My TAL100RS

[lhuchison]

Hope no one minds me posting the images of my now, repaired EQ5 mount and TAL100RS. I,m just really pleased i managed to sort it.

I managed to shear off the Dec knob after mounting my 200p without fitting the weights first ( a mistake i will not repeat!)

It spun round, and luckily didnt damage the 200p but i thought all was lost with my mount. Until i contacting SteveB from FLO

who kindly sent a part he had that done the job perfectly. I bought the TAL second hand but un-used for a good price and

cant wait for a clear night to try it. I,ve removed the solid 6inch Dec knob, which came with my new aluminium knob set from the USA for the safer flex knob.

From a very happy sky watcher!

[Marki]

Now thats a proper looking set-up . I love my 100RS on the EQ5 - it just looks the business...shallow I know, but given the weather we spend more time looking at the scope than through the scope it seems .

We're always happy to look at telescope pictures on this forum, so no need to apologise!

[Stardust]

You'll have fun with that, mine gave me my best views of Jupiter I've had so far.

I notice the Rigel, does the main unit unclip from the base?

[nightfisher]

Now thats a proper telescope! funny thing, i have one just the same :grin: though you appear to have 2 dove tail bars in the mounting

[lhuchison]

i have the Rigel tied till i decide on the position , it will unclip from the base. i find the rigel essential for me in star hopping. I didnt realise about the dovetail bars, i thought the white one was needed for the mount and the black one for the scope?

I,ll have to re-look at my set up.

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Thanks for the photos.I'd LOVE a Tal 100RS! Maybe one of these days....(sigh!)

[nightfisher]

i have the Rigel tied till i decide on the position , it will unclip from the base. i find the rigel essential for me in star hopping. I didnt realise about the dovetail bars, i thought the white one was needed for the mount and the black one for the scope?

I,ll have to re-look at my set up.

You should be able to dispense with the white dovetail altogether, the black one should fit directly into the puck on the EQ5

[moriniboy]

Nice, mines on a Skytee 2

[Daniel-K]

that looks very nice

[Qualia]

Wow, what a beauty, Leon, like a sweet angel. Just so happens I've got one as well :grin: For roof top observations, I mount her on the CG-5, basically it's like your EQ5 (I think) but comes in black. Personally, I wouldn't really like to stick anything more permanent on the OTA than my finger prints, so I reckon it's a good idea to keep the Rigel tied.

When you get a chance to use her, I'd love to hear your opinions on the Tal 100rs in itself and also how you think it compares with something like an 8" newt. I know it will be like comparing chalk and cheese but it'll make for interesting reading. Anyway, thanks for some lovely looking pics.

[Stardust]

I hadn't noticed the white bar, should unbolt and pop it in your spares box, might need to for something one day.

A more sturdy but non permanant fixing would be cable ties, I put a Telrad on mine that way, but as good as it is, it's a bit of a lump on the scope. I think the rigel looks better and less weight I guess.

I was out with mine last night for a couple of hours, The Ring was clear as a bell and M13 was resolving well in a 10mm eyepiece.

I spent a bit of time on the double cluster as it's one of my favs, nice pinpoint stars to the edge of the field. I was trying out a 19mm Panoptic that arrived the same day and framed it well.

[lhuchison]

What a cracking clear sky last night! i took the tal and the 8in newt into the garden for comparison testing. nearly broke my back, changing the tubes over every 10 mins or so! must get a mount for the tal.

I managed to find the dumbell nebula , ring nebula and andromida galaxy . i couldn't really see a big difference , maybe the newt was brighter, as it has twice the aperture .

But around 1.am i got good views of jupiter with 4 moons. Maybe the Tal had a more detailed view ? it was close.

The Tal was easier to move around but at 6' 1'' i think i need a taller mount as i spent a lot of time kneeling on the ground specially as was looking directly overhead at the swan most of the time.

anyone know of a good tall mount for the Tal?

[John]

Nice little report

The 200P should show deep sky objects better as it's aperture is double that of the TAL's but the light gathering capacity is four times as much !. You should notice the difference most on globular clusters where the 200P will resolve a lot more stars than any 4" refractor can. Try some fainter DSO's and the 200P will enable you to see them noticeably better.

I've often found that refractors "keep up" with larger aperture scopes surprisingly well on the planets though.

A tall tripod is a real boon with a refractor though, as you have found out !. I use a 16" pillar extension (which would fit your EQ5 mount) to get the eyepiece on my refractors something more like chest height rather than below the waist where they can often end up !

[nightfisher]

Another option for good eyepiece height is to use a chair, good if you are concentrating on an area of rich pickings

[Marki]

A tall tripod is a real boon with a refractor though, as you have found out !. I use a 16" pillar extension (which would fit your EQ5 mount) to get the eyepiece on my refractors something more like chest height rather than below the waist where they can often end up !

Second that. I was out last night using a pillar extention for my eq5 for the first time - made a huge difference to comfort and ease, especially when observing near the zenith - thoroughly recommend it!

[lhuchison]

I think that pillar extension will be be on my list as well as an observation chair this xmas. if i,m lucky!

[Stardust]

I bought a pillar extension from Astrotec, nicely made and cheapest around, it does make a huge difference.

I also use an ironing chair and a little stool to get down low.

[Qualia]

...i took the tal and the 8in newt into the garden for comparison testing....I managed to find the dumbell nebula , ring nebula and andromida galaxy . i couldn't really see a big difference , maybe the newt was brighter, as it has twice the aperture .But around 1.am i got good views of jupiter with 4 moons.

Great report, Leon and your results are what I suspected. Maybe it takes a little more practice of a trained eye but at a decent dark site this summer, myself and a quite well known astro-photographer in Spain could find scant difference in the views offered by the SW 8" newt and the Tal 4" frac. And these were with DSOs like M8, M 22, M 57 and M 13.

[John]

Great report, Leon and your results are what I suspected. Maybe it takes a little more practice of a trained eye but at a decent dark site this summer, myself and a quite well known astro-photographer in Spain could find scant difference in the views offered by the SW 8" newt and the Tal 4" frac. And these were with DSOs like M8, M 22, M 57 and M 13.

Having owned, and really liked, both the TAL 100 and the Skywatcher 200P dobsonian I have to say I'm surprised by this, unless it was an instance where the seeing conditions were very poor indeed.

The TAL 100 is a very good 10cm F/10 achromat (on par optically with the excellent Vixen SP102m that I owned before it) but my experience is that the 400% more light gathering of the 20cm mirror really makes a noticeable difference on deep sky objects. Globular clusters for example show much more resolution with an 8" scope than they do with a 4" one.

I think the TAL 100 offers great performance for what it costs but lets not credit it with "super powers"

I have excellent 102mm and 120 ED refractors now but both are out gunned on all deep sky objects by my 10" newtonian even on an average night.

[Qualia]

Guess so, John and on paper that certainly is how it ought to be, but there it was. Clear, ink-dark nights in the Spanish mountains and the views and detail seemed essentially similar

[nightfisher]

I guess the only way to test this theory is to compare at same mag, same make of eyepiece on a deep sky object that would be a test, but achievable in a 200 newt on the same night same location, but on paper the 200 newt should wipe the floor with any 100mm f10 refractor