MalcolmM

I thought I'd add to this post as I have just spent a lovely hour or so on Venus with a range of eyepieces. My difficulty with Venus, and it's down to my lack of experience on this planet, is I find it hard to decide whether I am seeing real cloud detail or just optical/atmospheric artifacts. It is surprising how hard it is to spot Venus for the first time. Then you see it and it's obvious. How could you not notice it! Then you look away and ... where's it gone! Anyway, I'll just reproduce my unadulterated notes! 2/6/23 21:30 FOA60-Q + WO Binoviewers + 12.5 Tak Abbes + WO diagonal (thanks @HollyHound ) + 1.6 Barlow nosepiece in the scope side of the diagonal. See photo! Tak diagonal + 6mm Tak Abbe Similar view to the above but no Atmospheric (?) CA. Not sure if I can still see the banding. Darkening along the terminator. Bright ring all the way round the limb. Lovely sharp image. 4mm Abbe A little softer on the limb, but still a nice sharp image. Darkening along the terminator is obvious. It is darker on the southern half. The limb is brighter in the northern half. Blooming eyelashes getting in the way! Some floaters, but not enough to kill the view. I am seeing a little dark kink eating into the southern end of the terminator. Still seeing what looks like cloud detail, though it comes and goes a bit. Very hard to know what is real detail and what are optical artifacts. 4mm TOE Very similar view to the 4mm Abbe. Maybe a little less sharp? Maybe not focused as well? But much easier to look through (no eyelash problems!) 3.3 TOE Still a good image. Now this surprised me! This is x270! Possibly a bit more detail on the (possible) clouds. Possibly a hint of horns/cusps at the N and S ends of the terminator. The terminator looks a little soft and a little 'lumpy' 2.5 TOE The limb is definitely a little soft now, but this is to be expected at the insane magnification of x360 in a 60mm scope. Many on this forum have quoted Scotty, "ye cannae change the laws of physics". But our very own @JeremyS, or maybe it was @HollyHound said "the laws of physics don't apply to Taks" I know who I believe and it's not the guy who thinks he can travel at warp speed! I am seeing definite horns on the N and S ends of the terminator now and still seeing the dark nick on the S end of the terminator. At 22.20 Venus is now a bit to bright and I'm getting glare. I put the 6mm Abbe back in, just to compare with the TOEs. I can still see the horns. Maybe once you've seen them they become obvious. The image is sharpened up quite a bit from the 2.5TOE but the disk is too bright to see any real (or imagined) cloud detail. The scope was on a Vixen AP sitting on an extension pillar on a Berlebach Uni 8. Even at the silly magnification of x360 this combination is very solid and vibrations settle down in less than a second. Thanks for reading, Malcolm

Very pleased you got them working @ukskies. They really are a black art when you start trying to use them. I spent quite a bit of time, effort and money on first, the WO ones, and then the Maxbrights, but when it all comes together you really do get a 'wow moment' Malcolm

My partner caught me salivating with envy at that scope and asked me what I was smiling at. I showed her the picture, she replied "wow that's a big boy, but I really like the garden". I'm afraid I only had eyes for the scope 🙂 Malcolm

Those are stunning pics @Stu. By far the best lunar smartphone pics I have ever seen. What scope were you using? Ta, Malcolm

Lol, just re-read that post and obviously must have read it before as I've commented on it! Regardless, I enjoyed reading it again Malcolm

I can't believe it! I'm not sure I've actually read that post. That's my bedtime reading tonight sorted. Looking forward to it 🙂 Malcolm

Awesome is a very overused word these days, but that scope ... Awesome! Beautiful! It must be at least f100 🙂 Malcolm

Great report and Stephenson 1 (which I had never heard of) sounds well worth a look. Malcolm

Trying to resist having only recently got a bunch of Masuyama 85 degree eyepieces 🙂. Which I think are brilliant. Very light, very sharp, very easy to look through and the poor edge of field has not bothered me yet (haven't even noticed it yet!) I thought telescopes were addictive, there's something lovely about a nice eyepiece 🙂 Malcolm

I had what I thought was a great idea. I've recently got a Tak Abbe 4mm eyepiece and now have all but the 32mm and so I thought I would record observations of Venus and the Moon, starting with the 25mm and working down to 4mm and then comparing the 4mm with the TOE 4mm. I was going to start with Venus in the brighter sky and then go on to the moon. I was really interested to see when/if the image broke down. But the clouds scuppered my plans, covering Venus initially, so I had to start with the Moon, and finally covering everything just after I popped the 6mm in! Anyway, I'll try again but here's what I recorded last night. 21.30 25mm The Moon is filling just less than half the FOV and it is razor sharp, very contrasty, in fact it is like an etching. If I were a poet I would call it achingly beautiful 🙂 The Couchy Rille was visible as a bright streak coming out of Couchy and heading North. The Rheita Valley was obvious and five lovely, evenly spaced, similar sized craters heading East (refractor diagonal view) from the bottom of the valley. These were very striking at this magnification and were, I think, Young F, Steinheil G, Steinheil H, Fabricius J and Janssen K. Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina were very striking and complex. The Messier rays were appearing as a single ray and Dorsa Smirnov was appearing as a long dark double stacked backwards S's curve heading South from Posidonius. 18mm Very similar view. No obvious evidence of seeing much more, just a larger image. The Moon is now taking up just over half the FOV. A little less contrasty and etching like than with the 25mm. Can now see the twin rays off Messier. A little heat wobble is evident and ... blasted clouds! 12.5mm The Moon now fills the view. The etching is back so the light cloud maybe compromised the view with the 18mm. The Couchy Fault is now visible as a black thin pencil line. Messier twin rays are now very obvious. Dorsa Smirnov is now showing light on the sunward side and dark on the shadow side. There is an inky black shadow on the floor of Theophilus and very obvious terracing on the opposite crater wall. There is a hint of the Petavius Rimae and a bright streak from the central mountains heading to the NW rim (refractor diagonal view). There is what looks like an extened valley/feature heading Northish from between Metius and Fabricius. It's dark and I suspect an optical illusion. 9mm Now we are well zoomed in and the image is getting slightly dimmer and slightly less sharp. The central Theophilius peaks look like a clenched fist. Lots of isolated bright 'jewels' on the dark side of the terminator. The double edge of Posidonius is very clear and there are hints of the rills on the crater floor. 6mm This is x150 in a 60mm scope! Dimmer again, but still a good view. The rills on the floor of Posidonius are more obvious. Giving the scope a hefty thump and the vibrations die down in less than half a second. I find the Vixen AP a lovely solid mount. Birds are chirping all around me. I'm digressing ... there is total cloud cover. Session over ☹️ I have briefly had the Abbe 4 and TOE 4 on Venus a couple of days ago with the FOA60-Q and I found the views surprisingly sharp but I really wanted to make a better comparison in the context of the other Abbe eyepieces. Maybe next time ... Malcolm

What was recommended to me recently by @ScouseSpaceCadet, and makes a huge difference, was observing when the sky is bright. Similar effect to dimming I suppose. Best view I've had recently was when it was not actually visible with the naked eye! A lot of fun to find though, alternating between binoculars and scope with a wide FOV eyepiece 🙂 I use Tak diagonals and am not aware of excessive (or any) CA. Definitely atmospheric CA at times. Next time I'm observing I'll look out for any CA. Malcolm

Gotta love doing astronomy while sitting in the sun! All I need for complete perfection is a glass of red wine Malcolm

Great story @Jim L. Love the pic of the little refractor beside the big dob! I'm an out and out refractor man but people's descriptions of DSOs through big dobs is very compelling. I'd love to try and make one, including grinding my own mirror. Malcolm

Brilliant piece and very uplifting. Really enjoyed watching that @FrenchyArnaud. Malcolm

Those are very impressive @PeterStudz. Fabulous to see the capabilities of a smartphone in capable hands. It inspires me to try harder! Malcolm

On first glance, I thought it was the easel for the painting 😀 Malcolm

The mount moves very smoothly with the 60CB. So for my particular mount, going from 2kg to 2.5kg needs the addition of a counterweight for smooth operation. Malcolm

Wonderful read! Great scope and great location, only slightly envious Malcolm

I was comparing your hits with my observations using the Mewlon 180. I reckon you have a darker sky site than me but I was observing roughly a month ago with respective darker skies. I managed to get 4461 but failed to get 4458 and 4477 I also tried the Chain with the 100DC. Unfortunately I didn't record which ones I saw, I just noted "Can't see them all!" Nothing like some precise accurate observing notes 😀 An impressive list of targets! Great read thanks! The 128 sounds wonderful. Malcolm

I must try the mount with a 60CB without a counterweight and see if that runs smooth. OTA plus prism plus cradle plus eyepiece would be approximately 1.9kg Malcolm

Just to be fair, I have now used this with a counterweight and as others have said, the counterweight makes a big difference. It is now very smooth in azimuth. The marketing suggests it can take 4kg without Counterweights and whereas this may be possible, I have found even a 2.5kg scope really needs a Counterweight in order to make the azimuth smooth. But with the counterweight, it is an excellent mount, albeit more bits and weight to fit into carryon luggage. Malcolm

I have a DC with the smaller focuser so would presumably need some sort of converter to use this one? Malcolm

@JeremyS and @Littleguy80, I already have the CQ 1.7x Extender for the 60CB and 76DCU Jeremy. I was thinking of this one which should work in the FS60CB, 76DCU and FC100DC https://www.firstlightoptics.com/takahashi-extenders/tak_tka00595.html Malcolm

Thanks very much everyone for your replies. It sounds like both are optically excellent and in a sense either would do grand. Thanks @josefk for the pics, they are very helpful. Generally, with the exception of Binoviewers, I like to keep things small and light! The Powermate does look quite a big chunk of metal and glass! Funny, but last night, it occurred to me too that a 2.6 GPC would be a good way to easily up the power of the Maxbrights. It would probably require a small spacer to come to focus. Regarding the Extender/Powermate, I think if I'm honest I'm torn between getting another Tak accessory (which is always a pleasure 😀 ) and the x2.5 Powermate which arguably is a better amplification factor. Generally when I have these decisions, Tak wins 😀 Thanks again, Malcolm

I feel on the best of nights my Taks could take more power than the TOE 2.5 gives me. I tried a Tak Barlow but couldn't get it to come to focus! I've read great reviews of the Extender-Q 1.6X and how it's much better than a Barlow. But how would it compare to a Powermate, aside from the obvious power difference (1.6 vs 2.5)? I love Tak kit but am just wondering what the difference might be. The benefits I'm looking for include extra power and using lower power eyepieces to get the power (more eye relief). I presume neither option will help with small exit pupils and floaters. I could possibly get a x2.5 and a x5 Powermate for the cost of the Extender-Q. Will I have any issues getting the Powermate to come to focus? I assume not as it's parfocal. Any thoughts/experiences on the above are very welcome. Malcolm