Deadlake

The BB Planet will have an extra 40 newtons of force pulling it down, over the T-Pod. This weight will be distributed over the tripod. Not sure how to quantify what that will add to stability of the tripod? i.e. With regards to weight being applied down on the tripod by the scope and mount, seems a lot less relatively?

Really a function of what tripod can support, not what it is made of or weight. By the way Derek can take an AZ5 adapter remove the spigot and tap out two M8 holes so you can use the Super mount tripod. In the end I thought that was over buying (saves 3.5 kg) but I can see in the future (as others on CN have done) they've gone down the route of: A carbon tripod. Raisable height pillar. This is to keep the tripod as light as possible and allow them to load the telescope with the pillar low and then adjust the height of the pillar as required. Let's them keep their scopes for a few more years until time catches up with them.

I can follow why you think this, however the T-Pod can take 100 kg load capacity and I can point you to users of both BB Planet and T-Pod users who get equal stability with either. I could also point to the super mount tripod, made of carbon (3.5 kg) with a 150 kg load capacity, which is more stable than either the Planet or T-Pod tripods. Some CN users own all the above makes. See: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/782599-super-mount-astro-carbon-tripod/ Not sure weight of tripod and stability are correlated, maybe tensile or compression strength of tripod is a larger factor, scratches head...

The Uni is still 1 kg heavier then the B-Pod. My concern was that I'd need to add a weight if I went with the Uni, whereas on the Planet or B-Pod my scope would be fine without a weight.

True the BB Uni and Planet look good, wood is very nice. However they are heavy, I went with the T-Pod in the end. Derek is also making a shortened pan handle to reduce chance of collision.

Both are premium, I'd go with the TEC 140. The only time I've heard of someone swapping out a TEC 140 for a smaller aperture scope was when it went up against an AP130GTX. The only other consideration is cool down, I suspect the oil triplet will cool down just as fast as the TSA120 even although its has a larger aperture. You need to find someone with both... Bare in mind the TEC140 will be hard to source as people are still waiting from a year ago for their new scope to ship....

That's almost as dark as @jetstream backyard viewing and also where my wives relatives live's in heart of Wales. Interested to know what more you can see with your LZOS over your backyard? I suspect lots more and is it worth taking the Dob over as well compared to the LZOS?

I find scope nights very accurate on cloud cover. Estimate of seeing can be off however. It's hard to model local weather and the atmosphere at a local level, you would need to use micro metrological model which are are given by so many local factors, and need a super computer cluster to match.

Dark Sky got the haze spot on, I didn't make it outside.

How much does your TMB-APM weigh?

It's cloud here till Thursday, need to move west to get better skies. Enjoy the moon.

If you can buy a GPC that is 😁

Anybody else used the Takhashi 18mm LE? maybe @JeremyS Thinking about longer eye relief for other people I know to make use of the EP's. Thanks

😄

No frozen hands at the end of the night?

I have a AZ100 (thanks @garryblueboy) and need a tripod for it. Primary use will be LZOS 130/F6 (11.5 kg) and a Vixen SD103S (6 kg). So far usual tripod suspects: Uni 18 (weight 8 kg, £470) Planet ( weight 11 kg, £655) T-Pod 130 ( weight 6.9 kg, £750, direct from Avalon) The Uni 18 is the cheapest option and close in weight to the T-Pod, but would not be as stable. However do I need the extra capacity of either the T-Pod or Planet, would I be over buying? Before some people start, wood is great however alumium is lighter. Do take the point about wood not freezing your hand off at the end of the night. Added: Do I need to think about a riser or pillar for any of the above tripods. I know Rowan will make a shorter pan handle if requested. Thanks

Did you have some panopticon 19.5 mm for the bino, if so how do the LE’s compare?

For me depends on the environment the scope is in, so if I moved then I'd select a different instrument. If I didn't have to acclimate the scope and always had great seeing then a Mewlon (smoothes mirror compared to some SCT's) on a goto mount would be great. However I have a short time to view, seeing is poor too great and I have to take the scope the mount very time I go out or in. So for now a 5" APO is the best trade off. Some point in the future when I can wheel barrow out a larger mirrored scope I'll look at then. If you look at Ed's videos, he is partial to a C9.25 when he has a large range of APO's and Dob's to choose from. My money was on his C9.25, however given how much the Dob costs why not.

Don't know if this has already been posted, but just popped up on rss feed https://www.dpreview.com/news/4102086719/a-dedicated-amateur-astronomer-in-brazil-caught-an-object-hitting-jupiter

The EU dealer tested them, see https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/645759-agema-optics-anyone/#entry9134780 I thought it was Agema providing the report.

Managed to get in the American Nebula as well, before the clouds starting coming in. @John the 4mm TOE gave some great detail on Jupiter tonight, if you ever get around to getting one. 😀

Oh man! Best nights seeing in months, I can see multiple belts on Jupiter (using a 5” of course) and you guys are talking about scopes you cannot buy or undersized APO’s. 😀 look up!

Modern day equivalent is $5900 https://www.agemaoptics.com/telescopes/agema-sd-130/ Comes with a report, the scopes are actually delivered but have caused so much bad weather no one has had a clear night to form an opinion. 😃

That’s around £6500 in today’s money, I guess hard sell in triplet world of today?

Guess this goes in here too... Note 6.6 kg of counter weights. The weight of the SXP2 mount with tripod is pushing just under 30 kg and then the scope on top.