MalcolmM

OK, I'll play, I'll risk universal ridicule! Home knitted (by my partner) Noddy hat. Lots of dropped stitches and wonky bits (she doesn't really do knitting!) but very very warm. And if it's really really really cold I put on her Oodie and it's like being enclosed in an electric blanket I'd just like to reassure everyone that the Oodie is the only item of her clothing I wear while observing Malcolm

Mmmmm, the more I thought about it last night the more I thought it didn't look right. When I went back to check my notes of my possible sighting last time, it was in a different position. I think the concensus then was that that position was correct. So back to the drawing board ☹️ and I think I'll stick with mono viewing next time, though the binoviewers do not alter the orientation. I'm beginning to wonder was it even Sirius I was looking at, though it's hard to miss! Maybe I'll post a pic in @Stu's headgear thread with my Dunce's hat on Malcolm

I'm pretty sure I got it tonight, under strange circumstances! I was using the 100DC with the Maxbrights, x2.6 GPC and 28mm Erfles. I started with the moon and the views were rubbish. It looked like I was looking through a band of driving horizontal rain! The image wasn't just wobbling, it was being ripped apart! This persisted for 5 minutes before I gave up, intending to call it a night. A quick look at Rigel and I could just about split it and then remembering this thread thought, "why not!". So I turned to Sirius and a very light layer of cloud or smog or mucky atmosphere rendered Sirius as a slightly wooly disk rather than the usual flashing disco ball. I thought I saw something at the 6.30 position (see attached pic). Don't know why, but I looked through each eyepiece with my left eye. Nothing in the left eyepiece, but a definite hit through the right eyepiece. No need for averted vision, it was there permanently. I swapped in 18mm and then 12.5mm Tak Abbe eyepieces and got the same result. Nothing in the left eyepiece, obvious in the right! I wonder is it possible that the dulling effect of the seeing, due to light cloud/smog/muck, dimmed the usual glare of Sirius making the Pup much easier to spot? Just as a sanity check, I checked out the moon again and the seeing was pretty good. What a difference 10 minutes can make! Anyway, barring a weird internal reflection in the Maxbrights, or my brain playing tricks on me, or someone reading this telling me it's in completely the wrong position, having only logged a possible sighting before, I'm going to log this one as a hit! Malcolm

What a great trip. And a great report too thanks! I'm drooling with envy 🙂 Malcolm

That's a nice presentation of the Lunar 100. Thanks. Malcolm

Very impressive pics. Took me over a year to get images as sharp as those! Malcolm

No, I've had that 3 years or so now. It's great for high power lunar/planetary. I don't bother levelling it properly and don't use goto but it still tracks good enough that a small correction every couple of minutes is all that's required. Malcolm

If you zoom in on Jupiter you can see the first time I've managed to capture surface detail. This is from a couple of nights ago immediately after Ganymede had just reappeared from Jupiter's shadow. Also the most detail I have captured of the Moon. I took this last night to try and capture Manzinus which looked like a heavily jewelled ring. Also Boussingault which looked like a multi terraced stadium! Both sections of The Rheita Valley were also nicely visible. The final pic, I've managed to capture Hyginus Rille as well as avery dramatic terminator. Malcolm

Great pics and video. The pic of the proms is very impressive Malcolm

A lovely late afternoon tour of the Moon under the guidance of 'Turn Left at Orion'. The highlight for me was catching the craters Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin for the first time. Very nice to be able to observe and still have enough daylight to read by. Malcolm

I spent a very enjoyable 45 minutes this afternoon observing the Moon accompanied by Turn Left at Orion. As it was still light, I was able to read the 'Night 6' description and look at each feature it described. I was chuffed tk spot Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin. Armstrong was relatively easy, Aldrin popped in and out, Collins was difficult. Anyway, this got me wondering are there any other books/resources that take you on a tour of Lunar features? Ideally it would be targeted on a per night basis and as well as general features, it would be very interesting to have 'challenging' targets for different sizes of scopes! Does anybody know of such a book/resource? Malcolm

I had a Skywatcher Startravel 102 for a couple of years. I really enjoyed it. For lunar and planetary, the FS60CB, despite being much smaller, gave much better views. I would imagine a 70mm would be even better. I felt it was also better for many DSOs simply because of the high contrast and very sharp images. I would strongly endorse the APO over the achro as long as the wallet can stand it! Malcolm

I'm a great fan of small APOs, primarily for their ease of use and portability, the ultimate in grab 'n' go. With that in mind, I would skip 100, 90, 76 and jump straight to 60mm ish. If you're going small, go proper small and reap the benefits of a small scope. Keep it setup inside and you can take advantage of the smallest gap in the clouds or a short 5 minute session before heading to work. To say nothing of being able to pop it into carry-on luggage on planes. I'll not add petrol to the torch paper by saying what my recommendation would be, but just say 'go for it'. My 60mm is probably my most used scope. Malcolm

It's reports like this spiraled me down the 'Tak collecting' path. And here's one extolling yet a bigger one ... oh dear! Great report, very enjoyable to read, and my partner swears by Crocs! I had my best ever view of M42 the other night. Went inside to try and persuade my partner to come out and take a peek. By the time she'd swapped her ordinary Crocs for fur lined ones, the sky had completely clouded over and mild sleet was falling ☹️ Malcolm

I must admit to a brief thought of flip if they're bust I'll have to get a pair of TPLs ... or maybe the Masuyama MOPs. Every cloud ... 🙂 Malcolm

Totally agree re the Maxbrights. I was observing mono and thought I'd try binoviewers as Jupiter was so good. The WO with the 1.7GPC on the telescope end of a WO diagonal replaces the Tak diagonal/eyepiece, plug and play, no unscrewing bits, so I went for them. Normally if I want to use Binoviewers I reconfigure the back end with clicklocks and use the Maxbrights. I think they are much better optically, mechanically and in their useability. Malcolm

Don't mention the undercuts 🙂 I think the eyepieces are ok, just been watching the Io transit with them. Clouds stopped play! It was actually the Tak eyepiece holder that unscrewed partially under the weight of the Binoviewers. But I'll not hear a word against Tak accessories; 100% my fault 🙂 Malcolm

For anyone as ham fisted and accident prone as myself! Looking at Jupiter, 4" frac with WO Binoviewers on an equatorial mount. To merge the images in the binoviewers I often have to loosen the locking screws on one or both the eyepieces. I'm lost in the fabulous views of Jupiter and decide I'll look at Trapezium. Lovely, though no E or F star. I then manually slew round to look at Castor, the weight of the binoviewers, now at an angle to the vertical, cause them to spin downwards and before I can stop them, both my Tak Abbe 12.5 eyepieces fall out onto the paving slabs! Both are slightly chipped (I'm devastated) but I think they are optically ok. Lessons for me ... use alt/az mounts and the Maxbrights 🙂 Malcolm

I have the IOptron and like it very much. I use a Mewlon 180 with Binoviewers on it, which weighs in at roughly 7.5kg. I find it rock steady. The pros for me are; not too heavy, I can just lift it around the garden with the scope on, to tree dodge (small garden though). No cables and no separate power source needed - a big advantage for me. Tracks well, even if no effort is put in to leveling it. I never use the leveling screws and bubble now, just plonk it down and turn it on. Very steady and minimal vibration with the Mewlon. Great range of slewing speeds. I never use the goto so can't comment on that. With the Mewlon, I never bother with a counterweight, though arguably I should. With a cheap accessory, you can mount a second scope on the counterweight bar. I sometimes put a 60mm refractor on. The mount copes with this easily. Also, the battery lasts very well. I'm not sure of the specifications but it will do me a good number of 2 hour sessions. I've occasionally run it out mid session which is very annoying but that would typically be weeks after a charge and me ignoring the flashing warning light! The only problem I have had with it was the tracking jumping a bit. I returned it to FLO and it's been great since. So in summary (in my opinion), I think this is a great mount. I find it simple and quick to setup and use (albeit not properly leveled and not using goto) and it does not get in the way of my observing. I hope this is useful. I'm happy to answer any specific questions you might have. Malcolm

I have to agree here. I use a 2" clicklock and 2" to 1.25" clicklock converter in order to shorten the lightpath to use binoviewers. I much prefer the look of the Tak visual back parts and on a few occasions the 2" has seized and is very difficult to free. The 2" looks very clunky on the back of a Tak! On the original topic(ish), I tried the old Tak Barlow and it is the only Tak part I have been disappointed with. I couldn't get it to come to focus on my 100DC or 60CB and returned it. It possibly needed an extender or a shortened light path, but I simply couldn't use it as a drop in accessory. I wonder will this new part simply drop in? Malcolm

Spot on @Mr Spock, f15. Malcolm

Very interesting notes on actually observing through Grubb telescopes @ollypenrice and @Peter Drew. Hopefully I'll get a chance to observe with this one, it's used often over the winter. I was chatting with an ex staff member who had first used it 70 years ago and he said it was a lovely scope to use, easy to manoeuvre and put up stunning views, particularly of the planets. The original objective was apparently replaced, it was so good it was decided it should be used for optical research or something. Apparently it was an optician rather than an astronomer that made that decision! I'm hoping to try and find out a bit more about its history. Malcolm

Rope and pully operated dome rotation. No electronics in sight. It really is fabulous! Malcolm

There's not that much about it online. I'll see if I can find out any more information. I'll also bring a tape measure up and get you the focal length! Malcolm

I was hoping to put my 60mm up against Armagh Observatory's mighty 10" Grubb refractor. It's a beautiful instrument, over 100 years old, driven by a clockwork drive, and was used in the compilation of the New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars in 1888 by John Dreyer, the then director of Armagh Observatory. Unfortunately, despite waiting for over two hours, the clouds defeated us and the shootout did not happen! Part of me was secretly glad, as this scope has the reputation of being an exquisite visual instrument, putting up spell binding views, though apparently the Grubb is quite nice too 🙂 Much as I love my little Tak, I think the 140 year old Grubb would have left it for dust! Malcolm