MalcolmM

Thanks, the sketches are very impressive, in fact possibly more detail than my inexperienced eye has seen on Jupiter with a 4" Starting to read the CN thread. I had seen another one in CN called "Takahashi FOA-60 Owners’ Feedback" but gave up when I saw it went on for over 30 pages! Malcolm

I'm going to have to stop frequenting this forum. I've got it bad (Takitis)! @JeremyS, your descriptions of this scope have gnawed away at me for a while. A recent email exchange with @HollyHound resulted in a bad itch. I think I lasted 2 days before I couldn't resist scratching! This scope is simply gorgeous looking and by all accounts it should perform as well as it looks. @HollyHound I really hope you decide to keep yours, I would imagine it is the sort of scope one would really regret getting rid of! Thanks to you both for putting me over the edge 🙂 My partner also encouraged me but said, in no uncertain terms, that if the itch returns I have to seek help, not visit FLO 🙂 Malcolm

Fabulous sketch @RobertI, much better than mine and very similar to the views I get in my 4" Malcolm

Very interesting comparison and as a refractor man, I'm cheering Would love to see your sketches. At risk of offending the imagers, there's something more personal about a sketch, it's a personal record of what you actually observed! Malcolm

Great report and very interesting to read your eyepiece and filter comparisons. I tried a set of cheap filters with my first telescope (star travel 102) a couple of years ago and whereas I felt some of them showed slightly more detail on Jupiter, I found the false colour very off-putting! Totally agree with you on Binoviewers. They're fantastic and worth the extra faff! Malcolm

Thanks @HollyHound. I'd been hoping not to have to leave it open ended while cooling on the mount as I usually observe beside my bird table! I've already had one of my Taks 'bombed' on by a passing Goldfinch! Luckily it was small and on the tube only, so washed off very easily! You're doing a great job on selling me the idea of an FOA60Q! And I'd been hoping for early retirement this year Malcolm

Thanks - very impressive! Malcolm

Those are fabulous! Really like the second one, M31 stands out very well. Do you have the phone on a tracker? MAlcolm

Probably a stupid question @JeremyS but when leaving the Mewlon to cool, do you take the tube cover off? I had mine cooling outside in a box with it's tube cover on for about three hours last night before observing. It probably took about 45 minutes before it was performing better than the FS-60Q! It was just a bit blurry and lacking in contrast. I wasn't sure if this was tube currents or atmospheric effects. The FS-60Q gave great views of Jupiter, the GRS instantly visible along with four cloud belts. Made me wonder how much better again a FOA-60Q would be Malcolm

An evening with Jupiter! First real go with the Pentax XWs. 5mm on the 60Q and 20mm on the Mewlon. I think the TOE just beats the 5mm on contrast, ditto the 20mm vs Tak Abbe 18 but it's very close and once I got over the size and weight of the Pentax's they are lovely eyepieces to use. Thanks @IB20 ! That twist up eyecup just oozes quality Malcolm

Great read @Kon, makes me want to move to a really dark site and get a bigger telescope:) Malcolm

It's a bit of a black art 🙂 It took me a good bit of time and effort (and a bit of expense) to get mine (the Williams Optics ones) to focus. I don't think I have used them on the 76 yet, but have for the 60CB and the 100DC. Basically it will probably involve using a Glass Path Corrector (and possibly shortening the light path as well). Anyway - sounds like a problem for another day for you. I'll be glad to try to help if and when the time comes 🙂 I would be very interested in hearing about the MEF3 if you decide to go for that. Good luck! Malcolm

I would agree with everything that's been said. The only thing I would add is that I find a very quick North orientation by eye seems to give me enough accuracy for 'good enough' tracking. The altitude alignment was also very quick 'by eye' and never changed. So all in all my setup time is virtually non existent. That being said, it's really only used for dedicated solar/lunar/planetary. Alt/Az all the way for star hopping! Malcolm

The Q makes the 76 look even better. Enough of a reason in itself to get one It also allows you to use longer focal length eyepieces for the same magnification which can be slightly easier on the eyes, though the TOEs are really easy to use. I also like just being able to use the 76 in a different configuration. There is something indefinably nice too about long refractors I researched the MEF a while back. I did read some reports of it being spongy but I seem to remember someone saying he cured the spongyness with some small adjustment. In the end I got used to the stock focuser and love the snap to focus. Not sure whether you would still get that with a fine focuser or not. I'd definitely go with the MEF just to keep the scope pure Tak, though I appreciate that's probably the least good reason for going with it If you're looking to spend some money for the Tak, have you considered Binoviewers? They really can provide a wow difference, though not everybody gets on with them. Malcolm

Not at night but an impromptu 5 minutes before leaving my partner to work. FS60Q and Tak 4mm TOE. I'm 95% sure I saw Hadley which seems pretty good to me for a 60mm scope, a dawn sky and an awkward crouch on my knees on cold concrete in my dressing gown Malcolm

As my partner said to me last night 'my what a difference 2mm makes'

I don't use them during the day, and at night, I haven't decided whether I like them screwed all the way out, or in or somewhere in between yet I got the 20, 10 and 5. I was really taken aback by the size of the 5! But they really do feel and look high quality! Malcolm

Guilty! And no matter how many times I tell myself this is stupid, I can't seem to stop swapping them Malcolm

A nice eyepiece is a thing of beauty to be cherished and admired and possibly collected. Some say you can even look through them I must admit to being a bit of a sucker for eyepieces! For me, psychologically, I like to feel I am getting the best view possible out of my scope. The much revered Nagler zoom, I love the versatility (4 in 1) for travelling but never use it at home. I find it difficult to use and I much prefer the Tak TOEs. Better view (in my opinion) and so easy to use/look through. Maybe the view is only better because I find it easier to use? I really don't know but it's a good enough reason for me Unbeknownst to @IB20 he persuaded me to try a Pentax XW They are huge! Which I don't really like, but I gotta say, they are very easy to look through! So for me, it's potentially irrational, but it's not just about the view! Malcolm

It's hard to beat the combination of a small Tak and a TOE Malcolm

Thanks! I get very frustrated not being able to sketch better. It's nice to have some record of the session though :) Malcolm

Fabulous! Best I've ever seen it! It's a truly beautiful sight! Malcolm

Last time I was out I had two scopes dual mounted, two pairs of Binoviewers and countless eyepieces and was swapping between the scopes, swapping between the Binoviewers and swapping between mono and bino! Madness! And when my partner got up the following morning I suffered a constant stream of sarcasm as she deftly stepped over and around the astronomical debris scattered around the house! So last night I thought I'd just try the WO Binoviewers in the Mewlon. I plonked the iOptron Az Mount Pro down, no levelling. I find it tracks pretty good without doing this and I never use the goto, so very rarely bother to level it properly. First up was Saturn and I was using the stock WO 20mm eyepieces. Too much! It looked much more than the 180x or so I was expecting. Saturn was huge, but a bit fuzzy. Swapped the 20mm for a pair of Tak 28mm Erfles and so started another evening of firsts and wow moments! The last time I used the WO Binoviewers I had to resort to mono. I simply couldn't merge the images. No amount of fiddling worked. Last night they merged straight off. And what a view! Seeing was very steady but I thought there was a slight haze. A dark band was very evident to the north, Cassini division very obvious at the edges and possibly the whole way round. It's very difficult to say as the rings cross the disk, but the view looked more complex than just the usual shadow of the rings on the disk. I think I saw three moons. Need to check this. They were strung out pretty well in line out to the east (telescope view). This was a first; I've seen two before but never three. I was mesmerised and must have spent 45 minutes just soaking up the view. I even persuaded my partner to get out of bed, put on a dressing gown and come take a look! Even she was mesmerised, for about 10 seconds But she also saw the Cassini division and said it (Saturn) looked like a space ship. I think she meant to say it looks like you're in a space ship! Then on to Jupiter. I had to move the scope which involves taking it off the mount and moving scope and mount separately. No levelling and alignment was simply doing my best to put the tripod in the same orientation (mount was left running while I moved it). Once again this was good enough for decent tracking. Huge amount of detail, especially in the SEB, hard to describe. The GRS was a very definite orange (I've never seen it so obviously coloured before, another first). A dark swirl above and to the left of it. Two white spots following as it moved across the disk. Lots of what looked like bands within the SEB. Other bands visible which I don't know the names of yet. The NEB was very dark with one extra dark bit in it just west of center. A bumpy look to the NEB but no real detail inside it. Finally a quick look at the moon. Some stunning detail on the limb beyond the Mare Crisium. The Mewlon/WO Binoviewers combination really did give the feeling of hovering over the moon in a space ship! It's a great combination (when I can merge the images!) All in all a great session and I feel that the Mewlon will be able to offer more. The sky was slightly hazy, Jupiter and Saturn were both no more than 20° above the horizon as well as being directly over neighboring roofs. Can't wait! I'm including my attempts at sketching. More for a laugh as apart from being very poor, they don't begin to convey the detail actually seen. Malcolm

Hi @Ratlet Off topic (apologies to the OP) but how do you sketch at the eyepiece? I've tried and find it very difficult to get enough light to see what I'm sketching without killing my night vision! Any tips greatly appreciated! Thanks, Malcolm

I am a great believer in 'the best scope is the one you use the most'. Everything in this hobby is, as you have probably gathered, a compromise. Your compromise would seem to be aperture v's portability. I'll not comment on the scope itself, never having used a Newtonian (I prefer refractors. Why? No idea, I just do!) but I suspect both scopes will give very good views. However I can comment on size I have a few scopes and my smallest one actually gets the most use due to it's portability and ease of use. So if I were you (and I'm not!), based on my limited experience, I would get the smaller scope and really enjoy getting in your MX5 (which looks like a fab car), driving to a dark site with the roof down and enjoying the great views I'm sure the 6" scope will give you If the astronomy bug really bites, your first scope is very unlikely to be your last one! Malcolm