My Istar 127mm f/8 Refractor build .

[Brian Nordstrom]

I had a quick go at columination of the lense the other night with the OTA on my Ioptrom IEQ45 mount as we had a small break in the clouds , I could see the image improving as I played with it , but its a hard job ou your own , back a forth like a yo-yo !! .

Anyway its a lot better than it was , still a little more to be squeezed out yet ??

Here is my friend the 'white native pigeon' again taken yesterday arvo in full sun ( Sunny days and as soon as the sun sets the clouds roll in ).

Notice the CA is a LOT !! better than the shot of the same bird in the same tree using the same TV11mm Nagler before I played with it , I am even more impressed .

Please feel free to comment .

Brian.

[Marki]

Looks a lot sharper too a well as minimal CA - nice job Brian! Very impressive!

[PaulC-I]

Nice sight Brian!

Thi sis increasingly good news for me as I've put a deposit down for a 8" F8 R35 lens from Ales at Istar. This will be a challenging build as I hope to use a 12 sided wooden box tube in the style of my first build 'Wildey Rocket' as reported on this site a couple of years ago.

Good work on the 127. Keep the performance reports coming in

Thanks

Paul

[Brian Nordstrom]

Thakns guys , I just love tinkering with telescopes , great fun .

On that Paul , an 8 inch f/8 R35 , nice .

I would love to build a rich field frac around one of these , imagine deep space in this with a TV 31mm Nagler ??? the ultimate , Whew !

Look forward to build reports on that beauty .

I got a quick look at Jupiter and the moon on wednesday night ( seeing was Rubbish ) but the Istar showed great detail up to about 120x but as said the sky was horrible , it sure shows promise .

Cloudy last night and this morning here ,, booooo...

Brian.

[Marki]

Seems to have been cloudy here for days and its rained for at least 24hrs solid...maybe we got your weather/monsoon by mistake?

Sounds like a very tantalising quick session you had - did you get much colour around Jupiter? I'd expect not looking at that photo you posted earlier. Did you get a chance to star test?

[Brian Nordstrom]

Hi Mark , yes there was a very faint ring around Jupiter but it was easily forgotten once I started looking at what the Istar was showing on the disc , I am more than happy with the picture considering the rubbish seeing .

On a star test I used Ballerix in Orion the other night for the 1st columination and was using the test to check for other aperations as well , the 'in' focus and 'out' focus in/out to the 3rd ring was exactly the same , as I increased the in/out foucs to 8-10 rings I started to see a little spherical aperation in the 8th - 10th ring at the in focus side , it was there but really that much will never be seen at true focus .

On the CA , in focus showed a tiny bit of pink/yellow and out a tiny green tint , again very , very good for a 127mm f/8 achro and at focus I was hard pressed to see any colour at all and the aiery disc was perfect , not bad for a Mag 2 star seen at f/8 .

More to follow , ( when the weather co-operates ?? )

Brian.

[DaveGibbons]

Hi Brian, What a superb job you have done! Has been enjoyable watching the birth of your baby.

A real sense of achievment and pride in building your own scope, well done mate.

Cheers

Dave

[philj]

Thats an impressive scope Brian, the new cell looks pretty substantial and the collimation adjustment will make life alot easier. Good images coming through there as well

[Brian Nordstrom]

Hi everyone and I hope you are all having a great Christmas .

On that look what I got this year , a William Optics bino viewer with 2 x 20mm 66degree field eyepieces , nice !

Typical , the weather here is cloudy and I cant wait to get out and give these a try .

Enjoy the photos , as well as your dinners .

Brian.

[PaulC-I]

Hi Brian,

Congratulations on joining the bino club. You will not be disapointed!

The WO was the first binos I had and I will state that they were top notch for their prism size. Went onto Denks but was disapointed as There was no considerable gain (in my opinion)

Have the Baader MKv now but I will still maintain that the WO's are stunners (from memory)

Enjoy!........Awaiting a performance feedback on that Istar?

Paul

[PaulC-I]

Forgot to add:

an update on my earlier post: I've decided to go for an F12 8" as apposed to an F8!

The madness is increasing!!

Paul

[John]

Looking great Brian and now in stereo !

Forgot to add:

an update on my earlier post: I've decided to go for an F12 8" as apposed to an F8!

The madness is increasing!!

Paul

Wow Paul !

I looked into a Istar 5" F/12 Aspheric recently and that was getting on for twice the weight of my ED120. Goodness knows how much an 8" F/12 will weigh and what you can mount it on.

Exciting prospect though

[Brian Nordstrom]

Hi Brian,

Congratulations on joining the bino club. You will not be disapointed!

The WO was the first binos I had and I will state that they were top notch for their prism size. Went onto Denks but was disapointed as There was no considerable gain (in my opinion)

Have the Baader MKv now but I will still maintain that the WO's are stunners (from memory)

Enjoy!........Awaiting a performance feedback on that Istar?

Paul

Thanks Paul , will do , but as we here in Darwin are in the (wet) monsoon season right now it might be a while .. [removed word] , but who know we might get a clear morning .

I used the WO bino viewers to look up the road and it was touch and go on the views , but I will wait untill I use these at night before making any decisions , I think they will be ok , just need time .

There is a wicked electrical storm aproaching as I type this so I better log off and shut down ,

More to follow .

Brian.

[PaulC-I]

Thanks Paul , will do , but as we here in Darwin are in the (wet) monsoon season right now it might be a while .. [removed word] , but who know we might get a clear morning .

I used the WO bino viewers to look up the road and it was touch and go on the views , but I will wait untill I use these at night before making any decisions , I think they will be ok , just need time .

There is a wicked electrical storm aproaching as I type this so I better log off and shut down ,

More to follow .

Brian.

Brian, look forward to further update. I meant to also mention in my previous email that I use a prism Diagonal with my binos and was initially shocked at how it cut down on the amount of scatter in the image.

Wish you some better weather soon!

Paul

[PaulC-I]

Looking great Brian and now in stereo !

Wow Paul !

I looked into a Istar 5" F/12 Aspheric recently and that was getting on for twice the weight of my ED120. Goodness knows how much an 8" F/12 will weigh and what you can mount it on.

Exciting prospect though

HI John,

I'm hoping to keep the whole build, including Mkv bino and heavy eps, finder device and sliding weight system, AP 2.7" focusor within the limits of my Losmandy G11, under 60lbs I will be using a high quality dark vennier marine 5 ply 6mm thick for a 12 sided tube with baffles that are part of the structure in holding the sides together. Very much like the design I used for the 'Wildey Rocket', I posted on this site a couple of years ago.

I admit its a bit adventurous! The only downside is that I will have to mount it every time its used as my roll in cupboard only accomodates a max 72" length . Hence why I was originally going for the F8.

Now just a long wait for the glass.

Incidently, Ales at ister is looking for other customers for this lens as to make it viable......so if you fancy a challenge?

Clear skies soon to all

Paul

[Brian Nordstrom]

Woaw! , so there are a few bino viewer , viewers here , nice .

Well I got out of bed at 2am this morning and yEA Ha , it was clear so I grabbed the bino viewers , my Istar/Saxon and out I went .

First target the moon ,, whaw! what a view , I nearly fell off my seat , 2 eyes really does it , I am officially HOOKED! . It took a while to focus both eyepieces and the main scope but once that was sorted , my GOD ! I was flying torwards the moon , in sterio , awsome .

Next up , M42 it was great as well but the moon being so bright sorta washed it out , but hey ? using 2 eyes .... cant wait for a dark night it will be sweet .

Around 3.30 am the mozzies were starting to win so I packed up and guess what ..?

I could not get back to sleep , thinking about the next session with this set up , yippy .. and happy new year all as its new years eve now here .

Brian.

[PaulC-I]

Woaw! , so there are a few bino viewer , viewers here , nice .

Well I got out of bed at 2am this morning and yEA Ha , it was clear so I grabbed the bino viewers , my Istar/Saxon and out I went .

First target the moon ,, whaw! what a view , I nearly fell off my seat , 2 eyes really does it , I am officially HOOKED! . It took a while to focus both eyepieces and the main scope but once that was sorted , my GOD ! I was flying torwards the moon , in sterio , awsome .

Next up , M42 it was great as well but the moon being so bright sorta washed it out , but hey ? using 2 eyes .... cant wait for a dark night it will be sweet .

Around 3.30 am the mozzies were starting to win so I packed up and guess what ..?

I could not get back to sleep , thinking about the next session with this set up , yippy .. and happy new year all as its new years eve now here .

Brian.

Brian, Congratulations!, on your positive experience. I believe that you have now followed many into the arena of stereo delights!

I have to say that since goimg exclusively bino mode I cannot acheive a view in mono mode that is as resolved as in bino mode. I think the brain adapts and choses a preference in the later.

My personnal best experience is boosting maginification before the diagonal so that the aberations of the diagonal or the bino prisms are not multiplied. This also allows high power work with 17 - 24/32 mm eyepieces with great comfort.

I have the TV 2" x2 powermate, a Baader 2" x1.8 compensator and also the Baader FFC (bit of a luxury) to do this.

Another sicovery was the use of a high quality Prism Diagonal that, for me, cancels out light scatter and sharpens the image further. I also notice that the prisms, diag & bino, appear to null any false colour from the objective.

My best views of the planets so far in the last 4 years have been in bino mode with the above equipment.

Wishing you many more wow moments

Paul

[Brian Nordstrom]

I know exactly what you mean Paul , I got a little bored the other day and mounted the old 10-1 North Group focuser off my now sold 127mm triplet . I fitted a Feather touch 3035 to the triplet as the NG was not that good ( feather touch is the way to go , but I cant justify spending $850 on the Istar that has only cost $630 so far ) but I had a pllay with it and got it working quite smoothly , a lot better anyway . It still grumbles a bit on the 1-1 focus but the 10-1 is now as smooth as silk , nice to use now .

So last night it was very clear and the seeing was the best we have had here for a long time so I got the Istar/Saxon out and I was viewing jupiter in 3 miniutes , man I love the TV Gibralter mount so quick to set up .

I threw the bino viewers in and jupiter at 50x using the supplied 20mm eyepieces was so good ! , I put my Celestron ultima 2x shorty barlow in and at 100-130x ( I am not sure as it seems like the bino viewers up the magnification slightly ? ) but any this is the gear ! I could see 8 bands , the GRS easily , so sharp and crisp , and the little CA that was there was soon forgotten , I spent an hour spel bound !!! NICE .

Next was M42 at 50x , another knock your sox off view , Mate I like Bino Vierers !! .

All M45 fitted in the field , sharp to the edge ! beautiful .

Omega Centarui, ( the best glob ) was resolved into intervidual stars , ,,

But all good things must come to an end and at about 11.30pm the seeing deteriated and clouds rolled in , and it was raining 15 miniutes later ..

But at least I got to use the Bino Viewers a bit and the fine focus is a joy to use ! .

Here is a few more photos .

Brian.

[Brian Nordstrom]

Hi all , its been a while , the last post was the old NG focuser that I took off my now sold NG127mm triplet that got a FT 3035 .( now there is a focuser)

I could only handle this horrible focuser for so long !!! .

I noticed a local ( here in Australia) astro shop was selling Long Perng 11-1 focusers for ,,,,, $99 , yes $99 aud ! so I jumped on it and woaw it fitted straicht into the old Saxon focuser mount , both 90mm .

Its the same focuser that was on my now sold LP90mm f5 APO ( same scope as WO 88mm megrez) , nice focusers , I am happy with it and yea $99 is a steal !.

Hope you all enjoy the new photos , and my apologys for being away so long.

Oh yes the moon shot was taken Hi-Tec as usual , 9mm TV Nagler and HTC one smart phone held up to it .

Brian.

[Brian Nordstrom]

Update ! I had the chance to buy a 2nd hand HEQ5 non GOTO mount , tripod , c/weights , 240-12 volt adaptor for $500 aud , great mount .I have one under my saxon 150mm f8 still in NZ so the 127mm Istar is no worries for it , great mounts . I found that the c/weights clashed with the stainless steel SW tripod legs , but no worries I machined up a stainless adaptor to fit the HEQ5 and 127mm Istar onto the TelVue Gibralter Ash tripod , a good match . I don't seem to be able to drop the curser down to atart a new paragraph , sorry . Hope you all enjoy the updated photos of a nice telescope that I have enjoyed building .. Its a work in progress . Brian.

[Brian Nordstrom]

Well , while I am here I might as well post a short report from Saturday night 2 weeks ago . A good friend of mine from Victoria , South Australia is retired and crusing Aussie as a 'Grey Nomad' he hit Darwin 3 weeks ago .

a couple of Saturdays ago , 1st june I spent the day super charging his 150mm f8 Sky Watcher frak . And did it need it or what !!! he has not used it since he got it second hand , it was almost un-useable , SHAME!! on the seller ! . It was a shocker and Peter has only been into astronomy a few years and did not realise the state of his buy . Shame .

Anyway a full day , many coffie's and a few beers later Peter's scope was usable , I gave him the SW s/s tripod that came with my HEQ5 .

It fits his lovely Vixen GP well and gives him 150mm of much needed hight .

Note the extra white counter weight , I made that a few years ago and the 150mm OTA is way to heavy for the 2 Vixen C/W's , also note the OTA is sitting about mid-ships on the mount ? I e-poxied about 2 lbs of lead fishing sinkers into the focuser housing to allow this , Peter was impressed as you can see in one of the photos where he is sitting and admiring his sexy telescope that now works . He is a happy camper now and that makes me feel good .

Later that night we had a shootout , Peter's 150mm f8 SW'r and my 127mm f8 Saxon/Istar .

As good as the 150mm is its performance is in another league , compared to the 127mm Istar , the Istar gave better views of Saturn at 300x , double stars , clusters to the edge , and above all the stars looked much nicer in the Istars 127mm .

the only thing Peters 150mm SW'r won on was deep sky , the extra 25mm is a lot and his scope was better here by a wide margin .

I wont bag the 150mm , because if the test was not done side by side the Istars nicer imagers would not be seen , that's how good these Synta 6 inch f8 fraks are , very good but the Istars lense is a lot better .

I used my 3mm TV radian to get to 333x and Peter used his Meade series 400 plossl 4mm at 300x , we only used this magnification on Saturn and alpha centarui ( double star system ) most testing was done with me using my 9mm Nagler and 22mm Panoptic , and Peter used his 18mm Meade series 5000 and 9.7mm Meade series 4000 ( awesome eyepiece that one ! )

We finished about 4 am tired , but happy , a great night and here is a few photos .

The last one was after 4amm , awesome .

Brian.

[Brian Nordstrom]

Hi all , its been a while so I thought I would show off the Istar in its final configuration , this is our local clubs dark sky night a week or so ago , great night it was to .

The photo of Venus was taken wuth a Sony Alpha 200 DSLR at prime @2000mm fl using a TV 2x Powermate , note the lack of CA in the shot , man this Istar lense is a good one .

Hope you all enjoy .

Brian.

[Brian Nordstrom]

Here is the moon a week before the above night using the same set up , Istar 127mm f8 x2 Powremate at 2000mm  Sony a200 dslr  at prime ,.

The 2nd shot is at 1000mm without the TV 2x powremate  again note the lack of CA in any of these shots , nice .

Not bad for a total cost of this build , mount , tripod and all  for  only $1100 aud !!! .

Zero work , raw straight out of the camera into my computer and posted here ,same as the above Venus shot .

Brian.

[Naemeth]

Hi all , its been a while so I thought I would show off the Istar in its final configuration , this is our local clubs dark sky night a week or so ago , great night it was to .

The photo of Venus was taken wuth a Sony Alpha 200 DSLR at prime @2000mm fl using a TV 2x Powermate , note the lack of CA in the shot , man this Istar lense is a good one .

Hope you all enjoy .

Brian.

In that first photo I had to look at it a few times before I got the perspective right .

Lovely looking scope

[Brian Nordstrom]

Yes Naemeth , well spotted , the 2 big Dob's being set up are a 20 and 22 inch , big boys , the 16 and 12 inchers are in the background .

The 20 inch owner , 'Clayton' also has a TelVue NP127 APO , he came over after setting up his 20 inch for a quick look at venus thru my 127mm Istar achromat .

I had my 19mm TV Panoptic in t the Istar , about 50x and Claytons 1st words were ... 'Is this a triplet ?' . true .

'No' I said its an Istar 127mm f8 achromat doublet , hell! he said , will you bring this along to our next dark sky night ? and I will bring my $5000 + TV along so we can compare the two ?

Yes , that night is this Saturday , the 28th , I will be there . Cool ( but true ) story or what ? , looking forward to this .

My $1100 Istar ( mounted ) against a $5000 NP TV 127 OTA ,,, Oh yea !! .

One more thing anyone notice in these photos ,, I was out taking them , after setting up my Istar and the BIG! boys were not even 1/4 way thru setting up ?.

Sorry , but true .

Brian.