First light with Televue 101

[Druid]

So, a few weeks back I was asking advice here about 4" apo / Alt Az set-ups, figuring I'd rather go that route and have an ace long lens for nature photography if the astronomy didn't work out; wanting something with no electronics to go wrong and able to be set up with minimal fuss. I also had it in the back of my mind that I'd probably be going in for imaging at some time in the future, so a nice refractor pushed all the right buttons for me. I live in the light-pollution hell-hole of Birkenhead and while I could see the argument for something like a Celestron SCT goto or a Skywatcher 10" push-to, I still felt like a nice refractor would be the best starting point, but I knew from my reading that this wasn't going to be the line of least resistance.

I'd sorted out a budget with Herself on the basis of going for something like a Chinese triplet with US or German quality control. A WO98 or APM 107 maybe. In the thread about that, Olly pointed out that the 'sweet spot' was probably a used scope. That thought was fresh in my mind when, I saw this ad on APM's secondhand section ...

"Televue 101, the model between the SDF and the NP. Mint."

... and it was going for a very nice price. Less than the Chinese triplets I'd been looking at go for brand new, leaving a much bigger chunk of the budget for eyepieces etc. I talked to Markus, I know he's been in bit of drama on some US boards but I found him to be a totally sound guy to deal with. He gave me some solid advice.

As you may imagine, I awaited the arrival of the DHL guy with some trepidation. I may have stressed out a little bit due to Easter delays. I think the wife was on the verge of filing for divorce by the time the boxes actually showed up. I've bought a lot of Nikon lenses second-hand over the years, so I had some idea what I was doing when I gave it the once over. Short of full testing it looked pretty much perfect. One small ding on the focuser, like maybe something small and sharp had been dropped on it, but the optics and mechanicals seemed to be flawless.

I got it all set up in the garden. Took a look at a recently arrived blackbird on a neighbour's chimney. Blown away. Maybe not quite a Nikon 500/4, but spectacularly sharp and about 1/6 of the price. T-ring and adaptor on the way right now.

I anxiously watched the weather forecast. Got a a few hours of hazy skies with visible stars and intense orange glow from Birkenhead town centre and Liverpool, partly masked by my house plus two neighbours pouring bright light into my garden.

The terrace at the back of our house faces SW. New Moon. Easy first target. OK, Jupiter. First with the Explore Scientific 24mm. Bang, sharp, can see Galilean moons, can already see the bands a bit. 8mm Delos, windy night and wobbly mount, it comes into focus, loads of detail on the bands, can see hints of festoons in them. Not quite sure where GRS has got to. Maybe other side or am I just not seeing it? Anyhow. time to call the wife out for a look. She struggles a bit to see at first then gets it.

So far so good. Now it's time to try to find some sort of easy Messier object. OK, let's try for Orion nebula.

OMG, light pollution so bad that the only part of Orion I can even see is Betelgeuse. I have no finder. 24mm doesn't help much, it just shows a tiny circle around any of the the dozen or so stars bright enough to be visible in the entire sky. I begin to rethink the 'I'm man enough to do without goto' almost immediately. Still though, I think that if I had a low-powered finder I might be OK.

I explore star fields for a while with the 24mm, I begin to understand why people talk about 'spacewalks' in this context. Saturn is too low by the time the high clouds come in and finish the first session.

Then the haze comes in and I retire inside to drink and think.

I think I need a decent finderscope and I need to go out there next time with a plan based on some research, prepared with some printouts from Stellarium showing me the necessary navigation points for some targets like M44 and M81.

[John]

Nice report of a superb scope

I think you will need some sort of finder even if just the red dot / illuminated reticule type. Once the finder has got the scope pointing at the right patch of sky, a low powered eyepiece can pick up the target object.

I'll look forward to your further reports of the scope - it's been on my "wanted" list for years

[Druid]

Thanks John, glad you enjoyed it. Just been out again tonight trying to find M44 with a really clear plan in mind yet failing. I really think I need some sort of RACI type finder, or maybe a red-dot plus a decent set of 10x50 binoculars. The light pollution here is horrific and while I have good charts, I need a way to bridge the gap between what my eyes can see and what the 24mm ES (Nagler-clone) can see.

[Druid]

Well, I've sorted out at least some of the wobbles in the APM mount anyway. Was due to faulty assembly on my part and it's quite a bit steadier now.

What wobbles I'm getting now are mostly due to having the tripod lower legs extended in order to point above the worst of the orange gunge and retain a comfortable seating position.

Now off to start a thread about finderscopes in the equipment forum

[Druid]

Cloudy night tonight but I managed to catch my first glimpse of the Moon a little after sunset. Zeroed in using the 24mm then switched to the 8mm Delos (which I'd got pupil distance and stuff sorted out on birdwatching this afternoon)

Wonderful sight. Southern Highlands crisply defined by the long shadows. I think I made out Mare Fecunditas and Mare Nectaris, but I might have my map upside down or something and be completely wrong about that

Either way, the best view of the Moon I've ever had, even if it was just for 10-20 mins before the clouds hid it again.