SuburbanMak

@mikeDnight @John@IB20 Thanks for the advice and solutions which set me thinking. Looks like I have a fix for the sticky diagonal problem, I realised that I had fitted a Baader 1.25” Focussing EP holder as the visual back on my old Hilkin 60mm when I converted it to 1.25”, had a lightbulb moment when I remembered it was a Vixen/Tak 36.4mm male thread. Looks to be about the same light path and uses 3 locking screws on a compression ring, will test focusing later but it is adjustable by about 10mm.

No, for the sake of 5 minutes more or so driving you can get well clear of a lot of ambient light.

Hi Stephen - great to hear from a local! I often head up onto the downs along the A272, there’s a pull in & big double gate on the right just past the Cheesefoot Head car park. I can park there without blocking the gate and there’s a track that runs straight along the downs from there, I head far enough down that to get out of the headlights and set up there. Also if looking N or W the field with the trig point at Cheesefoot head is good.

Oh Wow! That sounds amazing.

@Stephenstargazer - as the owner of a horribly omnivorous hound it’s those bits that made me laugh.

Thanks @John - I’ll have to have a look out for that M57 outlier some decent night soon. Good to know I’m not the only one with a case of the sticky diagonals!

Thank you I normally stick my 18mm Baader Classic Ortho in my pocket (which is in my opinion the best astro fifty quid I've spent to date) but for some reason last night didn't. Delos might have to wait a bit, I think I have pushed "the treasury" about as far as I can for a wee while...

Thanks Paul - it's not dark dark, (Bortle 5) but it gets me out of the "Blackpool Illuminations" zone of my neighbours' decorative and security lighting. I can get to a good Bortle 4 with 15 minutes in the car, any darker (which I am yet to make) is a couple of hours.

It has been dismal this last few weeks, one of the main motivators that got me off the sofa last night, hang on in there!

Sounds like a great session & 9.25" is a big 'scope that will show you fabulous things! Your point about getting out somewhere darker is spot on - to me it makes a huge difference particularly if looking for fainter/fuzzier things. I have long & vague lists of things to look at from the observing sites I use with different levels of darkness & don't even bother looking for faint things from my garden - star clusters, doubles, the very brightest DSO's, planets and the moon (& sometimes a glass of wine) for relaxed garden sessions. Galaxy hunting is for when I get out of town. 3 belters to add to your list if you haven't already... (I'm biased as all 3 blew me away last night & stayed etched on my mind's eye as I went to sleep) Globular cluster M13, roughly half way along the top of the "keystone" shape in Hercules - will look amazing in your 'scope. M81/82 - a pair of galaxies in the same field near the Plough, one a stripe side on, the other a bright core with a faint spiral. The Double Cluster - NGC 884 & 869, half way between Perseus & the W of Cassiopeia - I look at this pretty much every time I go out with whatever I am pointing at the sky. I think you're on to the main thing already, which is to get out as often as you can - so far since picking the hobby back up at the start of lockdown after a lonnng absence, I have had many nights when I have regretted not going out and none where I have regretted getting out there

Thanks @mikeDnight - I was keen to get the new 'scope out in my normal way of observing, which is to go mobile, whilst a precious thing it also has to get used Hope your kit has all dried out - similalry I opened everything up when I got in last night. It was a damp evening here too, will have to look at some kind of dewshield for the finder. (I have to confess I have not been averse to giving my SW finder the odd wipe in extremis but couldn't quite bring myself to do that). I'll persist with the straight through finder for a bit, with the wider field its slightly less critical, although I was missing the RACI a bit. Can't wait to get it out somewhere darker, although looking at the forecast I may be waiting a while...

I wasn't sure whether to head out last night & made one of those deals with myself after a long day at work - "If it's clear when Kathy goes to bed I'll go out, if not I'll give it a miss." The Met office cloud cover forecast had showed it clear all night from around midnight for my part of Hampshire so I had this down as 50/50 for around 11. Sure enough there were stars out and no moon so it was time to test my grab and go plan for the Tak. My only slight glitch packing was in getting the Tak twist ring to let go of the diagonal, in the end I had to take the visual back off and unscrew all the bits separately & then put it back together. I might look into if there's a 1.25" Baader Clicklock part I can fit instead, even though the silver does look all very Tak-original. Once solved & with the tube, clamshell and vixen bar nestling snugly in a Geoptik f7.4 refractor bag I was happy to find this fitted neatly alongside my Berlebach 312 inside the huge backpack I use to cart stuff around safely (130l Eagle Creek wheeled duffel bag if you're interested, I can recommend.) I then slide in some foam and pop the AZGTi, counterweight, seat cushion and EP tray in, well cushioned from the 'scope in it's own padded bag. EP's go in the top pocket - a minimalist approach tonight with a Baader Hyperion 24mm 68 degree, Morpheus 12.5mm, Hyperion 8-24mm Zoom IV and its dedicated 2.25x Barlow, all in all giving me powers from 31x up to 208x. It was midnight as I shouldered my pack, picked up the observing chair and set off for the ten minute walk to the halfway line of the rugby pitch in Winchester's River Park. All in all, not too heavy and the chair was an easy carry, although in my excitement to get out I'd forgotten to bring gloves, which I regretted on the way home! A lovely still, moonless night then with Auriga, Perseus & Cassiopeia dipping West above the houses - this part of town douses the streetlights after midnight and I always think the stars look great over the rooftops. Walking in I noted that even before dark adaptation I could see the Beehive in AV and some indication of the Auriga clusters, very exciting! I took my time levelling the tripod and then, slightly nervously and very carefully, attached the Tak to the mount - checking the vixen plate was properly clamped with a torch before going to night vision mode! North aligned using Polaris and then level by eye (having used the bubble gauge on the tripod this is usually accurate enough for the model to correct). And then, a true sign of spring, aligned on Vega & Arcuturus up to high mag & enjoying Artcurus' rich golden light and neat rings either side of focus. Seeing was good up to around 120x and slowly swimming in and out at higher power. Outside of a couple of bands of haze to the East, transparency looked pretty good. Lots of damp around though. Right, what to look at? I opted to sweep round and look at some familiar favourites to test out the views in the Tak. M3 - Super in the 24mm & even better in 12.5mm Morpheus. Individual stars not resolved but glittering in AV and the high contrast view pulling out a wider extent than I am used to. Great start. M13 - Wow. What a superb view in the 12.5mm Morph at 59x with individual stars winking in and out of a glittering background. Stepping up with the Barlow to 133x (I think) and the image retained its quality with a number of stars standing direct vision and a real spectacle in AV. I wouldn't say a darker "propellor" leapt out at me but certainly in AV there were moments where darker bands were apparent and a good view of tendrils of stars in almost 3D. The view is certainly brighter in my 10" Dob but I think what makes this view so stunning is that those stars that do resolve, do so down to tiny points - its not just the number of stars but the contrast and rendition of the spaces in between that give such a great picture. I dropped in the Zoom & Barlow and experimented all the way up to 208x, at which point focussing was more challenging as the brighter sentinel stars were no longer in the frame, I slewed slightly to find one, focussed on that and then back to the cluster, the view wasn't breaking down, which was amazing, but wasn't quite as punchy & pleasing as with the Barlowed Morpheus. I could have stopped there and gawped all evening but wanted to check out some other object types too. Epsilon Bootis (Izar) (Sep 2.8", Mag 2.4 & 5.1) - I picked Izar as a test because its always challenging in my Mak 127 as a result of how the Mak's diffraction rings (or "cone") falls, in fact I've seen it better in my 3 inch Towa 339 f15 than in the Mak. This was showing a "snowman" with the 12.5mm at 59x and just splitting at 133x with the Barlow. Racking up the power I wanted to look to see if the image would hold up to 208x and it was stunning - swimming in and out somewhat with the seeing as I was really above what the sky was supporting for a steady view. But in the stable moments I was looking at 2 discs of differing size, the larger a rich golden colour, the smaller secondary a pale turquoise, lovely! Epsilon Lyrae "The Double Double" (Sep 2.6" & 2.3", Mag 4.7, 6.2 & 5.1, 5.5) Always a good test star this was a nice clean and stable split at 133x in the Baader Morpheus. In all my scopes I look to see how well or otherwise I can see the 10th magnitude star that is offset from the two main pairs, last night I could see a chain of fainter stars and the whole field looked richer in the Morpheus - limiting magnitude with a 100mm 'frac is theoretically 12.5 I think and some of these must have been approaching that. M57 - Not brilliantly placed as still quite low and there's an industrial estate to the North East that kicks up some nasty white light - however, found clearly at 31x and a nice crisp ring at 59x & at 133x. Time to try for a galaxy.... M81/2 - GoTo didn't land me bang on at this higher elevation & the finder had fogged over, however with the 24mm giving a 2.2 degree field I found them after minimal searching & again a superb view of both galaxies in a single field. Stepping up to 59x in the 12.5mm framed them even better and revealed spiral form in M81 and, intermittently, the dark bar in M82 in AV. Another really cracking view that I got lost in for quite a while. Stepping back from the eyepiece and looking around, high cloud bands were building up into Virgo & Leo and looking quite general so I probably didn't have long. Hopped to the Double Cluster (NGC 869 & 884) which was stunning, again the pinpoint stars even at the edge of resolution and increased contrast delivering a fabulous view with a few yellow among the white, looked like an astrophotograph. Beehive M44 - even through the leading edge of the encroaching high cloud a great view, best with the 24mm to take in the whole cluster, subtle colour differences again apparent. M65/66 - a gap allowed a shot, more hopeful than anaything, at the Leo Trio. I could find M65 & M66, which was showing some extent & form at 59x, but not NGC 3628- even so a good result from the park. M105 - just detectable as the haze gathered. Finished up with a punt at Markarian's chain starting on M86 - my last view of the night before being clouded out and the host of smudges in the eyepiece were a tantalising hint of great views to come some hoped-for transparent evening out at my dark spot on the South Downs! It was probably a good job the cloud rolled in as it was by now gone 2 am on a school night, frost on everything and finder already misted. I carefully packed everything away (10 minutes, not bad!) and trudged home happy. Today I have mainly been drinking coffee...

I was recommended a delightful series of podcasts by Chris Lintott (BBC Sky at Night & Oxford Astrophysics Professor) called "Dog Stars". Each one is about five minutes and recoreded, somewhat out of breath, as he walks his dog, Mr Max, around Oxford - he basically picks something he can see that night and talks ad lib about it, and he knows a lot! The flow is occasionally punctuated by the antics of Mr Max doing dog stuff. Fab.

Just in from a fab couple of hours in the local park & my first test of the Tak FC100 DC in grab & go mode - and boy it went! A lovely night, quite transparent here until the last half hour, seeing quite good. Did a 360 tour of favourites checking out how familiar objects of various types look in the new to me Tak. I’ll do an observing report tomorrow but highlights included M3, M13, lovely split of Izar, Double double, M81 & M82, Double cluster, NGC 457, M44, 2/3 in the Leo Trio and finished with a tantalising field of smudges in Markarian’s chain just as the sheets of high cloud thickened, probably just as well as it’s a school night! The level of contrast, colour rendition and star presentation in this ‘scope is truly amazing. A successful gear-packing & field setup test and a memorable couple of hours!

Not as far as I can see & I bought the ADM clamp intending to do this. The pucks on the GTiX are quite different. One appears to be a single cast with the shaft that runs through the mount, the other clamps to the shaft. I’d love to hear from someone who has a way of doing this as the clamp upgrade to my single AZGTi was a much bigger bump in stability & security than I expected. I’m no expert but am not afraid to tinker about but really can’t see a way of making the clamp fit. Maybe if enough of us drop a note to the boffins at ADM they will figure out a solution

+1 over here. I have a GSO Superview 26mm that came with my 10” Revelation f5 Dob (old version of the SL Dobs). The view is wide but quite distorted. The SL 30mm UFF is in a different league and made huge improvements in the view in both my f5 Dob & ST80. I reckon at its price it’s an amazing bargain.

Thanks @Stu really helpful. I have to say there is an absolute goldmine of information in here on this ‘scope! An added benefit given all this cloud

Thanks @JeremyS Amen to that! Recommendations for the BBHS coming in from all sides - it goes on the list next to all those Pentax & Morpheus EPs, Binoviwers, Herschel wedge etc etc

@jetstream - indeed no rush, it’s fab as it is for now and there’s years of upgrades to plan & enjoy!

Thanks Gerry - it’s not that views with the TS were bad, just not quite the “ahh!” moments I was getting with the Tak prism. Sky conditions were quite poor too. Another one for the Christmas list!

Thank you! Yes, the pic is just an iPhone snap wobbling over the eyepiece. I think the 2” finding is peculiar to my using the AZGTi/Report 312, it’s just pushing a lightweight setup a bit too far. Also the TS 2” diagonal is not quite in the same class as the Tak prism (I could see the slight difference in sharpness) so taken together it just feels to me like 1.25” is the best way to go with what I have right now. Figure out the focus travel thing, add a beefier mount and an optimal 2” diagonal and I’m sure the ‘scope itself would be equally amazing in 2” mode.

Well that was the most fun I've ever had on a night of dodgy skies (astronomically speaking). I'd been keeping a hopeful eye on the Met office cloud cover forecast for the last couple of days and for a time it looked as though Winchester would get a few clear hours tonight. There was a sheet of cloud set to bisect the country NW-SE and heading in from the West as the night wore on and as of this morning they were still saying I'd stay on the right side of that from around eleven through most of the night. Inevitably this got revised to a forecast that had me under cloud the whole time. So as the sky, which had been miserable all day here, rapidly cleared while I was on my last of many Zoom calls today, I resolved to get out as soon as dusk fell and snatch whatever views I could. I was up for some serious, scientific equipment testing - not "playing with my new toys" at all, as some around here may have playfully put it... I had no particular objects in mind, more of a gear test, figuring out what works best from an eyepiece perspective in my lovely new Tak FC-100 DC. I'd taken delivery yesterday of a 2" Baader Clicklock visual back and was keen to find out how the 'scope would work in 2" mode - in particular with a Stella Lyra 30 mm UFF, giving a FoV of 2.8 degrees - massive compared to my familiar Mak 127. I then wanted to check out if I could achieve focus with all my other eyepieces in this format. Everything screwed together as planned, I plugged in my TS Optics 2" Dielectric diagonal and a quick test through the window on my handily placed reference church spire 1/4 of a mile away looked like focus travel (which is very short on this 'scope) would be in the zone. The diagonal and 30mm UFF make for quite a lump of extra weight so I rebalanced the scope, requiring about 5 inches shift of the balance point back toward the focuser. I tested the new weight on the AZGTi and it slewed about quite nicely but was groaning a bit lifting the focuser end back up after steep elevation, hmm.... When I actually got outside the only thing I could pick out of the high cloud was Mars, and yes, focus was achieved with the 30mm UFF. Next up the Baader Zoom and, whilst noting how fast Mars has got to be a really tiny disc again, I confirmed I could reach focus across its range. So far so good - 2 inch mode working nicely. I've somewhat blown my budget of late so widefield short FL eyepieces are on the Christmas list, for the time being I will be Barlowing to achieve higher powers. With the Baader Hyperion Zoom 2.25 Barlow, the 24-8mm Zoom turns into a (roughly) 10.7-3.5mm eyepiece giving magnification up to 208x in the f7.4 FC 100 DC. Only problem was, with the 2" Diagonal in I couldn't achieve sufficient in focus. Hmm again. Same story with my 1.25" Hyperion 24mm 68 degree (part of the problem could be that I need a lower profile 1.25" converter - I can't find the one that came with the diagonal which did slot in closer buying an extra 10mm or so of in-focus). Dinner & child ferrying duties intervened and when I was able to get back out it was both properly dark and largely cloudy. Nevertheless the Pleiades was available high-ish to the SW above the roofline and its always my reference FoV object when playing with Eyepiece combinations both in the real world and on Stellarium. The Stella Lyra delivered a nice view, flat to the edge and setting the cluster in its rich background field. I compared with a Baader Hyperion Aspheric 31mm and, although the view on axis bright, contrasty and maybe more stunning than the Stella Lyra, the "edges" still begin 1/3rd of the way into the field. I think it may be time to move this one on to someone who has a big long focal length SCT where I am sure it would work really well! I noticed that the additional weight of the 2" diagonal and chunky 30mm EP, coupled with the longer tube-overhang from the clamshell compared to 1.25" mode, was contributing to more vibration and general wobbliness. Not terrible, but noticeable. I am after all running this on an AZGTi which with all this gear on board is heading more toward its weight limit of 5kg and fighting the greater moment. I'm also on the lightest of the Berlebach tripods. Hmm again. My new Morpheus 12.5mm came to focus nicely however and gave a really lovely view of Almach despite the haze and its dodgy position just above the roof line - colour contrast was great and the presentation of doubles in the Tak is stunning, little balls with perfect diffraction rings, very satisfying! Cold by this time I went inside for a cuppa and a think, not quite as blown away by the views in my new Tak as I had been first time around. Maybe the TS Mirror diagonal is not quite up to the sharpness of the 1.25" Tak Prism, maybe the extra weight & imbalance, maybe that the 2" set-up doesn't quite look as pleasing to my eye - combination of factors, but I decided to go back to the 1.25" back and Tak Prism, rebalance the 'scope and head out for another session and a peek at the rising moon. Everything immediately worked better. A bit sharper, better balanced and much better damped and most importantly all my eyepieces able to reach focus. The Baader Classic Ortho 18mm was just running out of back focus but its so light that there's no problem in just clamping it a little further up the barrel to give the travel you need. The Barlow functioned amazingly well in this format with all EPs including the Zoom - so I have magnification up to 208x sorted for the time being and really clean star images, I shall be revisiting a lot of doubles in the coming sessions! There was cloud everywhere but chasing the holes Mizar, Castor and Algieba all were just superb, so bright and tight. The Moon too looked superbly crisp, (I will figure out exactly what I was looking at later) - best view in the Morpheus 12.5 both in its natural state (59x) and Barlowed (133x). Hugely immersive, what a fab eyepiece, that Christmas list is getting pretty heavy! In the end the cloud did defeat me, but a great session despite the iffy skies and a good decision for now on 2" vs 1.25" given the mount & eyepiece combination I have today. Effectively I am giving up 0.6 degrees of FoV ( I can still get 2.2 degrees which as a Mak user is HUGE!) and benefit from all that sharpness, lightness and stability with the Tak prism. It also looks a bit nicer too, not that that's important obviously. While writing this, I noticed that there's another gap in the cloud, I wonder if it's getting too late to...

That's true - my bank manager would agree too!

Great report, glad it’s all working and fabulous sketches!

Thanks @Nicola Fletcher - glad you enjoyed it & hope you didn't get too many odd looks from fellow coffee drinkers! Now I just need all this cloud to clear away...