of them. 😀 On the moon they work very well, on Jupiter not so well. To be honest detail in Vixen HR 3.4 is similar to TOE 4 mm using a SD103S, the 4mm has a smaller image. using LZOS Vixen HR the image is larger but start to lose belt detail on Jupiter, moon I see more detail using HR. I suspect moving country to get better seeing would help, I need more clear nights to get an idea of what works best....

Which diagonal?

A BBHS T2 mirror diagonal turned up today, so I hope the skies will clear soon and I'll be able to get the best possible view of Jupiter with a TOE 4 mind a LZOS 130mm/F6. Question, would it be better to get a TOE 3mm or and Q Extender and increase the focal length of my scope? I suspect the Q Extender would bring all my Vixen HR's into use...

Well my Baader T2 BBHS mirror turned up today a long with the thunder storms. Hopefully I'll be able to use it on Jupiter and see if I get an improvement over the 2" Baader standard mirror prism. Presume you've found your HR 3.4mm @Stu? Waiting on another 18.5 mm Tak LE and a GPC and then I'll take the BV out as well. The build quality of Takahashi EP's, alway feels like Christmas when they come out of the box....

Well for air spaced designs like a TOA-130 need to get the liquid nitrogen cryo storage out to get it down to temperature, pro's and cons as usual...

Not a bad price here: https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/geoptik-nadira-astronomy-observing-chair.html However the BB. one comes with a cushion: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-observing-chairs/berlebach-charon-observers-chair.html

102 mm ED doublet would be a sweet spot. It one of the scopes which is just so useful, what you can see and how quick they are to set up. I'd look at: Tecnosky 102/700 F7 FPL-53 Doublet APO These scope get great reviews. The 125 mm model is highly thought of from a value point of view.

I've settled on the Takahashi 18.5 mm LE eyepieces, for the high power views would it be best to get the 15 mm APM UFF or go with the 12.5 mm LE's? I'd use a GPC 2.6. I suspect the 12.5 mm LE's would be the max for most nights I could use due to seeing?

The LZOS 130/F6 I have is 780 mm, then add a FT3545 focuser and it starts to get long.

The ADM half pier is for use with a Tele Vue 127, thats around F5.5, it's short.